I’ve received a nice amount of traffic on this website for my post “The best damn IT band stretch.” In the comments of that post I’ve repeatedly mentioned it’s not the only stretch I use, how some people shouldn’t do it, and it’s not the only method of loosening the IT band.
Rather than continue to be vague, and considering the amount of email I get pertaining to the IT band, I thought I’d put together a resource detailing how I often go about stretching the IT band.
–
6 Exercises to Loosen the IT Band
Here is an outline of the manual:
-Introduction: Anatomy of IT band
-Covered for free here.
-Why most IT band stretches are missing the boat
-Covered for free here.
There are 6 exercises discussed. For each exercise I go over:
–Set-up of the exercise
-I use pictures to detail the proper set-up.
–The exercise
-Pictures detailing what the movement is.
-Video of the exercise
-Each exercise has a private link to a Youtube video showing the proper set-up and form.
–Common form errors
-Pictures detailing each form error. If you don’t do the exercise properly you can actually make matters worse. That is, potentially make your IT band tighter.
-Video of exercise going over form errors
-Each exercise has a private link to Youtube going over common form errors and the necessary corrections. Voice over included.
–Coaching cues
-“What should I be thinking about during this?”
–There’s only so much you can think about during an exercise. We need to choose our cues carefully.
–How to modify an exercise if pain is felt.
-For instance, if you feel pain or pulling in your knee, how can you alleviate that?
–Progressing the exercise:
-Making it harder and increasingly effective.
–Quick recap: Why this exercise loosens the IT band
–
Other things you’ll learn
-Why hip and lower back positioning are crucial.
-If you are trying to loosen your IT band due to hip pain / issues, there are certain stretches you should avoid.
-Not all hip flexion is created equal / Not all hip flexion is bad.
–
Also included
-A sample exercise routine with sets, reps, and a progression. This covers two month’s worth of programming. Provided in a printable Excel spreadsheet.
(Just FYI, there’s no foam rolling exercises. If you’re reading this, you’ve likely realized how useless foam rolling is for loosening the IT band. You can read more about that here.)
–
From those who’ve done the program
The product is emailed to you as soon as you order it with links to download the PDF and two accompanying Excel spreadsheets. (Two month’s worth of programming.) The pictures are in the book as well as links to all the videos, and the spreadsheet has a list of video links to make things easier as well.
Finally, if you don’t feel the purchase was helpful / informative / whatever; shoot me an email, b-reddy@hotmail.com , and I’ll refund you immediately.
You can get it for 12 bucks by clicking here: 
–
Jacqui
December 1, 2013
Hi Brian:
I bought your IT band stretches book and one piece of feedback I have is that I found it disappointing that your “best damn IT band stretch” (standing version anyways) isn’t in there. Personally I had hoped it was, so I would have an easy reference to it and not have to go hunting around your website for the detailed instructions anytime I want to review them. I specifically wanted exercises that I could easily do at home without any gym equipment like benches etc. and the standing version of that stretch fits the bill – it was one of the main reasons for buying the book. You may want to consider adding this information during your next revision.
Having said that, I’m still not sure if the IT Band is actually my problem, or if I should have bought another book altogether.
I have discomfort/tightness coming from the right lumbar joint and wrapping all the way around to the front right groin area and then extending about halfway down the inside front of the right leg.
Foam rolling and particularly sitting and rolling around on a tennis ball seems to alleviate the tightness (I know you’re no friend of foam rollers, but I have to say that tennis ball did an awful lot for me. It definitely felt as though some glute muscle with a nerve clenched in its jaws finally released its grip..).
Anyhow, I was thinking it could be psoas and tight glutes? I can definitely feel the glutes when I try to bend over to touch my toes. But then, often what looks like the obvious cause actually isn’t.
I’m not overweight, live on a small farm and move around quite a bit and do strength training twice a week using free weights and body weight.
If you could point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated!
reddyb
December 2, 2013
Hey Jacqui,
Thanks for your thoughts and recommendation. I’m sorry you were expecting that stretch in the book. I made a conscious effort to not include it in there though, here is why:
-People butcher it. I tried my best to include exercises which are easy to implement. I’ve coached enough people on that stretch to know it doesn’t fit in this category. It reminds people so much of a gym class quad stretch they inevitably start doing a quad stretch.
People also let their hips laterally tilt / shift. I didn’t go over this in the post on the standing stretch, but I cover the laterally tilting issue in the book. I didn’t go over this in the standing stretch post because to also worry about this during the standing variation is just too much for people to think about. Plus, it’s really hard to for the person to understand when they can’t see themselves.
-Going with the above, there is a good deal of balance required. To the extent for many balance becomes more of a concern then generating the stretch. You could add some support to help with this but…
-It can be cumbersome to set up. First, you need something of the appropriate height, ideally something that changes height, for foot placement. Other than chairs, this isn’t easily accessible around the house. (And that’s only if you have multiple chairs and differing heights.) If you need support, then you also need something in front of the person they can hold on to. This is why the supine variation is in the book and the standing one isn’t: All you need for the supine variation is something to lay down on. A bed isn’t ideal, but it’s sufficient. Many I know have used table tops too. So, in my mind, the exercises I laid out are about as “you can do it at home” friendly as I could get.
-The last thing I’ll say on this is be sure to not confuse how much you feel something with how effective it is. Many enjoy the standing stretch because they feel more of a stretch. Feeling a stretch isn’t the point. This is why I titled the book “exercises” and not “stretches” to loosen the IT band. I wanted people in an exercise, not stretching, mindset. That is, I want people to worry more about how they’re moving and less about making a muscle feel like it’s going to tear.
