IT Band Syndrome

The IT Band is a thickening of the tissues on the outside of your thigh that separate the hamstring and quadriceps muscles. It serves as an attachment point for your TFL and glute muscles and runs down to the outside portion of your knee. 

Pain is felt on the outside of the knee. 30 degrees of knee bend is when the tension/compression is highest within the region. This means running can be very irritating, especially if running hills.

IT Band Syndrome is a repetitive/over usage injury. Essentially, the tissues on the outside of your knee may no longer have the capacity to withstand the number of forces placed upon them. Often a big factor in this is decreased strength in the muscles on the side of your hip.

So what do you do? As with many running injuries, the earlier the intervention the better. Load management and strengthening are key. Strengthening the muscles of the side of the hip and thigh is very important. You may also have to temporarily alter your running schedule to incorporate more recovery. 

Here are a few exercises that help target the regions we’ve discussed!

1️⃣ Side lying hip abduction 

2️⃣ Toe Taps

3️⃣ Split squat w/ band

4️⃣ Side plank w/ isometric abduction

Check out @dr.jeffwong on Instagram for videos of these exercises!