Are you experiencing knee pain when running? Are you able to ramp up your mileage to a certain point until the outside or inside of the knee starts to hurt? Have you tried icing, stretching, foam rolling, and strengthening, but your knee pain continues and you can’t ramp up your mileage.

If this is the case and you believe you have it-band syndrome, you’re going to want to stick around at the end of this video and learn a few things about common knee problems that you’re experiencing that are probably not I t-band problems.

Hi, my name is Mike Ricchiuto, MPT, EMT-P and I’m from Physical Therapy Now. I’m a runner and have been plagued with outside and inside knee pain specifically during running.

This creates frustration, especially when someone is training for an event or performing sports. In fact, you don’t have to be a runner or an avid exerciser to experience some of these problems and symptoms.

I think that any runner will experience some type of knee or ankle pain, whether there are novice runner or if they are an expert runner. But you have to prepare yourself in any condition, all year round to be able to run frequently.

The first problem that may not be it-band syndrome or iliotibial band syndrome is meniscus problems. The meniscus in the outside of the knee is almost like a cushion that when the top of the knee bone hits the bottom of knee bones, the cushion there protects it from trauma.

Another problem that may arise and precipitate like it band syndrome is lateral strains of the hamstring. The hamstring has a tendon on the outside of the back of the thigh that comes down and attaches below the knee.

Sometimes this is misconstrued as it-band syndrome. Meanwhile, it’s a strain of this hamstring muscle or a sprain of the hamstring tendon.

So this can be misconceived as it-band syndrome. The third problem that can create lateral knee pain that’s not it-band syndrome are pelvic problems.

So a portion of the pelvis can be rotated back and forth, up and down. There can be leg length differences, and this can place abnormal strain on the outside of the knee.

So someone stretching and trying to stretch their hamstrings and their it-band maybe stretching them forever. But it’s really because their pelvis is out of alignment, and not functioning the correct way.

And that creates once again tension and pressure, sometimes to the outside lateral aspect of the knee. Well, there you have it.

There are three reasons why it-band syndrome may not be occurring with someone who is experiencing lateral knee pain, especially in runners and sports enthusiasts. If you have lateral knee pain and would like a specific evaluation to determine if this is or is not it-band syndrome or something else, give us a call and we’ll schedule an evaluation (412) 794-8352 is our number you can schedule at any of our three clinics.

Also you can type “pain” below, and we’ll answer direct questions toward your condition. So I hope this has been helpful and have a nice day.

Thank you.