One of these large muscles responsible for stabilizing the knees is called your glute medius. When we perform barbell lifts (squat, clean, deadlift, etc.) these muscles turn on and ensure your knees stay in line with your feet (i.e. The muscles on the sides of your hips are responsible for two main actions, moving your leg away from your body and postural stability. In the movie Happy Gilmore, Adam Sandler’s character had a golf coach named Chubbs who loved to say, “It’s all in the hips.” And boy was he right. So now that we know what IT Band Syndrome is and how to test for it, let’s now talk about why this issue started in the first place. 1 Thus, it is not the IT Band itself but the tissue underlying its attachment to the lateral knee that is the pain generator in ITB Syndrome (medically this is classified as form of enthesopathy). As the knee is progressively bent, tension is shifted from the anterior to the posterior fibers of the ITB.įor this reason, we believe that the problem is not due to friction underneath the band but instead compression of a layer of highly innervated fat (contains a lot of nerve endings) that leads to pain. In fact, the rolling movement many see when the knee is flexed and straightened is not actually a true movement but instead a shifting in the tension of the IT Band. We’ve found through recent research that the IT Band is firmly attached to the distal femur by strong fibrous strands that prevent it from rolling over the epicondyle as previously thought. 2,6 This causes friction underneath the IT Band that eventually results in inflammation and pain. The initial thought process by many was that when the IT Band is excessively tight, it repetitively shifts forward and backward over the prominent part of your femur bone as your knee bends and straightens (called your lateral femoral condyle). The exact reason for why this problem develops however is debatable with some citing the pain as a result of excessive friction while other believe it is a compression issue. 3-5 However it also appears in the those participating in weight training. In fact, IT Band Syndrome has been found to encompass upwards of 12% of all running-related injuries. Typically with IT Band syndrome, the runner will experience more pain when they run for longer periods. Historically, IT Band pain has been thought to be a repetitive overuse injury typically found in runners. 1 It encloses the tensor fasciae latae (TFL) and also has connections to the gluteus maximus (your largest butt muscle), lateral hamstrings and lateral quads. So what exactly is the IT Band? Well, it’s actually a thick piece of fascia (dense connective tissue) that runs from the top of your hip all the way to the outside (lateral) part of your knee. In this article we’re going to dive a little deeper into IT Band Pain (also called Iliotibial Band Syndrome) and show you how to fix this problem. Welcome back to Squat University! For the past 2 weeks we’ve been discussing common causes of knee pain when barbell training.
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