A combination of the above factors, along with others I outlined in the post, has caused me to very rarely use the standing version.
Hopefully that makes sense and clears things up.
Regarding your issue:
-Anything radiating down the leg is usually starting at the lower back. Same thing with issues felt in the butt. The exercises in the book certainly have merits. In many lower back issues you’re trying to get the person the move their lower back less and their extremities more. There are exercises in the book where I explicitly go over this. However, the book is not aimed at a lower back issue. It’s much more aimed at your typical IT band issues, e.g. knee pain.
In other words, much of what it is in the book would be what I would do with somebody with a lower back history, but it’s only part of what I would do. I don’t have another resource aimed at this (on my to do list), but there are some in my “Recommended Reading” page that are worthwhile. Sahrmann’s stuff in particular. That is a much more technical read though.
Jacqui
December 2, 2013
Thank You Brian for the thoughtful reply – I can understand why you’d be reluctant to put the exercise in there. You’re right, it does require some balance and to me at least it doesn’t feel like anything is being stretched a lot. Since I thought I had seen or heard you say that somewhere, I wasn’t particularly concerned about making it feel “stretchy”.
Fortunately I have a chair that seems to have my leg at about the angle suggested in the video, so I think I’m good there.
I’m currently also doing some of the lower back exercises in your Sleeping book, which I picked up as well, so we’ll give it a few weeks and see.
In general, how often should one do all these exercises (lower back and IT Band) – once morning and once evening?
Thanks again!
Jacqui
reddyb
December 4, 2013
Hey Jacqui,
The sleep stuff can be good in the morning and at night. For the IT band stuff I’d go based off the attached spreadsheets. If you wanted to add the standing version I’d add it in line with the spreadsheets. For example, make it comparable to the other exercises: same type of progression, same number of days per week.
Jan Brown
December 31, 2013
I have bilateral hip replacements, are your stretches safe for me to use.
reddyb
January 1, 2014
Hey Jan,
That depends on how your hips are doing, when you had the replacements done, amongst other things. If your surgeon has cleared you for exercise -unless you have some particular restrictions- you should be ok with these exercises.
Kelly A
August 21, 2014
I think I have an IT-band related problem, but I’m not sure. I feel a lot of pain when I get up off the floor, and similar pain, to a lesser extent, when I stand up out of a chair. The pain is sharp and covers a good 10-12 inches along the sides of my legs; the left side is worse, and there’s some knee pain there, too. I know my TFL is super tight, esp on the left, and I have been getting it worked on.
I am going to download the six-stretch routine; should that put me on the right track, or is something else worth trying?
Thanks!
reddyb
August 22, 2014
Hey Kelly,
This should be a good start, particularly if you’re having knee issues.
If that pain along your thigh is a radiating pain, then that could be something coming from the lower back. While this manual can help with that, that’s not the primary focus. The knees are the priority.
Feel free to email me and let me know how things go for you: b-reddy@hotmail.com
Joann
January 8, 2016
I have been told by PTs that I am experiencing IT band pain. However, my pain is not in or around my knee. It is only over the outside of my left hip – about where the GM attaches to the IT Band. I haven’t found any stretches that work for this pain. “Typical” IT Band stretches do not help. The pain can at times be bad enough to impair my ability to walk more than a half mile at a time. Thoughts? Suggestions?
reddyb
January 10, 2016
IT band stretches are unlikely to be sufficient in that situation. (This manual probably wouldn’t be the right purchase for you.) In a case where the hip is involved, you want to be looking more at the hip and considerably at the lower back. One example: http://b-reddy.org/2012/12/27/thoughts-on-correcting-a-lateral-pelvic-tilt/
truthsphilosophy
August 10, 2016
Hey Brian,
I have an issue with my right knee. I believe it’s an IT friction problem. It feels like my right hip is externally rotated and my right foot pronates outward and my left hip feels internally rotated and hiked up a bit. Can’t tell if my left hip is hiked up or my right is low. My gf is in med school and she said my left glute is weak and seems hiked up but she couldn’t tell me
If it was hiked up or if my right has dropped. Will this program you have help with my issue? Is there a way I could send you some pictures and see what you think? I’m willing to pay for an assessment if it’s affordable for me.
Thanks!
Brent
reddyb
August 12, 2016
Hey Brent,
The program does work to even out things of this nature, though it’s more secondary. For instance, many of the exercises can be made to have this focus, but they aren’t necessarily cued that way in the guide. However, if the knee is more your priority, then that’s probably what you want anyways.
For an assessment, feel free to check this out: https://b-reddy.org/2013/06/20/the-remote-client-process/
Bobby
November 3, 2017
too bad the IT band isn’t a muscle and doesn’t stretch!! makes me sick when I see stuff like this
b-reddy
February 6, 2018
Hey Bobby,
Sorry for the delay. I somehow missed this comment.
Luckily, I have some dramamine for you. In the first sentence of 6 Exercises to Loosen the IT band (this page), I reference an article, “The best damn IT band stretch”, where I write,
As a heads up, I have a very low tolerance to trolling. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt here, but I removed your “email” as it was clearly unnecessarily incendiary. I have no problem with disagreeing, but if you approach the site again that way, I’ll delete your comment.
Adam
April 22, 2018
Is this still an active website as I’m interesting in buying your 6 exercises to loosen the IT band.
b-reddy
April 24, 2018
As active as ever!