Exercise To Help With IT Band Syndrome

Part 1: Clams
IT band syndrome: this is a big thing in running, and it can be a little controversial at times. Anytime a runner says, “Hey, I got pain on the outside of the knee”, people pop up and they're like, “that's IT band syndrome.” You need to do some foam rolling, stretch the crap out of that, scrape the soft tissue and all that stuff. We now know that most of the time, the issue isn't at the side of the knee but up in the strength of the hips and the glutes. This controls the knee motion when landing, while running, so it actually appears as a problem for the pain near the knee. So I'm going to show you some exercises that help to strengthen this area.
The first one is doing a clam and this is a really common exercise, but super important as the first step is to make sure that you're actually working on the right thing.
So start off by getting in a side lying position, straighten your body all the way out. First thing I want you to do is just hold for 30 seconds. Make sure you're contracting the GLUTES. Then after you hold for 30 seconds, do 20 reps and I would do it twice on each side.
Try this exercise out to strengthen those hips!
Part 2: Side plank for hips
The second exercise that I want you to do for IT band syndrome by strengthening the hips and glutes is a variation of side plank. It's basically what I call a side plank, but for your hips.
First you're going to get into a side lying position. Then you’ll want to push yourself up, as if you're going to do a side plank, squeeze the glutes to push your hips forward. Next, I want you to lift one side while lifting the leg of that same side up. You can start by just holding and then to make a little harder, you can push your leg straight all the way out, or you can actually go up and down.
You can also add a band if you would like to make it even a bit harder, but you will feel this on both sides. You'll feel it on the downside if you're lifting up and you'll feel it on that top side also.
Again, this is kind of the next level past the clams and working those hips. So try this exercise out to help with IT band syndrome!
Part 3: Band Walks
The last exercise I want to show you that will work the outside of the hips and the glutes for IT band syndrome is the good old band walk.
What you're going to do is put the band around your ankles. This gets the most activation because it's lower down on the lever arms. We're going to band walk over here by the espresso machine here at Mission Move. You want to bend your knees slightly forward and out. Then you're just going to take one step followed by another step. Always keep the feet about the same distance apart. Don't cheat by taking really big steps and don't cheat by taking little tiny steps where your feet get close together.
You’ll want to do is to do about 30 seconds to a minute, one direction, and then do 30 seconds to a minute the other direction. Give that one a try, and I hope all of these exercises were helpful to you!