Dry needling for IT band syndrome is an excellent way to return to normal activities quickly. How does it work? Why would you use it? Where can you find it? I’m going to cover all this and more—read on!
But, first—want to see what it looks like? Check this out!
How Dry Needling for IT Band Syndrome Works
Dry needling involves inserting a very tiny needle into the muscle. The muscle reacts to the needle with a spontaneous contraction. This reaction is part of how pain relief happens. Smarter people than I aren’t fully confident about how this provides pain relief, but they know it works. And, we’ve seen it work in our Hartland Clinic, so we use it!
The current theory says that a partly contracted muscle can cause pain. This pain might occur at the muscle itself or at a different location. Pain at a different site is referred pain. In IT band syndrome, referred pain is typically experienced. The dysfunction lies in the outer thigh muscle and the butt muscles. Yet, the pain occurs near the outside of the knee, where the IT band inserts.
What Dry Needling Feels Like
During dry needling, the semi-contracted muscle completely contracts and then relaxes. When this happens, people often feel an ache or discomfort like their symptoms. Afterwards, when the soreness subsides, the discomfort lessens. Doing this repeatedly, plus supportive exercises, can relieve pain for a long time.
If we want to get a bit more technical, there’s also an interaction between the spinal cord, brain, and muscles. But…that’s a bit nerdy. We won’t dive into that since we’re discussing dry needling for IT band syndrome.
Muscles Often Treated
For IT band syndrome, the muscles that are often treated in dry needling include –
- Vastus lateralis (scroll up to see photo)
- Tensor fascia latae (photo below)
- Gluteus minimus (photo below)
- Gluteus medius
- Gluteus maximus
Why Dry Needling for IT Band Syndrome?
IT band syndrome is a stubborn injury. It often doesn’t go away with good exercises or foam rolling your IT band. Don’t get me wrong—that stuff is important. But there are a lot of people for whom exercise alone doesn’t completely work.
Here’s a list of situations where you would consider using dry needling for IT band syndrome:
- Symptoms for more than 4 weeks
- Symptoms not improving with glute exercises and foam rolling
- Upcoming athletic event or race that necessitates quick relief
- Strenuous travel plans (trekking or hiking) that will exacerbate current symptoms
If you want to feel better faster, consider dry needling for IT band syndrome. Yes, you definitely can try the glute exercises and IT band foam rolling. But it will take about 2 weeks to notice if it’s actually helping. From there, it will take another 6–8 weeks to get full improvement. You can expect major symptom relief after your first session with dry needling. It’s that quick.
Where Can You Get Dry Needling for IT Band Syndrome?
The simplest answer to that question is our clinic in Hartland, Wisconsin! All our therapists perform dry needling. Together, we have over 20 years of experience!
Experience is key with dry needling. The therapist’s technique with the needle is important. Where they place it and how fast they move it affect your results. I’ve worked with many people who have said, “Dry needling doesn’t work for me.” It turns out they’ve often had poor-quality dry needling.
Our team has trained at four different dry needling institutions. Why is this important? There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and one technique will not work for everyone. We use different methods for personalized physical therapy. This helps us avoid one-size-fits-all treatments that usually don’t work.
Dry Needling for Other Injuries
Don’t have IT band syndrome, but curious if dry needling can help with other injuries? Here are a few other options for you to consider —
And if you want to learn even more about dry needling, these are articles that are helpful —
As a footnote, photos of trigger points and referred pain come from Dr. Sarah’s dry needling coursework via Kinetacore. The name of the book from which all the photos are taken is listed in the first photo.
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