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The Surprising Cause Of IT Band Issues, Back, Hip And Knee Pain!

The Surprising Cause Of IT Band Issues, Back, Hip And Knee Pain!

by | Mar 24, 2020 | Blog, Butt, Exercises, Foam Rolling, Pain Relief

The psoas has become the sexy hip flexor muscle to talk about and work on.

But what if I told you that all too often the TRUE culprit of our back, hip, IT BAND, knee pain and even ANKLE pain had to do with ANOTHER hip flexor muscle?!

What if I told you that you should actually be paying attention to your TFL or your Tensor Fasciae Latae.

TFL muscle

The TFL can be a nasty little sucker, compensating for a week glute medius, perpetuating IT Band tightness and impacting everything down to our feet and ankles.

It contributes to internal hip rotation AND external tibial rotation.

Because of its far reaching impact it is a muscle we can’t ignore.

However, the hard part about addressing TFL tightness and overactivity is that many of the moves we need to do to CORRECT the issue, can often PERPETUATE IT!

For instance, to help prevent the TFL from continuing to compensate, we need to include glute medius strengthening.

But ever notice how you’ll do Monster Walks and feel the front side of your hip working?

Ever push through thinking “Oh yea! Feel that burn!?”

Or maybe you don’t even think about what is working. You’re doing the “right moves” so you just believe you SHOULD get results, right?

WRONG!

If you’re doing the right moves but still allowing muscles to compensate, not only are you NOT correcting the problem, but you may be making it worse.

So when you feel that front outside of your hip working during those mini band walks? Guess what is not working as it should and what is also COMPENSATING for that underactive muscle!?

Well your glute medius is not getting the benefit of the exercise it should be getting and instead you’re perpetuating the overuse of your TFL!

So all of that rehab? It isn’t going to pay off.

While you need to strengthen your glute medius, you need to realize that all too often our TFL can compensate for a weak glute medius.

Because this muscle then becomes even further overworked and even shortened, it can lead to lower back hip and knee pain, not to mention even IT Band issues and foot and ankle problems!

Yup! Through our IT Band the TFL can create movement compensations down our entire leg!

And when we then see changes to our ANKLE mobility guess what happens? Those changes only further perpetuate those compensations back UP our kinetic chain.

It’s why you can’t just IGNORE aches and pains. The longer you ignore them and keep pushing through, the more you then just allow compensations and imbalances to build up so there is more to have to sort through later.

If you don’t address TFL issues, you’ll end up having to address issues from your feet up!

So how can we prevent our TFL from leading to all of these aches and pains when it wants to work during the exercises we NEED to be doing to correct it?

Here are three tips to help you quiet down that TFL and get your glutes activated! And to then implement these tips, check out the quick series I’ve included at the end of this post!

As you go through implementing these tips, be CONSCIOUS of what you feel working. Don’t just rush through the moves! Be intentional with your prehab moves!

3 Tips To Strengthen Your Glutes And Prevent Your TFL From Compensating!

#1: Treat the TFL like a toddler. Keep it distracted so you can get work done!

Basically, you want to adjust movements to help make it EASIER to establish that mind-body connection.

One way to do that is to “keep the TFL busy” by internally rotate your foot during lateral raise, or abduction, movements.

Because the TFL performs hip internal rotation, you can almost “distract” it with that movement AS you use the glute medius to perform the lateral raise.

So if during lateral raises you notice you often feel the front of your hip, turn your toe down toward the ground.

You may even notice often that your toe is turned out toward the ceiling.

The TFL contributes to tibial external rotation.

So internally rotate your foot is the OPPOSITE action, which can help “shut off” the TFL. Not to mention when you internally rotate your tibia, you often then even internally rotate our hip by extension.

Maintaining this internal rotation, you can then perform your lateral raise movement.

If you still are struggling to feel your glute medius, you can even kick slightly back as you raise up OR put your hip into extension, driving back into a slider or wall AS you perform that lateral raise movement.

