Prevent IT Band Problems
In this article:
IT band problems are very common… But that doesn’t mean having pain there is normal.
This post is going to dive into how to prevent IT band problems so you can run without IT band injury.
Looking for the video version of this post? Click here for the video version.
Before we get started looking at how to prevent it, let’s look even at what the IT band is.
The IT band runs along the outside of your leg from your hip to your knee. It’s a band of fascia which means it’s a tough fibrous tissue. It is not a muscle and it’s really not a ligament either. It runs from the hip (glute) muscles down just past your knee and attaches at the top of your shin on the outside.
The IT band is there to help hold your leg in place so that it doesn’t dive too far in or bow out.
OK now that quick anatomy lesson is over let’s get into how to prevent IT band issues and how to prevent IT band injuries.
How to prevent IT band injuries
Just as with other problems of the knee, it’s never going to be one thing that helps you fix or prevent IT band issues. It’s a combination, a balance, of six components: strength, training, recovery, equipment, stretching, diet.
These six components make up the stressed system. I’m going to walk you through how to balance out each of these six components to prevent IT band issues so you can run without pain from the IT band.
Strength training to prevent IT band problems is all about the muscles that surround the IT band.
This is the glutes, the quads and hamstrings and the Cavs.
To Prevent IT Band Injuries Strengthen Glutes
The main strength training needs to be done at the glutes, because the glutes will preposition where your legs are in space because they’re the first attachment for the legs to the rest of the body.
You will often hear just strengthen the glutes to prevent IT band problems. And this is not completely true. If you only have time to just strength one part of the body yes focus on the glutes, but really spending time at the quads, hamstrings and calves at the same time is better.
Exercises to Strengthen the Glute Muscles
Squats
Lunges
Lateral lunges
Deadlifts
Step up
Step down
Lateral step up
Lateral step down
Bridging
Video of exercises to strengthen glute muscles
Training to prevent IT band injuries involves not going too far too fast.
So what that means is when you’re running make sure you’re adding in more length to your run progressively week over weeks you’re not doing too much every single week.
So the right amount of running to prevent IT band injuries is 10% more each week.
So this means if you run based on time you only add 10% more running time each week. If you run by distance, you only add 10% more distance each week. And this means staying at the same pace. If you increase your pace that’s also adding too much too soon. So if you’d rather go faster, only increase your pace by 10%.
When you train too much too soon that’s what leads to a lot of injuries. That’s why it’s so important to only increase by 10% each week to prevent IT band issues.
Recovery techniques
Foam roll
Massage gun
Massage therapy
Hot epsom salt bath
Recovery techniques to prevent IT band issues is whatever you’re doing after your running, strength, training, and stretching routines.
Most often recovery to prevent IT band issues is foam rolling, using a massage gun to your IT band, going to a massage therapist, and taking a hot epsom salt bath.
How to Foam Roll to Prevent IT Band Injury
When using a foam roller to prevent IT band issues, make sure that you’re putting as much weight as you can tolerate through your leg onto the foam roller and roll up and down the whole outside of the leg starting at 10 seconds per side and increasing overtime to no more than 60 seconds but you only need as much as it feels good to you. Meaning if 30 seconds feels great to you you don’t have to push yourself to 60 seconds stop at the 30 seconds.
How to Use a Massage Gun on IT Band
When using a massage gun to prevent IT band pain, use the massage gun on the whole length of your IT bands from hip down to the knee for 10 seconds, starting up to 60 seconds. Just like with the foam roller you only need to use the massage gun for as long as it feels good. So if 30 seconds of using the massage gun on the outside of your legs feels good to you. No need to keep going up to 60 seconds stop at the time limit that feels good to you.
Does Massage Help Prevent IT Band Injury?
