Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett Forums General Chronic IT band/quad TIGHTNESS and knee pain (chondromalacia patella?) for 6 years! Re: Chronic IT band/quad TIGHTNESS and knee pain (chondromalacia patella?) for 6 years!

#74935

Jtrue:

Glad to hear your progressing very well. You wouldnt think strengthening the adductors would play such a significant role especially since they can compensate for weak glute medius. Thats interesting that its been able to help you tho.
Update:
I feel I have not made any progress. If anything my knee pain and symptoms have slightly gone worse (perhaps due to triggering the symptoms through inappropriate activity one time). The next time I see my physiotherapist is 3 weeks from now. Thats more than enough time to see any progress. If there is no progress, I will ask for an appointment with a PM&R sports medicine physician to get a another opinion/assesment and do EMG analysis. I would hope to get EMG analysis done on:
1) VMO to VL activation ratio and timing
2) quad to hamstring activation ratio and timing
3) hamstring to glute activation ratio and timing
4) TFL to glute medius activation and timing
Furthermore, I am considering seeing another physiotherapy clinic with a physiotherapist that is an olympic athlete, with 12 years of experience and certified pilates instructor. She does a lot of postural work. Also, the clinic offers IMS (intramuscular stimulation). 

Glute strengthening
Glute seems to be firing as I feel the burn during exercises. The standing firehydrant still seems to be activating it the most, also X-band walks seems to give a nice burn.

Self-myofascial release
The IT band seems to be tight now (it got triggered easily through light activity that involved bending the knees and hip) even tho I have been doing e-stimed dry needling and smashing/rolling on rumble roller and lacross ball. 

Motor control
There still seems to be pelvic misalignment with the hips leaning towards my right side (perhaps due to glute medius weakness on the right side leading to pelvic drop on left side). During a squat its hard to perform it symmetrically and maintain neutral pelvis, the pelvis seems to shift out of alignment and lean towards the right side pretty easily even with conscious effort in front of mirror.