IT Band Syndrome
IT band syndrome (illiotibial band syndrome) is when you feel chronic pain anywhere between the side of your hip to the side of your knee. Personally, I see this syndrome in a lot of people with pain on the side of their knee, especially runners.
What is IT Band Syndrome?
What doctors call IT band syndrome, is in actuality, a weakness or tight knots known as trigger points in the TFL. But most everyone hears IT “band” syndrome and goes to town on their IT bands with a foam roller.
The TFL, or the tensor fasciae latae, is a muscle that attaches at the hip and merges with strong connective tissue along the side of your thigh connecting it to your knee. It’s that fascia, or connective tissue along the side of the leg and the knee where you can tend to feel this pain so I understand that your instinct may be to foam roll this out but I ask you not to. Not unless you want to feel worse.
Your doctor may recommend physical therapy, which I can’t begin to tell you the countless times I’ve heard about the frustration of going to PT several times a week and still not feel better 10, 12, 13 sessions later. Or they’ll recommend corticosteroid injections or worse- surgery.
Does acupuncture work for IT Band Syndrome?
Yes! I treat it very often. Sometimes the TFL is underworking or not firing strongly enough and isn’t doing its job of abducting the leg or working as a hip flexor. In cases like this, foam rolling the TFL is literally the worst thing you can do. I know this can be an issue for many long distance runners so seeing a sports therapist like myself is the right move for you.
Whether you’re an athlete or not and you have this pain, acupuncture or dry needling, can absolutely help you and get back to running in no time.
