It Band Syndrome

The main thing that worked for me is stretching it out, running on even surfaces, strength training and some cycling.

I had this a while back after a marathon. Was a b!tch to get rid of. Took a good 4 months, and some PT. Mine was REALLY BAD. My knee would lock up completely and I couldn't bend it without severe pain. However, I have been able to keep it away ever since. PT had me doing hip exercises with a resistance band daily (single leg raises, clams, glute bridge) and use the foam roller. The PT also did a lot of IASTM (muscle scraping) with what looked like brass knuckles. I had such horrible adhesions on my muscle tissue I would feel them crunch open and would have bruises left over.

I keep up with the hip strengthening and the foam rolling and 0 problems. Maybe give that part a shot, and if that doesn't work seek out someone to do either sports massage for muscle release or the muscle scraping.

IT strap is useless throw it in the garbage.

Sorry to hear you've been dealing with ITBS. I missed a couple months with it a few years ago, and it still tightens up once in a while. It's something I always watch but haven't been sidelined by since, so I can relate a bit.

The biggest thing for me was PT in the short term, proper treatment from trainers (college/hs) or specialists. From the PT stage and going forward, continually strengthening the glute muscles and hips are very essential. This is something I've always worked on, and has helped me continually train at higher mileage. Whenever you feel the tightness coming on, try to get some kind of treatment if trainers are readily available or if PT is affordable. Know when to ease up and be smart.

Good luck mate

What stretches can you recommend me? Thanks.

By foam rolling you mean across the whole IT band, right?

I did right in front of the IT band and then right behind it (so like kinda on your quad and then back on the hamstring.) The IT band itself hurt way too much to roll directly and since I needed to encourage my band to move freely again I needed to facilitate the release of the surrounding muscles (the IT band itself isn't like your muscles and doesn't really stretch). You can roll on it directly, but definitely do the outer sides too. Coach suggested to do the entire quad in three parts and to contract your leg up while you are rolling. This felt pretty good and I still do this sometimes.

If it doesn't seem to be getting better I would suggest a PT... I tried an ortho first and they were saying 'SURGERY' and that had me spooked. Went to the PT and they tested hip strength and there was an imbalance on my left side which was the problem.

Gangag wrote:

What stretches can you recommend me? Thanks.

That stretch were you touch your toes (do it both standing and sitting), but cross your feet. Than do that stretch where you are sitting and you hug one of your knees and twist around trying to look behind you. Than do that stretch where you are lying on your back and tack one leg and cross it to the other side. I hope this help it is kinda hard to describe stretches.

Lydiard Cerutty wrote:

Gangag wrote:

What stretches can you recommend me? Thanks.

That stretch were you touch your toes (do it both standing and sitting), but cross your feet. Than do that stretch where you are sitting and you hug one of your knees and twist around trying to look behind you. Than do that stretch where you are lying on your back and tack one leg and cross it to the other side. I hope this help it is kinda hard to describe stretches.

Photo 1 and 8 are two of the three I'm talking about.

I had it more or less just as bad. Kept taking 2 or 3 week breaks but my knee would totally lock ending my session and it would be very painful to even walk on.

I tried self massage, stretching, foam rolling and cycling. What really worked for me was stretching. When it eventually went away after 4 months it went away totally and I've never had any problems since. Only thing that's changed is I stretch my itb before and after every run.

I also think getting the IT Band scraped by a physical therapist or trainer helps a lot. Whenever I feel it coming on, I get mine scraped and I feel great. Earlier this week I felt some tightness in my IT band, got it scraped Tuesday and have felt nothing since. The scrape helps break up some scar tissue and other adhesions in/around the area.

Obviously it's annoying that it's something I/other people with the injury have had to continually monitor, but every runner has their own muscle weaknesses or nagging problems. Just glad I haven't had to take time off for it in about 3 years.

Do NOT foam roll the IT band directly. As others have posted, the key is to strengthen certain muscles, in particular small stabilizer muscles like the piriformis, TFL and gluteus medius. Be sure to work both left and right to avoid imbalances.

And of course start with rest until you can run 1-2 miles pain free. It’s a repetitive motion injury so just because you can run a mile pain free doesn't mean it’s fully healed. Be careful.

And ditch the strap and don't bother with icing: the band does not get a lot of blood flow, which retards healing. Icing only delays that process.

Good luck and be patient. If you strengthen the stanilizer miscles and keep it up this injury should not return.

Run on the most smooth and even surface that you can find

do this stretch

https://fkpssl-martinkoban.netdna-ssl.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/stretch-tensor-fascia-latae-it-band.jpg