Massage therapy is very helpful to prevent IT band injuries. Make sure you tell your massage therapist what is working and what isn’t working for you. If they are using too much pressure, or not enough pressure tell them. Of course they are using their professional judgment to help you, but you’ll be able to tell after a few sessions if it’s working. Regular massages to prevent IT band injuries should be done once a month if you don’t have IT band issues yet… and twice a month or as often as once a week if you already have IT band problems.
Does Epsom Salt Prevent IT Band Injury?
Hot epsom salt baths help prevent IT band injuries. Hot epsom salt baths are done at the end of the day after a run or workout. Sit in the bath for 20 minutes at a time, and do this after every intense workout or run to prevent IT band injuries.
The Equipment To Use To Prevent IT Band Injury
Shoes
Foam roller
Massage gun
To prevent IT band issues when you run the equipment you use is important. The equipment you use to prevent IT band issues includes the shoes you’re wearing, the foam roller you’re using, or the massage gun you’re using.
You need to make sure that the shoes you wear to run are the right kind for you based on how you run.
If your shoes don’t support you in the places that you put the most pressure then your ankles, knees and hips are going to take a hit and if your weak spot is at your IT band that’s the spot that’s over and over again going to be painful.
Your foam roller needs to be the right amount of density so the right amount sickness to make an effect when you foam roll.
It needs to be not too soft because that won’t do anything but not so hard that you don’t want to use it so find the right amount density that works for your leg.
If a foam roller is too hard, start off by using a tennis ball rolling up and down your life with your hand, adding the pressure or switch to a massage gun.
Using a massage gun to prevent IT band issues in an equipment sense is making sure that it’s a good quality massage gun. Do you want to make sure that it works with the amount of pressure that you need and that it works for the amount of time that you need it. If it doesn’t add enough pressure it’s not going to work if you add too much pressure you’re not going to want to use it and if it craps out on you in 10 seconds but you need to use it for 60 seconds you’re not gonna wanna use it either.
Stretching to prevent IT band issues involved the whole leg. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot stretch the IT band. Instead what you do is you stretch the muscles around the IT band so that there’s less overall tension in the area. So this means stretching your glutes, piriformis quads, hamstrings, and calves.
What Muscles Should I Stretch to Prevent IT Band Injury?
Glutes
Piriformis
Quads
Hamstrings
Calves
In order to stretch adequately you need to be holding a stretch for a total of 60 seconds. The most common frequency and duration of holding the stretches is 2 repetitions for 30 seconds each muscle on each side.
Stretch for 30 seconds 2 times
You need to feel a good pull in the muscle that you’re stretching but it’s not too painful. If it’s too painful and you need to modify the stretch. If you don’t feel the stretch in the right muscle, you need to modify the stretch because if you don’t feel it, it’s not doing anything.
And if it’s too painful, your body can go into rebound soreness where it tightens up even more creating more problems.
What you eat and drink can help prevent IT band issues. This one is a little less direct to some people, but what you put in your body when you eat and drink can flare up and cause inflammation.
If you are prone to having pain in a certain area like your IT band, what you eat and drink can promote that or it can prevent that.
In general, a good diet should include a balance of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Limit the amount of processed and refined sugars in foods, because those create inflammation in the body so somebody who is prone to inflammation and pain this type of food will continue to create that in your body.
30g of protein at every meal
Good carbs → vegetables, fruits, whole grains
Good fats → EVOO, raw nuts & seeds, avocado
There you have it… those are the ways to prevent IT band issues so you can run without IT band pain. As you see, it’s never just one thing that will prevent IT band issues. It’s a combination of the six components: strength, training, recovery, equipment, stretching, diet. If you work on only one of those categories, you will feel a little bit better, but the problem will come back so in order to prevent it completely you need to balance out all six components.
Ready to Conquer Your runDisney Goals After Injury?
If you've faced setbacks but dream of crossing that finish line stronger than ever, the 0 to 5K Hero is your ticket to success. Personalized plans, experienced running injury coaching and supportive community are here to guide you. Take the first step today by booking a FREE call – let's rewrite your runDisney journey together!