I’ve been struggling with IT band syndrome for several years, was way late addressing it because for a long time I thought I just needed a firmer mattress, better shoes, to stretch more, to foam roll more. When none of that worked, I started looking for exercise-based solutions. What has helped more than anything is suffering through squats and lunges. My glutes were weak too and with the collagen loss from menopause, the tendons got very overstressed. For a while, just squats (and leg presses on a machine) were all I felt comfortable doing; the hip was too painful to feel stable doing lunges. However I finally worked my way up to doing lunges as well and the hip pain, while not completely gone, is about 80% better. The improvement is in line with the squatting. Yes squats can be misery but on the upside, you will one day catch a glimpse of your bum and it will be about two inches higher than you remember, and a lot rounder.
ha ha! That's awesome. I have been doing squats and lunges too, but also find hip thrusts really help decrease my hip pain. I think now that I'm more aware, I will focus more on using my glutes when I squat. Here's to higher and rounder bums : )
I’ve been struggling with IT band syndrome for several years, was way late addressing it because for a long time I thought I just needed a firmer mattress, better shoes, to stretch more, to foam roll more. When none of that worked, I started looking for exercise-based solutions. What has helped more than anything is suffering through squats and lunges. My glutes were weak too and with the collagen loss from menopause, the tendons got very overstressed. For a while, just squats (and leg presses on a machine) were all I felt comfortable doing; the hip was too painful to feel stable doing lunges. However I finally worked my way up to doing lunges as well and the hip pain, while not completely gone, is about 80% better. The improvement is in line with the squatting. Yes squats can be misery but on the upside, you will one day catch a glimpse of your bum and it will be about two inches higher than you remember, and a lot rounder.
ha ha! That's awesome. I have been doing squats and lunges too, but also find hip thrusts really help decrease my hip pain. I think now that I'm more aware, I will focus more on using my glutes when I squat. Here's to higher and rounder bums : )