ITB Syndrome is a common and quite painful leg/knee injury that can leave runners, triathletes, and even cyclists out of commission for months. It often presents itself as pain on the outside of the leg, typically near the lower part of the knee. In this video Sock Doc discusses the reasons for ITBS – muscle imbalances, anaerobic excess, improper footwear - as well as treatments you may want to consider, including those you should avoid such as icing, stretching, and orthotics.
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[...] to. I was whining to my neighbor Bobby about my inability to run without pain and he e-mailed me a video on the treatment and prevention of the IT band by the Sock Doc. The Sock Doc went against everything I had read or been told about treating IT [...]
Great video thanks!! I posted a comment in the forum about my own IT band problems.
Thank you! I’ll get to the Forum question in a bit…
Very interesting and definitely gives me some things to think about….never considered the opposite limb as a possible issue and never before heard of the adrenal gland affecting the triad of muscles in the knee. Thanks for posting this and thank you for your response to my questions on the forum.
Thanks for the video. I have had several problems all on the left side of my body from running in minimalist shoes and a little barefoot. Right now, I am sidelined from running due to IT band.
A few months ago this all started with a calf strain from running in the Saucony Mirage. I did something really stupid and ran 4 miles on balls of my feet, I did not let my heel land. I could barely walk for a week due to DOMS. My left calf took months to completely stop hurting, but I did run and actively manage it as it healed. I started doing a lot of my miles in a 10 MM drop shoe (Mizuno Elixir). As my calf was healing my hip flexor (same side) began to hurt. I went to doctor for the hip as I wanted a picture of the joint spaces, fortunately all was fine.
I cut back on the minimal shoes and actively managed the hip pain and it seems good now as does the calf. Then, while doing most of my miles in the Elixir’s, I developed top of foot pain. Some mornings I could barely put my foot down. But again, I was successful at actively managing that issue by running on a limited basis. No doc involved this time. Now, about a week ago, I went for a long run on a cambered road and I had to limp home due to my IT band.
I feel hopeless about running minimal now, or barefoot. I stopped the IT stretches and foam roller directly on the IT band. I don’t know where to go from here. The video seems very complicated looking at every part of the body as a cause. What about treating the out of balances? Do we strengthen hips, butt, or what?
Thanks!!
To correct the muscle imbalances you have to address where those imbalances are, and you cannot correct them by exercising the “weak” muscles more and stretching the “tight” muscles. Yes, sometimes it can be very complicated but I tried to address the most common areas of treatment for the ITBS. So check for trigger points in the glue max and TFL as I show in the video. For you also look at the calf strain you got a few months ago – that may still be affecting your gait.
Once the injury is healed (pain gone) the best exercises for the hips and lower back other than running/walking I feel are Kettle Bell exercises – primarily hip swings, deadlifts, and deep squats.
Good stuff! Thanks for your work Sock Doc
I’ve been fighting ITBS since Sept 2009. I was training for my first marathon (still haven’t ran one because of this injury) and after my first 20 mile run, the ITBS set on. I could not get rid of the pain no matter what I did. After watching your ITBS video, I noticed that anytime i worked on my leg strength (glutes / hip abductors) and lower back / core exercises, I can once run again comfortably up to about 10 miles. I fluctuate between 5-10 miles without pain, but I cannot keep the ITBS pain away. I do play soccer 2-3 times a week. I love soccer, but I also love to run. I was wondering if you have any other ideas that I could pursue to completely remove the ITBS. I would like to start running races again. I had to stop because of the injury in 2009. I have only been able to run 3-6 miles at a time to train for soccer. Before the injury, i could easily run and play soccer. Now it looks like I have to choose one or the other, which I’m not willing to do.
In order to increase my mileage, I’ve been doing the following:
1. Lunges for my Glutes
2. Hip abductor strengthening
3. Quad extensions
4. Leg Curls
5. Groin strengthening
I do these 2-3 times a week depending on my workout / soccer / running schedule
I developed lower back pain last year and I do the following:
1. Lower back exercises for lower back pain – this has worked…my back is much better
2. Stretching my core – I know you say this does nothing but all physical therapists i’ve been to has told me to do it…I need to understand more why i shouldn’t stretch (I don’t feel comfortable not doing it)
Any help / thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I need to run the tough mudder in Ohio on April 14th.
Thanks,
Mike
Hi Mike, you’re going into 2 1/2 years of being injured with ITBS, and you’re looking to race in less than one month – that’s tough to give personal advice on with a history like that. Ideally you need someone to work on you and figure out why you have so many muscle imbalances resulting in ITBS and low back pain. Though the strengthening of those muscles may help some, exercises like that don’t facilitate (turn on) muscles that are inhibited (neurologically weak) resulting in your injuries & pain.
Stretching – the reason you don’t feel comfortable not stretching is because of the many muscle imbalances you have. If all your tendons, joints, and muscles were working efficiently and in balance with one another you’d see no need to stretch. I explain this in more detail in the Stop Stretching! post. Of course you NEVER want to stretch injured muscles you’ll just prolong the injuries – and they’re already very prolonged.
Perhaps your training intensity or duration is an issue too but from my experience what I see is that when someone has an injury for so long they’ve created more and more compensations as they walk, run, and move inefficiently and un-naturally every day so treatment is the best way, and sometimes the only way, to fix this stuff. The honest truth here is that a 2.5 year old injury is a long time, and you can easily tack on several more months before that because you don’t just “wake up” with ITBS one day – it develops over time.
Hi,
What / whom do you recommend I go see? I’ve been to an ortho who told me stretching / yoga / strengthening was the answer. I’ve been to physical therapy and sports massage. The massage helped to loosen my back pain, but it did come back. I know i have alignment issues and imbalances because my right leg tends to get tight and “shorten” causing right hip pain. I have remedied that by strengthening my hips / stretching. It comes back from time to time…
I’m sure i’m compensating for other issues…
I live near Flint Mi….
Thanks!
That’s the tough question that I get a lot Mike. I don’t have a reliable referral base, sorry. Not too many docs will spend 1-2 hours with a patient to go through the entire body/injury to sort it out, test it (in your case running) and see what fails to figure out why, fix it, and then correct it.
And how’s it working out for you?