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The treatment of iliotibial band friction syndrome

PainSci » bibliography » Noble 1979
updated
Tags: IT band pain, running, knee, surgery, leg, limbs, pain problems, overuse injury, injury, exercise, self-treatment, treatment, tendinosis

Three pages on PainSci cite Noble 1979: 1. The Complete Guide to IT Band Syndrome2. The Complete Guide to Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome3. IT Band Stretching Does Not Work

PainSci notes on Noble 1979:

Noble’s papers on iliotibial band syndrome have some status, and I don’t know if it’s particularly deserved. My impression is that he simply seems to have been the first to write about it, but did so only based on his clinical experience. Because a simple special orthopedic test was named after him — an extremely simple palpation test, I might add, about as subtle as poking an open wound to see if it hurts — countless students of physical therapy have heard his name. Other than historical interest, I think the main point of interest in this paper is that all but nine of 221 cases responded to conservative treatment.

original abstract Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.

Iliotibial band friction syndrome is a common cause of knee pain in long distance runners. The pain is caused by friction of the iliotibial band over the lateral epicondyle of the femur. Two hundred and twenty one cases were seen in a two year period. Tenderness over the lateral epicondyle associated with pain at 30 degrees of flexion on compressing the iliotibial band against the lateral epicondyle is diagnostic. Conservative treatment consisted of treating the cause, mostly training irregularities and the local inflammation mostly with steroid injections and rest. Nine cases failed to respond to conservative treatment and these were treated by surgical release of the posterior fibres of the iliotibial band.

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