This hip extension and slight kick back will engage your glute max, which will also hinder the TFL from taking over and allow you to potentially better activate your glute medius. This works because the TFL is a hip flexor so by putting your hip into extension, you can inhibit it from working!

lying lateral raise

#2: Change the hip flexion during those abduction moves.

When you’re first starting to “rehab” an issue, you need to use the moves you feel the most and build off of those.

Basically you want to take the path of least resistance to establish that mind-body connection.

If you feel a move working those glutes, use that first THEN even dive into other moves because you’ve already established that mind-body connection.

To find that move that helps you establish that mind-body connection, you may need to adjust the exact POSTURE you use during basic abduction moves.

By adjusting the amount of hip flexion or extension you perform the move in, you can find a way to maximize your glute medius engagement and minimize your TFL compensation.

It isn’t a clear cut and dry rule of what posture is best so you may want to play around to see what matches your personal recruitment patterns.

For some more flexion may “distract” the TFL because it is a hip flexor.

However, for some, more hip flexion may perpetuate it being overactive during those abduction moves.

In this case, putting the hip into more extension may be key to inhibit the muscle.

While you of course want the glute medius to be strong in both a slightly more hip-flexed or hip-extended state, you do want to start with the move you feel working correctly to make sure you establish that mind-body connection.

The fact that hip flexion can play a role in how much you’re able to engage the TFL is why that oh so “basic” clam exercise can so often backfire too!

The clam is a traditional glute activation movement. But this seemingly simple move is so often butchered. First off, you may find you need to use that internal rotation of the tibia I mentioned in the first tip to help.

Secondly, you may adjust how much you pull your knees forward or straighten your legs out.

The key is being conscious of what you feel working to then ADJUST your exact amount of hip flexion.

A great way to play around with different amount of hip flexion during even a bilateral abduction move is even seated on a bench.

You can lean back, sit up tall or even lean forward to different degrees to not only strengthen your glute medius in a variety of postures BUT also find the exact position that works best for you.

We have to remember to focus on what we feel working so we can work around our own biomechanics.

#3: Foam roll and stretch BEFORE you activate.

If you struggle to activate a muscle, you may find that foam rolling and stretching the muscle prior to doing activation moves is oh so key!

While people debate the benefit of both techniques, with one of the main arguments against them being that the benefits are short-lived, that doesn’t mean you can’t use these “short-lived” benefits to your advantage.

By rolling your TFL and then stretching to improve your hip mobility, you can inhibit this overactive muscle, even if just temporarily.

tfl-foam-rolling

If you interrupt that mind-body connection between your TFL and brain, and restore muscles to their proper length-tension relationships, you can then help yourself better establish the mind-body connection to the muscle you DO want to work – your glute medius!

So if you find your TFL is being a pesky little sucker and compensating for your glute medius no matter what posture or tweaks you do, try relaxing and inhibiting it IMMEDIATELY PRIOR to doing the glute activation moves.

Interrupt that communication so you can establish a new connection to those glutes!

A lacrosse ball is a great way to relax that TFL and even a simple half kneeling hip stretch with reach can improve your hip extension.

BONUS: If you have an imbalance do imbalanced prehab!

The one other key thing to note is if you have an imbalance, you need to do imbalanced rehab.

So if one side is constantly tight, you need to address that one side specifically.

You also want to assess if it is glute weakness on that SAME side or if there is even weakness on the OTHER side perpetuating the issues and leading to the TFL becomign overworked!

Of course seeing someone to asses you is key but KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. So now you can be aware of what you’re doing in your workouts and therefore why you are, or aren’t, seeing the results you want to seek out the help you need.

Using these tweaks you can help yourself strengthen your glutes and prevent your TFL from constantly compensating!

Now try implementing them in this amazing series below!

Quick Hip Mobility Series To Prevent IT Band Issues, Back, Hip And Knee Pain!

This Avoid IT Band Issues Series uses foam rolling and stretching to address your TFL tightness and overactivity. It even works to relax your peroneal (the outside of your lower leg) to make sure you’re working on any issues from the ground up.

It then uses two great abduction moves to activate your glute medius!

The Avoid IT Band Issues Series

Complete 1 round through the circuit below, spending a minute per move on each side.

