In this video, I'm going to show you how to get rid of
iliotibial band pain for good. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
Saint Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to focus on
getting quick and long-lasting pain relief for the iliotibial
band, commonly known as the IT band. If you're unfamiliar with
it, it originates with two muscles at the top part of the
thigh. In the front, you have the tensor fascillata or TFL
and in the rear, you have the gluteus maximus muscle. So,
it's a thick band of fibers known as fascia that runs on
the outer part of the leg toward the knee. It tends to
get inflamed through repetitive motions that cause irritation
and inflammation and it causes pain, usually dull achy, burning
pain on the top part of the knee towards the outer part of
the thigh, towards the hip. A lot of people try to get pain
relief by directly foam rolling or stretching that IT band.
It's temporary at best. If you want to get rid of it for good,
you have to strengthen everything that helps support
it including those two muscles that we just talked about
earlier. So, I'm going to make this easy by breaking this
video up into two separate parts. In the first part, we're
going to focus on breaking up soft tissue tightness and
adhesions over the IT band into the tensor fasciae latae and also
the glute max. In the second part, this is the most
important part, we're going to lengthen and strengthen those
muscles to help take strain and tension off the IT band and
hopefully get rid of it for good. All of the exercises work
just a little bit differently. So, go through them all use
what gives you the most amount of relief. As a bonus, all of
the exercises can be done at home. They require no special
equipment and they give quick IT band pain relief, even in as
little as 30 seconds. So, let's get started and fix that IT
band pain right now for good. In the first part, we're going
to focus on a big cause of iliotibial band pain which is
built-up adhesions and soft tissue tightness. This is
something that I actually do a couple times a week to get
quick IT band pain relief. So, I'm going to start lying on my
side with my painful side up towards the ceiling. Just
kind of have your body in a nice straight line. Have
everything relaxed. You're going to have to excuse my
hairy legs for this one. It's just how I was built. So, I'm
going to start off by isolating the IT band. Just take your
fingers and roll right on the outside leg above the knee. If
it is pretty tight, you're going to find it pretty
quickly. I always joke and call this one the beef jerky band
because it feels like a big piece of beef jerky on the
outside of your leg if it is tight. So, once we find that,
I'm going to clamp down on it with my thumb and my fingers.
Just kind of squeeze right into it obviously only to your
comfort level. The movement from here pretty easy. I'm
going to clamp down and scrape downwards towards my knee while
bringing my heel towards my butt. By doing this, it helps
just relax everything, isolate the IT band so you can do a
nice self massage in there breaking up those adhesions. I
just try to do this right here for about three to five times.
Just building pressure into very very slowly with each
repetition. Afterwards, if you feel like it's loosening up,
you can then just work your way upwards and focus on pretty
much doing this from the top of the knee all the way up to the
hip. What I'm going to do is really stop over any area that
you feel is the most tight, painful, and achy or just
doesn't want to release. At that point, that's where you
want to throw in more repetitions to hopefully get
that to release but repeat this whole process going from the
top of the knee all the way up to the hips stopping over any
spots that just need it a little bit more. To take this
one to the next level, if you feel like it's just not wanting
to release, you can do something called gua sha or
muscle scraping. This one right here, we need a couple things.
The first being a form of lubrication. I like to use
coconut oil which is a massage lotion but you can use any
muscle creams, massage lotions, anything like that. Just coat
the whole area with plenty of it because you don't want
friction this one, it will make it uncomfortable. The next is
going to be a large metal spoon. I like to use one with a
little bit more thickness to it. You can use any part of the
spoon for this technique. You can try it with the handle
right here, the rounded portion. Actually, experiment
with it. Use what works best for you. I like to use the
handle. So, with this one right here, I'm going to pretty much
start right over the bottom of that IT band. Take your spoon
and put it roughly at about 30 to 40 degrees. Press into that
IT band you're creating pressure but not causing any
discomfort. The movement is pretty similar. What I'm
going to do is just take my leg right here, my heel up towards
my butt and then I'm going to scrape upwards. With this one,
you always want to scrape upwards towards the heart and
just do nice, slow, small strokes over that IT band up to
three to five times. Afterwards, if you feel like
it's doing much better, you can then move upwards or go over
different spots as needed but if it feels like it needs some
more just keep throwing some repetitions in there. While
doing this also, you'll probably notice that redness
starts to form over the top of the skin. That is completely
normal. I don't know if you can see it right here over the
video. That's blood flow coming into the area which then helps
promote healing. This is something also that you can do
pretty much over any spot of soft tissue over the leg. You
can do it over the quadriceps right here, over the knee, calf
muscle, hamstring, just avoid bony spots like going directly
over the knee or off to the side right here because that
can cause irritation but give that one a try and go over any
spots that you feel needed the most. If you want to get rid of
iliotibial band pain for good, you have to focus on
strengthening the muscles that help support it. Since the IT
band originates from the tensor fasciae latae, or TFL, and the
gluteus maximus, those are going to be the primary focus
with these exercises. They're going to help lengthen
strengthen at the same time but also help isolate the TFL and
the glute max so you can identify the weak spots that
weak muscle and really target the weak link I should say so
this first one is very easy you're just going to lie on
your side with the painful side up towards the ceiling so for
your head with your hand just like this I want my body pretty
much in a nice straight line my hips my knees to my ankles are
