My IT Band is tight. Not likely.

I tend to hear over and over again, “my IT band is too tight, I foam roll it all the time, but it just doesn’t seem to get better”. Well, chances are it’s not your IT band that is tight, but instead the tensor fasciae latae (TFL) muscle or the gluteus maximus muscle that is inserting into the IT band and even the TFL or Glut Max might not be “tight” but functioning inappropriately. So you can spend all your time targeting the wrong area and never really make much progress, but it hurts when you do it so it must be right, right? No. Victims vs Villains. What is the villain or causing the problem and what is just a symptom, casualty or victim of the problem? 

The IT band is actually layers and layers of fascial tissue, fascial tissue differs from muscular tissue by the fibers that make them up and their vascularity. 

So next time you go to foam roll your “tight IT band” try rolling the TFL or Gluteus Maximus muscles, or stop in and we can assess the villains.