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RE: the iliotibial (IT) band. Exactly how can it have an affect on a belly dancer? AND, what type of stretches are good for this if it gives a problem? Thanks for any info.
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Alabama
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Re: The IT band?
Mon, October 5, 2009 - 9:15 AMIt can easily get kind of overstretched by bellydancing, it seems, and then it tightens up for a while and inhibits your hip movement on one side. I had that and got plenty of great advice here. December 2006, I believe. Maybe you could scroll back or find it in search under iliotibial band?
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Re: The IT band?
Mon, October 5, 2009 - 9:43 AMIf you do any glute-driven hip work a tight IT band can really inhibit your ability to do that. It also prevents me from lying comfortably in the "reclining hero" pose (i.e. end of a Turkish drop or kneeling layback position) so if you do floorwork in that position things could get uncomfortable.
Rolling it with a foam roller is usually the recommended fix. www.youtube.com/watch -
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Re: The IT band?
Mon, October 5, 2009 - 5:59 PMZiva,
Several years ago, I had to go to PT for knee issue caused by the IT band. It pulled my kneecap slightly to one side.
The therapy I had to do involved tightening of the inner thigh muscles and stretching the outside muscles. Yes, I had to use the foam roller too (I hate that thing!) and it hurt, but it did help. Whenever my knee acts up I work on stretching the outer hip area.
One of my fave stretches for that is to stand and stagger your feet (ex: right foot forward, left foot back). Then take the left foot and poistion it to the right of your body (feet parallel and if you look in a mirror, you should be able to see your left foot on the right side of your body). Now reach up with your left hand UP and simultaneously stretch your right hand DOWN... as if your two arms were in a tug-of-war, one arm up, one arm down. Hold that stretch for about 30 seconds. Then, reach over towards the right with your left arm to further stretch the hip/outer thigh/IT band area. Hold that for about 30 seconds too. Repeat other side.
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Re: The IT band?
Tue, October 6, 2009 - 4:41 AMYess! I found Sasha's stretching exercise on a site people here gave me when I was injured and it saved my performance. (I had been unable to rehearse until a few days before the show because of that IT band.)
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Re: The IT band?
Fri, October 9, 2009 - 5:44 PMTight IT bands don't move freely over the bony prominences at the hip and knee joints and cause inflammation. and pain. People hate the foam roller but love what it does! The stretch Sasha mentioned works well. You could also lay on the floor face up, raise the affected leg up and cross it over the body, angling the foot down. Everybody's body is a little different, you may feel one gets the hip or knee more than the other.
Good luck.
Mahin -
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Re: The IT band?
Fri, October 9, 2009 - 9:34 PMMy bellydance teacher showed me a different stretch:
first you lie on your stomach and put one foot forward, hand on the floor and raise your upper body (think the cobra position in yoga) and look towards the ceiling.
This stretches the front of the pelvic joint (another band). Then you lower your butt towards the floor on the side of the stretched leg and put the hip on the floor, with your other foot placed on the floor in front of the thigh (that foot just rotated a bit but did not move from the floor). Your upper body stays up and your push yourself up with your hands (one of them now placed closer to your thigh.) This stretches the IT band. -
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Re: The IT band?
Sat, October 10, 2009 - 5:24 AMCane, I hate to ask but I dont get this
if you are lying on your stomach.. where does the footgo?
flat? where?
do you raise it and leg from behind?
in cobra the butt is attached to the back and stomach- the lower abs do not go up fromthe floor
cobra is not really for the IT band
maybe you mean pigeon - this is fine but a bit contraindicated IF you hav eknee problems so not the best IT stretch -
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Re: The IT band?
Sat, October 10, 2009 - 8:38 AMI just meant that the upper body is like in the cobra. One foot is placed next to waist while the other leg is stretched out on the floor with the foot extended too. -
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Re: The IT band?
Sun, October 11, 2009 - 4:05 PMWhat I picture from the description is a deep lunge position. That would be a great stretch for the hip flexors (where the thigh meets the pelvis on the front of the body) but wouldn't do much for the IT band. But perhaps I'm not picturing quite what is meant- it's hard to communicate these things without pictures.
The IT band is a fibrous band extension from the TFL and glute max muscles in the hip and it runs down the outside of the thigh and attaches just below the knee joint on the outside of the tibia (shin). That's why it can cause issues at both the hip and knee both, or just one of those.
Extending the leg directly backwards doesn't lengthen it significantly. To do that , you need to bring the leg toward the opposite side of the body somehow, either crossing in front or in back.
Wish we could easily include pics in these posts ;-)
Mahin
www.shes-got-hips.com
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Re: The IT band?
Sun, October 11, 2009 - 11:01 PMYou are right, Mahin, and I expressed exactly the same concern to the teacher. But then she told us to roll over slowly onto our side from there, keeping that foot on the floor but placing the outside of the other leg and the hip and the forearm and one hand on the floor, and that does the IT band. It is actually the horizontal form of the same stretch that Sasha described above.
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Re: The IT band?
Thu, October 15, 2009 - 2:48 PMYou can also get yourself a tennis ball and use it as a pressure point on the small muscle on your outer hip that connects to the IT band. We learned how to do this in my yoga training class last weekend and it's awesome.
First you find the center top of your hip bone (on your side) and then move down until you reach the soft tissue under it. If you press your finger/thumb in really hard it should hurt (esp if you are tight there). I personally couldn't feel it, but this helped some people find the spot. Then you lay down on your side with the tennis ball under you on that spot. The weight of your body puts pressure on the muscle and forces it to relax. I couldn't feel anything when my teacher shoved her thumb in my hip, but when I layed down on the ball... holy cow! did it hurt. But it was really awesome. Hold for 1-3mins and then do the other side. I
f you want to work your hamstrings too. Then find your sit bones and start with the ball just in front of them (at the top insertion point of your hamstrings. Hold for 1 min or so, then move the ball and inch forward, repeat, and move the ball down one more time.
It's really cool. If you do both of these you'll be walking around wondering where you got such awesome hips. It feels great! :-) -
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Re: The IT band?
Thu, October 15, 2009 - 2:49 PMps When I did the muscle that connects to the IT, I could feel the stretch radiate all the way down and behind my thigh just above the back of the knee. :-) -
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Re: The IT band?
Thu, October 15, 2009 - 8:25 PMhow did you find this center top?
what do you mean anatomically?
the hip joint? -
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Re: The IT band?
Sat, October 17, 2009 - 10:10 AMYour pelvic bones, on your side. Run your fingers around the edge, they scoop up from the front and around and down in the back. Find the highest point on your side, then walk your fingers down from there until you are under the bone and on muscle. That's where you want the ball to go. You'll know you have it right when you lay down and put all your wieght on the ball. -
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Re: The IT band?
Mon, October 19, 2009 - 6:47 AMI caution people on thi sone.
Please do not just go and use a tennis ball with this explanation.
Try the stretches first and possible a foam roller.
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Re: The IT band?
Fri, October 16, 2009 - 11:37 AMVery effective, but a tennis ball is a pretty brutal (bordering on tortorous) way to do this! A foam roller is a step down in intensity but still effective too. Some people can take it and some can't ...
Mahin
www.shes-got-hips.com
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