CIRCUIT:
1 minute per side Peroneal Foam Rolling
1 minute per side TFL Foam Rolling
1 minute Standing TFL Stretch
1 minute per side Lying QL Stretch
1 minute Bridge Abductions
1 minute per side Lying Side Raises

Need more amazing series to improve your hip mobility and prevent lower back, hip and knee pain?

Join my 28-Day Booty Burner program!

Do You Have Dead Butt Syndrome!?!

Do You Have Dead Butt Syndrome!?!

by | Jan 9, 2019 | Blog, Butt, featured

Ok…So your butt is not technically “dead” but Dead Butt Syndrome is a very common name for an all too common problem – underactive glutes!

So what does “dead butt” and “underactive glutes” mean?

Dead Butt Syndrome is when your glutes aren’t firing as efficiently or effectively as they should be and therefore other muscles may be compensating to handle the load, leading to aches, pains, overuse and injury.

Because your glutes aren’t working as they should, people have starting saying they are “dead.”

Another term you may hear is that your glutes aren’t “waking up” or activating properly during movements.

This has led to our glutes often also being called the “Sleeping Giant!”

So…why are there all these terms for underactive glutes? And why is it so important we address this problem?

Because, all too many of us end up INJURED because we aren’t performing proper recruitment patterns.

We may even perform movements that “look” correct aka have ideal form and a proper movement pattern, but we may be OVERLOADING muscles not meant to carry the load to perform that movement.

We are COMPENSATING! And the more athletic we are, the more we can often hide these imbalances by overusing other muscles.

Now the question I often get asked is “Well if you’re glutes aren’t working, how can you walk or stand from a chair!?”

Let’s clarify one thing first…Your glutes ARE working. The point though is they aren’t always working as effectively as they should.

Think about a hose with a small kink in it. Water may still come out but it may not be as strong a flow as it should be. Fix the kink and the water pressure improves.

Water is still flowing both ways BUT one way allows the hose to work much better.

The same thing can be said about your glutes!

Improve your hip mobility and your mind-body connection and your glutes work more effectively, allowing you to be stronger and avoid overuse!

So why don’t our glutes fire as effectively or efficiently?

The main reason? Our modern lifestyle!

We’ve heard sitting is killing us, and while that is a bit dramatic, it IS leading to tight hip flexors, which leads to changes in our recruitment patterns during basic daily tasks and movements.

Tight hip flexors can INHIBIT our glutes from firing as effectively. They are that kink in the hose.

And if we don’t address tightness there, we can end up with lower back pain, hip pain and knee pain.

If you aren’t mobile in one area, you may seek out mobility from other.

So if you can’t properly fully extend your hip, guess where you’ll try and get that extension from often?

Your lower back!

Ever feel like you’re constantly arching your lower back to try to replicate the movement you see…say to keep your chest up?

It may be because your hips are tight!

And if your hips are tight and not allowing proper extension, your glutes can’t fire properly.

If you’re glutes aren’t able to fire, you’ll need to use other muscles to lift the load. This is when you may feel your quads taking over. Or your hamstrings. Or even your lower back working.

And when these muscles are asked to do more than their fair share, they can become injured.

High hamstring tendinopathy is all too common these days. So are knee injuries and hip injuries.

And it all relates back to a lack of proper mobility and a lack of glute activation.

AKA DEAD BUTT SYNDROME!

So if you take time to relax overactive hip flexors and activate your glutes, you can help prevent injury and even help yourself run faster and lift more!

Now you may be thinking, “Well I stretch my hips all the time and nothing helps long term.”

This may be because stretching, while it may help to improve your flexibility momentarily, does NOT change how your mind wants to use muscles.

It doesn’t get those underactive muscles ACTIVATED to change your recruitment patterns!

So instead of then using your glutes, you keep overusing those other muscles, which just perpetuates the same muscles becoming tight!

This is why you need a 3 step process to relax overactive muscles and wake up those dead glutes.

You need to foam roll, stretch, activate and then follow that processed with focused strength work or even your runs or rides (want workouts to help you do that? Check out my Glute Camp!).

