SaveYourself.ca • Sensible advice for aches, pains & injuries
Mon Jan 30th @ 7:00am
IT band syndrome is a common and often persistent knee injury. A new surgery looks surprisingly good.
This week I am too busy studying for a final exam in my history of science course to do much more than an easy science news item for ye old blogge. So: a bit of quick but nice runners knee news…
Iliotibial band syndrome — pain on the side of the knee, common in runners — can be a very difficult condition. One of the niftier improvements in IT band syndrome treatment in recent history is an improved surgery:
To recap, Michels et al, a group of Belgian surgeons, performed “resection of the lateral synovial recess”: they scraped out some thin, loose, irritated fatty tissue from around a little bursa-like pocket of tissue around the attachments of the IT band to the femur at the side of the knee, right down to the bone. “The synovial recess is debrided with thermocoagulation or a synovial shaver. The resection is completed when the bone of the lateral femoral condyle is visible.”
The study was conducted primarily to test a principle: Is the problem with tightness itself, or with underlying issue… literally?to try to prove exactly which tissues are the real source of pain, and whether the problem is tightness itself, or if the problem is an underlying issue… literally! They did not cut the IT band itself, so their results were achieved without loosening the IT band.
And their results have been extremely promising. In an updated report in 2011 — which is why I’m posting about it, because the evidence is accumulating and improving — they reported 38 of 40 knees having “good” or “excellent” results — weighted towards the excellent, 81% excellent, 16% good! All patients were back to sports within three months — and every single one of them started out with chronic ITBS. These results compare very favorably with the conventional surgery! A chart makes the difference really pop out:
My, that’s a much bigger slice of blue pie! And it’s “easy,” as surgeries go: according to Dr. Michels, the procedure is not technically demanding, and “can be performed by any surgeon with experience in knee arthroscopy” — which includes most orthopedic surgeons. For much more detailed information about ITBS surgery, purchase my comprehensive IT band syndrome tutorial/ebook.
And now: back to memorizing the great accomplishments of Arab natural philosophers, milestones on the road to heliocentrism, and the defining features of scientific methodology. All of which I am actually enjoying immensely!
ITBS is an infamously stubborn lateral knee pain common in runners. Therapy hasn’t been working? You’re not alone. This exhaustively researched tutorial shows that most medical “facts” about the condition are wrong — supported by 126 footnotes analyzing as much of the science as you can stand. Cures cannot be guaranteed, but this tutorial offers both patients and pros 25 detailed treatment options and more insights than you can find anywhere else, as well as a free bonus: SaveYourself.ca’s valuable trigger point tutorial. Add it to your shopping cart now ($19.95) or read the first few sections for free!
8:11 Finally, video! Readers have been asking for years, and I finally started producing videos in the fall of 2011. This one bundles three runner’s knee myths into one video. Watch it! (There are also individual IT band syndrome myth videos. See my YouTube channel for more.)
There are also 262 more articles and eight big tutorials on the website, plus dozens more timely updates and “posts.” See the complete categorized index, or get some reading recommendations for patients or professionals.
