Here's the catch: a lot of runners think IT Band pain or discomfort starts in their hip.

So they can be a little caught off guard, walking down their stairs one morning, to be greeted by sharp, almost stabbing pain on the outside of their knee.

Yup, you guessed it. We're revisiting IT Band issues this week because it is IT Band season. I want to dive into a little extra nerdy ITB refresher in this email but before I do that:

I have exercises for you to try ESPECIALLY if you fit one or more of these categories:

• avid trail runner, maybe even ultramarathoner
• normally a road runner whose been experimenting with trails more frequently
• a newer runner whose starting to increase their weekly mileage and/or add hills
• a male runner who is increasing mileage/volume, speed, and/or downhills.
• no really, you've been doing a lot more downhills

here's your jump off point if you want to dive in right away:

But now for our nerdy debrief:

In the physical therapy clinic, we primarily diagnose IT Band syndrome based on ruling other stuff OUT (which can take a while).

But we look for a couple major patterns: pain with walking down stairs, pain on the outside of the knee that's near or above your knee cap (but remember: still outside portion of the knee).

We also pay attention to what you were doing 6 weeks prior to the ouchies starting, because that's potentially where the injury-culprit lies.

You're probably sick of hearing me say this, but I'm gonna say it again:

Foam rolling doesn't do anything for your IT Band. It talks to your nervous system, but it does not physically speed up healing of this injury in anyway.

Before you emphatically smash that "unsubscribe from these stupid emails" link, if you like foam rolling, if it geniunley helps your outside knee,

I want you to keep doing it, but for pain management (making sure it doesn't have a boomerang effect and make it worse later).

The reason being: OLD school thought was the ITBand was tight, that it needed to be more flexible, that they were "adhesions" or tissue that was making the ITBand stay "stuck in place".

We know better now.

The pain you're experiencing from your ITBand injury, is actually because of some massive COMPRESSION that's occuring....pretty much right where your pain is.

From doing lots of (cool) cadaver studies, we've found that UNDERNEATH the portion of the ITband that plugs in around your knee, is a pile of fat-tissue (that's supposed to be there) and it has a LOT of nerves.

And when nerves get smooshed, they go ouch. (this is my very high-tech explanation. but it gets the point across).

So this is why I'm not a fan of foam rolling a cranky ITBand because it often ends up smooshing (even harder) already cranky nerve endings. And while it may help with pain management for a while, the pain WILL come back.

As a running physical therapist, I'm more interesting in HOW do we fix the actual issue?

What do I need to make stronger so YOU can get back to trail running, get ready for your 50 miler, or just enjoy a 10k out on trail whenever you feel like it without worrying your knee is going to back fire?

That's what all this week's exercises are aimed towards. So I'll leave them down below for you to check out and...

As always...

Dare to Train Differently,

Marie Whitt, PT, DPT //@dr.whitt.fit

P.S. ITBand pain doesn't have to mean deferring your next race. Let's get the work on making that giant tendon stronger rather than foam rolling it death ;)

Looking for MORE ways to work together?

• ​RUNNING RESCUE CALL: Save your run and your race. Work directly with me 1-on-1 at the first sign of an ache, niggle, or repeat running injury. We'll deep dive into the why behind your injury and create a personalized exercise program that gets you out of pain, keeps you running, and helps prepare you for race day!
• Grab my NEWEST FREE Strength resources for runners: The Calf & Achilles Cure Toolkit, made for marathoners sidelined by stiff, painful achilles and tight, injury-prone calves who want to protect their training cycle and show up to the starting line strong, pain-free, and ready to race.
• ​STRONGER FEET WORKSHOP: Losing the battle to plantar fasciitis, posterior tib pain, or reoccurring Achilles tendonitis? Not with this workshop ;)

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