Below are 3 moves you can do daily to relax tight hip flexors and activate your glutes BEFORE you run or lift.

3 Moves To Relax Tight Hip Flexors And Activate Your Glutes

TFL Foam Rolling:

The TFL or tensor fasciae latae works with the hip flexor muscles to flex the hip and the glute medius to abduct the hip. However, it often inhibits the glute medius from firing correctly when it tries to “take over” which can lead to IT Band, hip and knee pain.

Rolling this muscle can help you properly strengthen your glute medius while improving your glute maximus functioning.

tfl-foam-rolling

To roll out your TFL, and even your hips, place a ball on the ground then position your body so the ball is just below and outside, or back, from your hip bone. Roll the ball around slowly to find a tight spot and then hold on any tight spots.

If you find a tight spot, hold on that spot and lift and lower your leg up and down. By lifting and lower the leg, you are flexing and relaxing the muscle, which will help loosen everything up as you hold.

As you seek out tight spots in your hip, bring the ball around front and right to the side under your hip bone. Again hold on any tight spots and even flex and relax your leg to help dig in.

You can work your way back out to the side of your hip, and even your glutes as well, if you found any sore or tight spots.

Half Kneeling Hip to Hamstring Stretch:

Especially if you spend a lot of time seated, working at a computer or driving in a car, you want to stretch your your hip flexors.

And if you’re stretching before you workout, it is better to do stretches that move you through a range of motion instead of HOLDING, like a static stretch.

A great stretch to start mobilizing your hip and relaxing your hip flexors, plus stretching your hamstring, is the Half-Kneeling Hip to Hamstring Stretch.

To do the Half Kneeling Hip to Hamstring Stretch, start half kneeling with your back knee about under your hip. Squeeze your glute on that side to drive your hip forward as you reach overhead. This will help you make sure you are getting extension from your HIP and not your lower back. Pause for a second as you squeeze.

Then sit back, lowering your arm as you extend your front leg. Hinge at the hips as you sit back and lean over that leg to feel your hamstring stretch. Then move back to half kneeling and repeat.

Do not arch your lower back as you stretch your hip. Really brace your abs.
And when you sit back in the hamstring stretch, don’t just sit back, actually push your butt back to hinge at the hips and stretch that hamstring.

Mini Band Glute Bridge:

After stretching and rolling, you want to activate those glutes and a great exercise to do that is the Glute Bridge.

Because many of us though also struggle with a weak glute medius, and glute medius weakness can hinder our glute maximus from functioning optimally, a great glute bridge variation to use is the Mini Band Glute Bridge.

By using the mini band, you can help activate your glute medius to improve your hip and knee stability while also working on hip extension and glute maximus activation.

To do the Basic Mini Band Glute Bridge, you will perform a two-leg bridge with the band around your knees. To set up, place the band right above, below or at your knees. Below will be a bit more challenging than above. Make sure though that wherever you place the band, you feel your glutes working. Above the knee can help if you struggle to feel your glutes activating and instead feel your quads taking over.

With the band around your knees, lie flat on your back with your feet flat on the ground about hip-width to shoulder-width apart. Make sure your feet are just beyond your fingertips when your arms are down by your sides. You can move your feet slightly further away if your hips are tight. Make sure that your feet are at least about hip-width apart so that you are forced to press your knees out and open against the band to keep them in line with your ankles and hips.

Bend your elbows to 90 degrees and press your knees out against the band. Then, driving through your heels and upper back and arms, bridge up. Keep pressing out against the band as you bridge up. Do not let your knees cave in. Fully extend your hips and squeeze your glutes at the top. Do not hyperextend your low back at the top. Keep your abs engaged, even maintaining a posterior pelvic tilt.

Hold for a second or two at the top then lower back down and repeat. Do not let your knees cave in as you lower back down. Keep pressing out against the band the entire time!

Looking for even more moves and workouts to prevent injury and activate and strengthen your glutes?

Love learning the WHY behind what a proper training routine looks like?

Then you’ll love my Glute Camp!