iliotibial band issues

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 sihills 05 Jan 2019

Have any one suffered with iliotibial band issues. If so what did you do that had a positive effect? What worked for you?

Any first hand advice would be great.

Cheers

Simon

 Welsh Kate 05 Jan 2019
In reply to sihills:

Lunges and single leg squats helped me.

And being fitted with orthotics by the NHS to correct my flat feet which contributed to the problem in the first place.

 Dave the Rave 05 Jan 2019
In reply to sihills:

Yes. I foam rollered mine amongst other things until it was better 

 Graham Booth 05 Jan 2019
In reply to sihills:

Foam roller, f*cking agony, like how I would imagine child birth would feel (small child, wide hips)

But only thing which works, hard to isolate 

 Lornajkelly 06 Jan 2019
In reply to sihills:

I had a series of sessions with an NHS physio, deep tissue massage and then a set of stretches. Now if I stretch properly before and after a run it's mostly ok. See a physio if you haven't already. Apparently modern research suggests that the massage isn't that effective, according to a physio I saw recently, so a professional will make sure you're dealing with it in the way most widely considered to work. 

 Bob Kemp 06 Jan 2019
In reply to sihills:

I saw a physio, used the dreaded foam roller massage, and was given a set of exercises to generally strengthen the leg and glute muscles. It worked after a few months. A holistic approach seems necessary as the ITB doesn’t work in isolation. 

As Lornajkelly says there seems to be evidence now to deprecate the foam roller massage approach, but I found it helpful and it did no damage. 

 JohnBson 06 Jan 2019
In reply to sihills:

Hi Simon, my IT Band flared up during a time when I couldn't rest and wait for it to disappear. Foam rollers get, stretching for long periods and trying to ski as much as possible helped. It may sound counter intuitive but skiing really loosened it up. Also I gave up swimming as the powerful uncontrolled extension during the kicking didn't help.

Post edited at 10:41
 Wee Davie 06 Jan 2019
In reply to sihills:

I'm in the middle of trying to rehab my year long IT band flare- up. I tried foam rollering it at first which made no difference. I've tried doing nothing which didn't help. I've now seen an NHS physio twice and spoken to another NHS who both advocate strengthening exercises to counteract weaknesses caused by the samey movements of road running. Both those NHS physios have told me rollering is ineffective because the IT band is not stretchable.

I think the strengthening is definitely helping but I'm not quite completely better yet. The exercise that has helped me most so far is lying sideways on the couch and doing weighted scissor leg lifts with 4kg on the ankle of the bad leg.  When I first started those it was very strenuous to get to 30 reps. I've seen a decent improvement of strength in a short space of time with a corresponding reduction in discomfort.

 Gav Parker 06 Jan 2019
In reply to sihills:

The only thing that worked for me was rest......and build back up gradually....

 Shortshorts 06 Jan 2019
In reply to sihills:

I had a forced rest for all of last year from any outdoor/active endeavours.  What finally worked for me was adding in some "heavy" weight lifting for on legs and hips. As well as core work and focusing on correcting posture (lordosis/anterior pelvic tilt)

Post edited at 21:46
 Bob Kemp 07 Jan 2019
In reply to Wee Davie:

I think the phrase ‘foam rollering the ITB’ is a little problematic. The ITB itself doesn’t respond to the massage - it’s the nearby muscles, in my case the quads next to the ITB, that can be targeted with the roller. 

 tomski3 07 Jan 2019
In reply to sihills:

I suffered from ITB flare ups due to running. I reached a point where I could only run about a mile before I was in agony.

For me the problem was a very tight upper back caused by years of poor posture sitting at a desk and in the car.

The tightness was only on one side, which caused an imbalance where one gluteus was weaker than the other which caused other muscles to compensate and the ITB to over-tighten.

I only found this after seeing an osteopath. They did some prodding and twisting to straighten me out but the improvement came from lots of boring posterior chain stretching and strengthening exercises.

tl;dr - I would see a physio or an osteopath to try to diagnose the problem correctly so that you can choose the right treatment.

 r0b 08 Jan 2019
In reply to sihills:

I get occasional ITB problems in my right leg. For me it is because my knee collapses inwards. This is because I have tight quads/hip flexors in that leg which tilts my pelvis forward and stops my glute from working. So the fix for me is to do lots of stretching of the muscles on the front of my leg plus strengthening/activation of the posterior muscles (glutes/hamstrings). Then I can activate my glute properly whilst running which controls my knee and stops it from collapsing.

 nickh1964 09 Jan 2019
In reply to sihills:

A stretch my physio gave me was to stand, cross one foot and leg over in front of the other close to the non moved led, and arch over sideways in the direction of the moved leg, hold 30 sec.

Along with the foam roller it seemed to help. 

In reply to nickh1964:

> A stretch my physio gave me was to stand, cross one foot and leg over in front of the other close to the non moved led, and arch over sideways in the direction of the moved leg, hold 30 sec.

> Along with the foam roller it seemed to help. 

This^

I had ITB issues at the hip last year and despite seeing a physio for some time, the only thing which really helped was rest.  I made the mistake of running when I started to feel the niggle and I was out for two months.

I ran a 15 miler a few weeks ago and whilst i was fine during the run and afterwards, i went to bed and woke in the middle of the night with my right leg in intense knee pain at the ITB and couldnt straighten my leg.  I then simply stopped running for a week and Im now fine and dandy.

Having had a range of injuries over the last few years I am almost as fit as I ever have been (touch wood) and whilst I have had move physio, ops, needles that I can remember, the only thing I would now advocate is simply rest.  I have become a bit jaded with physios and what they can actually do/or what they actually can do.

 

In reply to sihills:

I had a bad bout of this last year. Firstly and like others have said, don't bother rolling the IT band as its not a muscle and you can actually makes things worse. I tried to treat it and carry on training at the same time which meant my recovery was several months longer than it should have been. If I were you;

If you're self diagnosed, go and see a phyiso. 

Stop any impact exercise (as in absolutely stop..).

As the soreness decreases and its not painful to do so, start some stretches and light glute exercises. 

Once you're back up and running, do yoga! 

Best of luck to you! 

Post edited at 14:02

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