IT Band Tightness and Pain | Chiropractor in Reading, PA
Hey guys, Dr. McClimon back with McClimon Chiropractic, and today we’re going to talk about a source of knee pain called iliotibial band syndrome, or IT band syndrome.
A Commonly Overlooked Cause of Knee Pain
Knee pain comes from a lot of different reasons: osteoarthritis, meniscus problems, ligament problems, and sprains and strains. But one of the common things that I see that often gets overlooked is called IT band syndrome.
The IT band, or iliotibial band, is a muscle that runs from the hip here, over top of the hip, down to about the mid-thigh. Then it turns into a tendon, where it attaches to Gerdy’s tubercle just below the knee joint.
You might have pain down the outside of your leg, and you’re thinking it’s sciatica when, in reality, it’s not sciatica. It’s actually a tight muscle that is giving you almost like a tendinitis-type effect.
What Causes the IT Band to Get Tight?
The IT band can get tight. It oftentimes gets tight with a pelvis that is imbalanced. We talked about that earlier.
If your pelvis is imbalanced due to subluxation and an anatomical short leg, the one side that’s shorter gets tighter. That can create tightness in the IT band and pain along the side of the leg and on the side of the knee.
Tip One: Stretch the IT Band
There are two things that help IT band syndrome that you can do at home. One is stretching the IT band.
One way that you can do that is with a band, or you can just cross your leg over. With the leg that’s down, you can put that against the corner of a wall or a table. Bring the leg you’re going to stretch up to about this angle, and then stretch it across. You’re going to feel that stretch in the IT band like that.
Hold that there for about 15 seconds. Do that three to five times.
I also like to come up and kind of hit the hamstring first. Stretch the hamstring, drop it down, and then cross over. Hold that there, and that stretches the IT band.
Stretching that IT band and improving its flexibility takes the tension off around the knee and will relieve the knee pain.
Tip Two: Roll the Muscle
The other thing that’s helpful is to actually roll the muscle part of the IT band, break up adhesions, and create more mobility in the muscle. It’s actually good to do that before you do the stretch.
If you have a rolling pin at home, that works. This is called the Stick. It’s a roller.
You don’t want to roll the tendon part of the IT band, but you do want to roll the muscle part from the mid-thigh up. You want to roll toward the heart, so you can roll through that IT band and up over top of the hip.
As you roll up over top of the hip, do that for, gosh, about a minute. It’s going to be really sore and tender. Roll through that with as much pain as you can take. Do it for about a minute.
This helps break up the adhesions. Then do the stretching. It improves the mobility and flexibility of the IT band and relieves the pain and tenderness at the knee.
Addressing a Pelvic Imbalance
Guys, those are two tips on how to relieve some pain from IT band syndrome.
If you do have a pelvic imbalance, that’s obviously something we’d have to look at in the office. It could be the root cause of why the IT band is tight, and we can help you with that here.
So, guys, that’s your tip. God bless. We’ll talk to you soon.
