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Exercises to Help IT Band Injuries

For those of you who have been reading for a while, you know that my IT Band has been causing me a lot of issues over the years.

The IT Band, or Illiotibial Band, “a thick band of fascia on the lateral aspect of the knee, extending from the outside of the pelvis, over the hip and knee, and inserting just below the knee. The band is crucial to stabilizing the knee during running, as it moves from behind the femur to the front of the femur during activity. The continual rubbing of the band over the lateral femoral epicondyle, combined with the repeated flexion and extension of the knee during running may cause the area to become inflamed.” Thank you, Wikipedia.

it band (source)

Looking back, it was a problem when I was in college but at the time I thought it was a knee problem. It has popped up periodically since I started running but never with such force as it did a couple weeks after the Chicago Marathon and since then it’s been keeping me out of distance running.

photo 5 (4)

I’ve seen many physical therapists, taken off several months and tried just about any “quick fix” that I could find. My biggest issue? I’m not consistent enough with foam rolling, stretching and exercises. Yes, I foam roll and stretch every time I run but I don’t always put a lot of time into it. Some runners rarely stretch and are fine, but I need a solid 10-15 minutes of stretching post-run plus foam rolling before and after. It’s time consuming and I let it fall by the wayside only to have my IT Band flare up again.

photo 3 (7)

I’ve finally admitted this to myself and come to accept that if I want to run, I have to add in the extra 30-40 minutes a day for stretching, foam rolling and exercises. To help myself out, I wrote down an exercise schedule based on things given to me by personal trainers and then split them in two: workouts A and workouts B. I alternate between A & B each day, taking one day off entirely a week.

Since I know many people deal with muscle imbalances in their legs, I thought I’d share my A & B workouts with you. Each one takes about 15 minutes and can easily be done first thing in the morning, or while watching TV in the evening.

IT Band Exercises

Here are links to each of the exercises:

Single Leg Squat

Side Walking Squats

Hip Raise (aka glute bridge)

Side Leg Lifts (can have legs straight or bent, also called Clamshells)

Donkey Kicks

Single Leg Bench Squats (I just sit and then use both feet to stand up, my PT said work up to being able to sit and stand on one leg)

 

Do you do any daily exercises?

Have you ever been to a physical therapist?

How do you deal with injury?

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36 COMMENTS

  1. I thought I had IT Band issues, but my dr thinks its actually (a really fancy word) that means my outer thighs are overdeveloped and my inner thighs are underdeveloped pulling my knees outward and causing pain. So I need to do extra single leg squats to help increase my inner thigh strength.

  2. I love those exercises, pinned. A lot of people think they have a knee problem but it is really tied to other muscles in their leg that are not well maintained, I think.

    I had a weird knee thing – left knee felt unstable and would cause pain. For 4-5 years, I TOTALLY thought it was a knee thing! It was only after doing pilates and stretching a lot that I realize it was tied to that. Crazy!

  3. That’s a smart way to do it. Make a schedule for it. Such a simple idea, but when I have instruction from a Physical Therapist, I definitely don’t schedule it. I just try to remember to do it during the day and if I forget, I do it before bed. I like this method better.

    In terms of dealing with injury, I used to be a sore loser about it. I’m gonna reference yoga again, Yoga has taught me that all you can really do is be patient and compassionate with the injury. I both injured my wrist in a yoga pose by popping into it way too quickly without listening to my body’s signals at all, and I then had to do everything on my forearms for months. Even if I tried to use my wrists, they would stop me. I was forced to slow down. It killed my ego, which, looking back, was a great thing. I guess this goes back to being humbled again.

    Give your IT band love and respect, which it looks like you’e doing with your schedule there. I do hope it eventually changes its mind about being problematic.

    • That was my problem – I knew I “needed to do exercises” but I never did them. Making a plan and having kind of a to do list for it really helps me. And it sounds like your wrist issue is similar – making us slow down and listen to our bodies!

  4. I hope that this helps your injury. Strength training and stretching can do wonders.
    I had a serious shoulder injury while dancing (although it was pre existing) resulting in surgery, six weeks of no use, and 5 months of PT. It killed me inside that I was so limited but I don’t regret taking the time to slowly rebuild my strength. I’m finally back to running 3 miles straight and lifting weights I was pre surgery after nine months of recovery. It really sucks but I owe SO much to physical therapy and sticking to their regimen. Keep your eye on the long term so you can live a healthy life doing what you love!

  5. This is great! I’ve realized the same thing this year – that I have to be more diligent about strengthening exercises for my legs and hips. Thanks for sharing!

  6. Great tips- and yes- the consistency is so key. Coming off a hip and it band injury where I stopped running for six months- I am now trying to be so good about foam rolling. My chiropractor can always tell when I have or have not rolled as much as I should have.

  7. I hate the nagging it-band problem. These are great exercises I did religious and still use to keep injuries at bay. Muscular imbalances are a major component to injuries for runners.

  8. Love this post! I really need to work on this myself and think I’m going to start doing exercises twice a week (considering I’m doing them zero times currently) and maybe add in another day or two from there.

  9. i’ve never been to pt but i went to a sports chiro when my knees and hips were acting up when i was running a lot – he gave me a couple different exercises to strengthen my hamstrings and hips as he thought that was the root of my problem!

  10. Hey! I have currently been working out alot and my hip started bothering me a couple weeks ago as soon as i think its getting better i exercise and it flares up again, now my knee is starting to hurt as well, i really think it is because I rarely stretch pre or post workout because i never had any issues before. Do you suggest stretching before and after workouts? I mainly do weight training excercises with light cardio. But i will definitely have to try stretching more often and these exercises!! Thanks!

    • I stretch for a solid 10-15 minutes after a workout (holding stretches for 45-60 seconds). Before I try to warm up for about 5 minutes (fast walking, dancing around, foam rolling) and then I do a few short stretches like a normal standing quad stretch (grab foot behind butt), calves, and sometimes a lunge to get my hip. If I’m weight training I love doing some cardio before and then stretching a little between sets – saves time!

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