IT Band Stretches are a must have in any athlete’s tool box key to recovery after training.
Knowing how to do IT band stretches are crucial to eliminating knee pain. If you’re a runner, or play a sport that keeps you running, you’ve probably tried a foam roller to relieve the tension in your IT Band, iliotibial band. The IT band is a vital area of your leg to target for stretching exercises when you run or do brisk cardio.
IT band stretches can help protect you from knee pain as the tendon we are stretching is going from the ILLIUM in the hip to the Tibia, the bone in the lower leg.
Many people use a myofascial release method in order to do IT band stretches. This method is a form of soft tissue therapy that usually includes using a foam roller to massage the illio-tibial band of tendon going down the outside of each leg. I have personally found that this foam roller method is quite painful.
There is a much easier way of relieving the IT band so that you aren’t fighting the muscle to release tension, instead you stretch the leg in a way that loosens the IT band naturally.
Click on the video to see a faster, simpler and much less painful way to eliminate IT band pain:
I know myofascial release sounds logical. And it may work for you. But I prefer the pain free alternative, ahhh, comfort…
Here’s what happens with runners knee or any other knee injury… your body tenses up to protect you from pain. This creates a tension pattern that affects the muscles in your leg and the tendons in your knee.
It’s a type of defense mechanism that your body develops to protect you from knee pain. Your body is conditioned to protect you from acute pain.
When the tension pattern develops, your body creates a condition that causes the knee to rotate out. When the knee rotates out, it causes your IT band, the tendon that runs from your hip along your thigh to the outside of your knee, to tighten up.
The tightening of the IT Band is very serious, especially if you’re an athlete. If you are a snowboarder, skier, or any type of athlete that performs jumps, or puts any amount of stress on the knees, this tightened tendon could lead to various other problems.
I have heard of many gymnasts, soccer players, and runners who competed with tension in their IT Band and ended up severely irritating their knee, particularly the patella, or kneecap.
This irritation can lead to severe pain right below the kneecap, also known as Chondromalacia.
Another source of IT Band pain is an inflammation to the tendon itself. If you are a distance runner, you may have experienced this after you suddenly increase your running mileage. This inflammation, which is called IT Band Syndrome, ITBS, is marked by an intense pain in the outer knee where the IT Band ends.
This ITBS pain could also be the result of simple overuse. You could experience pain in the same place on your outer knee caused by iliotibial band friction syndrome, which is an irritation of the tendon itself. This pain may be a sign that you need to take it easy and rest your muscles.
If you just can’t live without that “myofascial release” grab that foam roller and OUCH your way to short term comfort.
Bill is “The Knee Pain Guru” and “The Best in the World at Eliminating Knee Pain without Drugs, Shots or Surgery.”
He has over 26 years of martial art and body work experience understanding movement and tensions patterns that lead to physical pain.
Bill’s believes the nervous system is the key to the body’s healing and the bridges the gap between what we currently know and the infinite possibilities of what we don’t know yet how the body can heal itself. Coupled with comfort this combination creates the shortest distance between a life riddled with pain to a physical life fully mobile and self expressed.
“You can’t think your way out of pain. Pain is not rational and doesn’t care what you think. You must feel your way out of pain through comfort. Through the weeks, months and years of injury and compensation patterns built up in your body limiting your movement and making you feel older than your years.”
His unique ability of identifying the blocks that keep people stuck in pain and skillfully removing them allows for lasting change and a new reality for his clients…
===> Click here to setup your Knee Pain Strategy Session with me and learn <===
– The cause of the “Pain-Tension Loop” and how you think, move and feel about your knees…
– How to use “Pain-Pattern Interrupts” to break the “Pain-Tension Loop” and get relief immediately…
– How to include this in your daily life in only 20 minutes a day…
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Thanks a lot Bill for helping us out of pain by your wonderful methods
Aakash
You’re welcome!
What do you have going on with your knee?
Bill
Hi Bill I’ve been having bad knee pain for 6/7 months now. I play football 2 or 3 times a week which involves a lot of high intensity running/jumping. I try to do some stretches and foam rolling to help me get through the next session but the pain just seems to be in a continuous loop. At first it was more on my right knee but it’s both now. I have bother driving and even walking I can feel pain. I should probably stop playing until I get rid of the pain but I haven’t yet. More recently, I… Read more »
Darragh
The short answer is yes. The longer answer is a little more tricky to answer based on the limited information in your post. Have you gone to see a doctor about this? If so, what was the diagnosis?
Regards
Bill
I haven’t seen a do about it yet no.
Go do that and let me know what they have to say…Then we can go from there and see the best way to get you help.
Just jumping back on this now. I went for an mri and the results showed I had patella tendonitis in my left knee. Nothing really showed up on my right one though. I took some time away from football and it has helped a lot. I done a lot of gym work the past 3/4 months to increase my core strength and my mobility a bit. Just back playing football now the last month or so and handling it fine. I have yet to properly stick to your program of pain patterns and helping get my knee out of pain.… Read more »
Yes…
I aoways emailed this ѡebpage post page to all my associates, as if like to read it then my contacts will
too.
Thanks Kristina! 🙂
Bill
I rode a bike outside on a flat surface 1 hour approximately and covering ten miles easy day for 4 days in a row. Big mistake, I am now back to the pain to the back of the knee, radiating to the shin ( inside ) very painful to touch and affecting my walking. I am still doing the exercises but feel tightness and pain to the back of my knee ( no problem with knee cap )when I attempt to sit on my heals. Negative on X-ray or ultra sound?.. What do you think could be causing this?
Hi James!
Thank you for reaching out to us. To better assist you, I have contacted you via email.
Kind regards,
Mimi
Thanks for your valuable, consistent advice. It is reassuring to know one can correct malfunctions of the knee and live pain free through your clear explanations and expert counseling. You are a true Guru!
i am 72 years old and i start to have knee pains and i contact you for some relief,but i discover the reason of the pain was the use of crocs for several months,i totally stop this habit and todayi i am almost free of the terrible pain i use to have,very rarelly i feel like a small disconfort. do you stil think i need some help,please advice me
Vania
That was an easy solution! Stop using crocs…
To answer your question depends on your answer to mine. Does the pain you feel stop you from doing anything you want to do in your life? If yes, then I would say yes, you need some support…If no, then there’s no need to “fix” something that isn’t broken…
Bill,
As always thanks for the info, its funny because the guy that sits next to me at work just brought in a foam roller. I forwarded him your site, hope it helps.
Breath!
Justin
Thanks Justin! Those foam rollers hurt pretty bad and leave you sore for days afterwards. Knowing there is a faster, easier way with much less pain is half the battle!
Hope you and Christine are doing well!
Bill