IT Band Pain - Starr Method

[Jack Morrison]

My IT band pain originally developed over the course of a month, gradually. One session, it got so bad I couldn't squat. I have found that deadlifting makes it worse, too. It is more around the upper and mid outside thighs than outside of the knee. I took a week off of squatting and pulling. It felt better, so worked back up a little too quickly over the course of a week, starting squatting again at 275 and ending at 340 because of pain. Is using the Starr Method appropriate in a case like this?

Thanks,

Jack Morrison

[Nick D'Agostino]

I would not use the star method for something like this. Are you doing any other activities besides lifting (running for example)? I would make tweaks to your program and get your form checked.

[Jack Morrison]

I am doing no other activities besides lifting. How long of a layoff should I take, if any? How slowly should I work up in weight on the squat?

[Nick D'Agostino]

I would not take more than a week layoff if it's really flared up. If it is mild I don't think you need a layoff. I would switch to a 4-day split if you were on LP. This will reduce your squatting and deadlifting frequency to 2x/week. Start with something lighter than you want on both exercises and take 10 pound jumps each session until it gets hard again.

[Jack Morrison]

Would you recommend stretching? Possibly everyday?

[Dust Devil]

Most people seem to attack IT band issues by using a foam roller. I use a 4" section of PVC pipe, which is exquisitely painful, but it seems to fix things up, although I've never had any close to the problem you're having.

[Nick D'Agostino]

I would not recommend stretching or foam rolling everyday. You can try rolling on it before you train like Dust Devil suggested but I've seen it go both ways in either helping it feel better or pissing things off. Just pay attention to your experience and know that if it does make things feel better that using a foam roller is not something that you NEED to do before each session but that it is something you can use to for 3-5 mins before training to help manage this issue.

[Dust Devil]

Just to be clear, I don't use a roller on the IT band before every workout, just on an as-needed basis, which is a couple of times per year. I'm not sure why it helps; IIRC, Rip seems to think IT band problems are the result of adhesions and is skeptical of rolling.

What I do more often is rolling out the quads or using a 15 pound dumbbell for that purpose, but still it's only when I start experiencing knee pain. What I'm looking for is spots that hurt when I apply pressure, because that's symptomatic of a trigger point that might be affecting the knee. I find this so regularly effective that it doesn't bother me when someone is skeptical (heathen!).