going to be stacked let's take our knees and slowly bring them
upward towards our chest just like this. From there, I'm
going to tighten my core during this exercise to build support
and then, I'm going to take the top leg and straighten it while
keeping it in line with the bottom leg. From there, I'm
going to take my foot and turn it inwards, taking the toes
down towards the floor as much as we can. Once we can't go any
further, I'm then going to keep my leg straight and then lift
up as much as I can taking the heel towards the ceiling. The
more that you go up, the more that you're going to feel the
glutes fire but more importantly, you're to feel
that tensor fasciae latae right in the front part and the
side of the leg right here, start to fire really focus on
feeling that once you do you're going to hold this one
comfortably for about five seconds and then from there
you're going to slowly bring your leg down try to fight your
weight right here it's another good style of an exercise but I
just come down take a breather at that point on the next
repetition I try to build into it even more I can do this 10
to 15 times. If you feel like this one's a little it too
easy, you can take it to the next level by doing a kicking
motion. So, turn your foot inwards, lift up, and then take
your leg forward as much as you can. You'll feel a ton fire
around that TFL. Again, a five-second hold. You're just
going to relax and you can do this 10 to 15 times just
building into it just a little bit more. Next, let's focus a
little bit more on the glutes. So, this one's pretty similar
but what I'm going to do is take my leg or I should say
take my foot inward, raise my leg up like this and then take
it back words. You're going to feel a ton fire around the
buttocks. Hold this one for about 5 seconds. You're just
going to come back, relax, and then you can repeat this one 10
to 15 times and afterwards, if you want to make it more
challenging, you can throw in another set or two but I do
recommend that whatever you do on one side to switch to the
other to keep them both in balance. A main function of the
iliotibial band is to stabilize the pelvis, hips, and legs and
also maintain posture through movement. So, let's take a lot
of stress and tension off that IT band by building stability
in those areas. These are known as star taps. I'm going to
start standing. If you have a lot of muscle weakness or
balance issues, I would recommend doing this next to a
wall for extra support but start with very good upright
posture. Place all of your body weight on one foot. Whatever
side that you're putting all of that weight, slightly bend the
knee until you feel the hamstring and the back of the
leg start to fire and also the glutes. During this exercise,
we want to keep our toes, our knees, and our hips in a nice
straight line. We don't want to go out or in. It's all about
control and stability. I'm going to take my hands, place
them on my hips, tighten my core for a little bit more
support. So, the other leg is going to go straight. I'm
going to reach out with my toes and then start to tap. Again,
keeping this knee locked and straight ahead. You'll really
feel the muscles start to fire in that bent knee side. I do
this for a couple seconds and then just go to the side and
repeat. You're going to keep working your way backward
kind of like an arc going off to your side and then working
your way all the way back until you can't go any further. When
you can't go back any further, just come back up like this. I
try to do this for about 2 to 3 sets. You're going to notice
that one certain spot like let's say right here for me
going right into this position is the most challenging either
I have a lot of weakness, lot of pain or tightness. I try to
throw more repetitions in at that point and on the weak
links. If this becomes too easy, you can make it more
challenging by putting a squatting motion in there to
further strengthen those muscles. So, what I'm going to
do this time around instead of keeping my knee locked, I'm
going to squat downwards like this and you'll notice that it
becomes very very challenging. So, give this one a try and go
through all of those motions again. If you'll or if you feel
like one spot is just very challenging, needs a little bit
more attention, throw more repetitions in at that point.
If you want to focus a little bit more on the glutes, you can
do what is known as a standing fire hydrant and you're
going to see here just in a second why it's called that.
So, let's get back into our original position. I'm just
going to put all of my body weight on one side, slightly
bend that knee but the other leg is going to go bent in 90
degrees and I'm going to abduct or take my leg away from me
like this. The more that you go up and you might want to do
this one next to a wall, you can see that I'm a little bit
of a balance issue with it. It's just trying to take that
leg up as much as you can until you feel that glutes start to
fire. I hold this one for about 5 seconds. I just come back
down like this, take a breather, and then I'm going to
repeat this one up to 10 times. If you feel like you have a
little bit more energy, throw in another set or two but I do
recommend whatever you do on one side to switch to the other
to keep them both in balance. This exercise is known as the
twisting reverse lunge. It's to help lengthen and strengthen
the tensor fascillata, hip flexors, and the gluteus
maximus muscles. All of those muscles responsible for
stabilizing that IT band. This one, we're going to want very
good upright posture while standing. Take your hands,
press them together, kind of like a prayer position, and
tighten the core for a little bit more support. The movement
is pretty easy. I'm just going to step backwards, lunge down
like this, and then twist my body towards the knee in the
front. In this position right here, you're going to feel
glutes on the front leg right here start to fire and then
you're going to feel the hip flexors right here in the front
part of the leg and also that TFL really activate with that
twisting motion really focus on feeling it over this area into
that TFL I hold this for a second or two and then I'm just
going to come back up just like this and then I'm going to
repeat on the other side you want to do this one nice and
slowly for about 10 repetitions on both sides if you feel like
you have a little bit more you can throw in another set or
two. If the exercises help, please support the channel by
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have any comments or questions, please leave them below. I'll
get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for watching!