ITBS and Squats

[J_Hendrix]

I have been utilizing your program for about a month and am really enjoying it. I have seen some impressive strength gains since starting it in all lifts, and the frequency of each exercise always keeps me looking forward to doing them. I find myself wanting to do presses and power cleans on the weeks when I only do them once, and the same for bench press and deadlifts. It is keeping all of the movements fresh.

At any rate, I had a training question regarding iliotibial band syndrome that I was hoping you might be able to weigh in on. I would very much appreciate any seasoned advice you could impart.

I hit a PR of 185 on my squats last Saturday (up from barely 135!) in sets of 5, but ever since then my knee has been bothering me pretty severely. I have a lot of noises in my knees that can best be likened to rice krispies at times, but this doesn't hurt so much as it just sounds bad. But I believe I have ITBS and the squats seem to be exacerbating the symptoms to the point of having to stop doing squats. Deadlifts and power cleans feel fine. The point that it begins to be a problem is when I get to at least approximately parallel to the floor. In fact, I almost lost my balance going around the turn on the stairs to my apartment due to a sharp pain from the movement after my workout this afternoon.

Assuming this is ITBS--which I have reason to believe it is--do you have any recommendations on how to rehab my situation? I would like to not stop squatting, and can do minimal weight without problem, but what's the fun in that? According to the internet "gurus," I can do sideways leglifts to strengthen my abductors, but this seems like a severely isolated exercise and one that could take months to be effective. Can you think of any more realistic, functional movements that I could do to remove the stress from my IT band and strengthen the muscles that are associated with it?

[Mark Rippetoe]

IT band problems are always best resolved with a friction massage, where the tendon is broken away from the underlying fascia to which it is scarred/adhered. This usually produces immediate relief from the symptoms, and if done correctly only needs to be done 2-3 times for a complete fix.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, an IT release is among the most painful experiences a human being can endure. It's like childbirth condensed into a little joyous 90-second bundle. and if doesn't make you hallucinate it was not done correctly. Just to let you know.

[howardw]

If you don't mind me giving my view...


The el-cheapo solution would be to try some foam rolling. It is very painful but may help.


Another possibility is to get to a rolfer. They prefer to do ten sessions, but as it turns out the first session hits the ITB pretty heavily and made a big difference for me. I was having some ITB/hip pain and that cleared it up. I have my second session this week, which will focus on lower legs and feet (hopefully residual plantar fasciitis pain will be gone). Someone on irongarm posted about the full ten sessions and that convinced me to commit to it. Each session is around $100 but the results seem outstanding and long-lasting (as opposed to needing to go back to a chiro after three days). You might look it up.

howard