What Are IlioTibial Bands?

The IlioTibial Bands (ITB) are strips of ligamentous tender tissue that stretch from the hips all the way down to the knees,

Picture Supply Melbourne Sports activities Physiotherapy

alongside the outer thigh. It’s comparatively skinny tissue that may trigger fairly a little bit of discomfort, together with outer knee ache (Iliotibial Band Syndrome). The ache could be lively, significantly for runners and cyclists. Which means the ache is overt and current. It can be latent, which signifies that there isn’t any overt ache on the ITB through the course of standard every day actions, however could be elicited by touching the ITB.

Most people don’t even know that their ITB is tender till they bump up in opposition to one thing or a therapeutic massage therapist applies strain to the outer thigh throughout a session. Therapeutic massage and stretching are frequent therapies for ITB tightness. The ache could be proper between your hips and knees.

What Does This Have To Do With Therapeutic massage Chairs?

Most therapeutic massage chairs have air cells that compress in opposition to the outer thighs of the person. The first objective is to carry the hips in place in order that the physique doesn’t transfer ahead when the rollers cross over the again and seat. They’re principally meant to traction the hips for a deeper curler therapeutic massage.

For some therapeutic massage chairs, just like the outdated Inada DreamWave and the Panasonic chairs, the hip air cells additionally dig into the ITB as a type of remedy. However, the hip air cells in most therapeutic massage chairs are bigger and extra broad of their contact protection, so that they don’t actually “dig” into the ITBs as a lot because the above-mentioned fashions do. They kind of serve the first objective of air cells, which, as talked about beforehand, is to carry the hips in place for the curler therapeutic massage.

If  you’re on the lookout for a therapeutic massage chair that digs into the ITBs, for therapeutic profit, you may be upset. There aren’t many fashions within the present market that present the ITB therapeutic massage.

Therapeutic massage Chair ITB Hack

That’s the place our buyer, Rusty McKee, is available in. Rusty despatched an electronic mail to me a few weeks in the past with a tip that he found out to therapeutic massage his ITBs, utilizing his therapeutic massage chair. He used to personal an Inada Dreamwave and he discovered to like the ITB therapeutic massage it gave him. When it was time to buy a brand new chair, he discovered that the IRB air cells didn’t work the way in which they’d in his outdated Inada mannequin. His new chair had the hip air cells, however they have been designed for holding the hips in place and never for ITB therapeutic massage. Rusty is a runner and has had a necessity for ITB therapeutic massage, however couldn’t get it from his new therapeutic massage chair.

Reconciling his ITB therapeutic massage expertise along with his outdated mannequin with the air cells of his new mannequin, he got here up with a superb thought! What if might put a foam pad between the skin of every of his thighs and each hip air cells? What if the strain from the hip air cells pushed the froth rollers in opposition to his ITBs? He ordered an extended foam roll on-line to check it. I’ll let him inform us what he did…

I’m so excited to let you know and present you the way…I solved and made the IT band strain 10x… why?… as a result of I can simply modify and put much more strain particularly the place I need it.  Verify this out:

-Ordered this 3-3/4” foam tube
-Reduce it to round 6” lengthy
-Reduce it down the middle

Then you may see within the photos, I could make it as much less intense with flat aspect in opposition to leg or put solely the spherical half vertical once more my leg and it may be completely barely painful with nice outcomes.

 

 

 

 

 

Rigorously discover how every image is completely different and pushes in opposition to the IT band barely completely different.  I really like how I retailer it, as a result of don’t fumble round looking for it and it’s visually out of the way in which.

I additionally need to say that for the final dozens years with my Dreamwave, I all the time thought you simply sit, push a button and loosen up.  Nicely, that’s true for many.  However… for sports activities people and runners like me and others with life’s stress, I’ve discovered to not solely use all of the options for adjustment, however simply transfer my again round to get the nodules precisely the place I really feel I want them.  Want I had acknowledged how broader using the chair could be. 

So, there you could have! What a terrific thought. Rusty despatched us one of many 6″ rolls and now we have it at our AZ showroom to display on prospects who’re interested by a greater ITB therapeutic massage. You’d be stunned how frequent this ITB downside is.

I hope you discovered this tip useful. I positive did!

Thanks, Rusty.

Dr. Alan Weidner