ITBS, or Iliotibial Band Syndrome is a genuine dick. It’s a horrid condition that can crush a runner and leave you in long-term pain. I attribute ITB as one of the root causes I dropped from Para selection course many moons ago. And at the time the only advice I could get was to stretch it. And whilst it helps to relieve the tension and soreness, it does nothing long term to resolve the root cause.
I won’t go into the detail as to what the root causes are, but it’s probably bad form, minimal stretching, and winging too many runs, but I will share what finally helped me get it under control.
What I will say is that once you get ITBS, you need to stop running. Stop everything. There is no benefit in continuing to run whilst your treating the ITBS. Treatment can be as quick as a week or two, and preventative maintenance is a far better recommendation.
Fixing ITBS in the gym
This is the very best way, primarily because it’s the easiest. What you need is a hip adductor machine or station. Get on this machine, set the weight to low – you don’t need to work hard here – and get some sets in. 3 sets x 8 reps would be a great start. Come back a few days later and repeat.
The maintenance and the treatment are the same, so rather than wait for ITBS to find you or come back around and get you, get some maintenance in.
If you can find a reverse hip adduction (i.e. abduction) machine, where you work against the resistance of the machine to open your legs, then you’ve found the holy grail combo. Again 3 sets of 8 reps.
Fixing ITBS at home
At home, unless you’re mega fancy and have an adductor machine at home, you’ll likely need some bands instead. Effectively you’re going to replicate the same movements as above, but with bands providing the resistance. The good news with bands is that you can easily use them for the hip adduction movement and the hip abduction movement as well.
In either movement you will mean you need to anchor the band to something. A wall mount, a heavy weight, a rack, or a kettlebell. Make sure it’s solid, because you don’t want the band snapping against you if it comes loose.
This video is showing how to do the movement with an adjustable pulley, but it would be the same with a band. One aspect they get so right is to move the foot over the centre line. This is one benefit over using the gym machines.
Doing these exercises once a week for a few months where I’m running consistently keeps any sniff of ITBS away. I don’t generally find I get any ITBS issues much anymore, because I take the time for maintenance, but I also know if I train too hard or too long, or allow myself to get too fatigued then it can start to creep in.
Will the above exercises cure me of all running niggles? No way. You also need a robust core (see McGill big three) and you need to train your hip flexors too (which are partially covered with the above exercises, but not entirely).
Hope this helps.
Simply Seanie 