Hey there,ITBS is something
Hey there,
ITBS is something I see often in my work (I teach restorative, post-PT Pilates) and have seen many clients get past it successfully. I agree with SayPay that it's good to hold off running for a while and a great time to do some kind of strength training that involves lengthening like Pilates, Gyrotonic or yoga. I usually tell clients to think of ITBS as a kind of growing pains telling you to develop some different muscle groups - you'll know that you're in better shape when it goes away. When it comes back it's time to get back to work.
The iliotibial band connects to the hip below the gluteus medius on one end and the knee on the other, so when it's not happy, the knee probably won't be, either. When a person's IT bands are inflamed, generally it's good to look in three places, their gluteus medii (the muscles on the sides of the hips above the ITB that fire when the foot presses down into the ground), their deep abdominals/pelvic floor connection, and the muscles on the insides of the thighs and calves.
In other words, when a person's IT bands are overworked, it means that there's too much pressure going along the outsides of the legs instead of the centers because the parts that should be doing the work on the insides aren't and the IT bands take up the slack. Check to see if your feet are rolling out too much at the arches when you run. Notice when you run and walk if your feet have too wide of a stance. A runner with too wide of a stance and a weak inner line will very likely tip the hip when running.
For rolling the legs, I usually recommend a softish 6"-8" massage ball instead of a roller for people whose IT bands really hurt. It's a slower process, but it actually feels good instead of painful to roll, so you're more likely to want to do it more often. It's also less likely to mess things up than a tennis ball or roller. Also, don't just roll the IT bands. Roll the quads, hams and inner thighs, too. Make sure when you roll along the IT bands that you go all the way up to the meaty part of the outsides of the hips to help wake up the muscles there (the gluteus medii). I like Yamuna Zake's "Body Rolling" techniques - they relax muscles and fascia as they help to cue up hard to access muscle groups. C. Beth's post
here had some good rolling tips (scroll down).
Some ITBS folks also have very tight spots in their backs which often points to deep ab weakness. See below for some exercises. Try rolling your feet and calves out, as well, on a tennis ball or something similar, since it helps to "turn on" the right muscles and relax the parts of the body that are in the most direct relationship with the ground.
Here are some core exercises that help ITBS:
1) Inner thigh connection to abs: Lie on your back with your knees up and feet flat on the floor and parallel. Put a ball between your knees that lets your thigh bones be parallel to your hip sockets. Squeeze the ball to about 30-50% effort with the inner thigh muscles as you exhale, firing the deep abs so that the belly drops down rather than pooches out. Try not to activate seat or back muscles. Ideally keep the pelvis stable, neither tilting or arching it.
2) Pelvic Bowl strengthening: Lie on your back with that same ball between your knees. Imagine your belly is a bowl of water. Slosh the water towards your ribs as you gently breathe, then slosh it towards your tailbone, letting your pelvis rock. Avoid using seat or back muscles. Make sure that the belly flattens instead of rounds (for all these exercises).
3) Bridging: As you gently squeeze the ball, tilt your pelvis like in 2), then press with your feet, fire up your glut maxes and lift the pelvis up without using anything but inner thighs, abs, glutes and hamstrings. If your hamstrings cramp, bring your feet closer to your hips and see if you can get your glutes to do more work. If your ITBs fire, choose a smaller ball and move the feet and legs closer together.
You can also try this exercise on one leg at a time. It's harder, but also a good variation to get to the gluteus medius. Try alternating lifted legs while staying up in bridge. That mimics the way the pelvis stabilizes mid-gait.
For a more advanced version of the inner thigh and bridge exercises, get a thick pillow that you can fold in half and wedge between your knees or a bigger ball, and squeeze it with 50-75% effort between your knees as you lift the pelvis up in a bridge. Make sure that the lower back muscles/ITBs are relaxed as you lift and your glutes are firing up a storm.
I'm looking at this note and realizing how confusing it looks without pictures. I apologize - I hope it was helpful. If you have questions, please feel free to ask.
I hope you feel better soon!
Jen