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Foam Roll ITB
Knee pain can be a nagging annoyance to downright debilitating. One possible cause of knee pain, especially on the outside of the knee, is iliotibial band (ITB) syndrome. The ITB is a wide sheeth of connective tissue, a ligament, on the outside of the thigh that runs from the hip to the outside of the shin just below the knee
ITB syndrome, a common injury in runners, is indicated by pain on the outside of the knee, inflammation and possibly thickening of the ligament.
ITB Syndrome can result from any activity that causes the knee to repeatedly turn inward. For runners this can mean wearing shoes that are worn on the outside, running on banked surfaces, running track workouts in the same direction, improper warm-up, excessive up-hill or down-hill running or just running too many miles. Other causes of ITB syndrome are cyclying with excessive toe-in position, uneven leg length, very high or very low arches of the foot or weak hip abductors.
Some treatment options are Active Release Technique (http://www.activerelease.com), a patented soft tissue technique; stretching of deep hip rotators and the ITB; and activation and strengthening of hip stabilizers.
Below is a quick video showing you how to use a foam roller to stretch the iliotibial band. Foam roll 30 seconds – 2 minutes per side.
