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Dry Needling - Specifically for IT Band
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I've posted a few times in the past about my IT band struggles and am actually headed to see the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow to see if he has any thoughts. I've tried just about everything I can think of over the past 2.5 years with no luck (off the top of my head; 3 rounds of physical therapy, sports chiropractor, massage, graston, ART, rest, shots, stretching, strength training, bike fit, gait analysis, shoe inserts, etc). I think I've made a lot of progress and thought I had it licked last year with a combination of PT/strength training and shoe inserts, only to have it come back at around mile 70 or 80 of Mont-Tremblant... I ended up walking the entire marathon. I waited a few months and went for a run and wasn't even able to make it a mile. I've decided to focus on cycling this year and have pretty much given up on running, but now I'm starting to feel it on the bike, which is pretty damn frustrating. I have a buddy who is a PT and he wanted to take a look at it before I potentially talked surgery, unfortunately he came to the same conclusion as the others I've talked to... strength in the hips/glutes are good and nothing jumps out as being an obvious cause. I jokingly mentioned that the only thing I haven't tried short of surgery is dry needling. Much to my surprise, he didn't laugh at it and said he actually knows a guy who does it and he's seen some promising/surprising results. I've done a bit of research on ST and Dr. Google, but most of the threads here are older and most of the discussion I can find is anecdotal (which is still helpful).

My question to Dr. Slowtwitch is, does anyone have any experience with dry needling? How about specifically with a tough case of ITBS? Does anyone know of any scientific studies into the effectiveness of it as a treatment?

I'm going to give it a shot this afternoon as the guy can work me in and I figure this way I can tell my wife I have tried literally every alternative to surgery. The worst case scenario is that I'm out a few bucks I probably would have spent on something stupid bike related anyways. I look forward to hearing any feedback on dry needling, positive or negative, IT band related or elsewhere.

Thanks!
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Re: Dry Needling - Specifically for IT Band [Toefuzz] [ In reply to ]
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I visited a couple of physios and osteopaths with my ITB issues and tried dry needling, twice, at their suggestion; it did bugger all.

Sorry that I can't be more positive about it, but in my honest experience it was a waste of time.

Good luck in finding something that works for you!
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Re: Dry Needling - Specifically for IT Band [Toefuzz] [ In reply to ]
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Instead of google, try NCBI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...articles/PMC4117383/

It is a sham treatment.

Anecdotal evidence is only useful in the absence of rigorous studies, which is not the case here.
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Re: Dry Needling - Specifically for IT Band [Toefuzz] [ In reply to ]
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Despite what others state about anecdotal evidence at best etc and poor experiences, I disagree.

I have gone through 2 bouts of ITBS on both sides at different times. I initially subscribed to the strength stretching routines then progressed to ART and manual therapy via my PT. He finally needled me and alas relief. Maybe it was placebo, but I don’t think so. I’ve been fine since. I had 4 treatments over a 10 day period...super weird feeling. It’s a pain that’s so odd feeling especially when they hit a trigger point. I think it helps to cause some local nerve stimulation as well as causing an “injury” with increased blood flow helping to improve healing. I’m a believer. My 2 ¢
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Re: Dry Needling - Specifically for IT Band [Tigertater] [ In reply to ]
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Same - dry needling worked wonders on my calves.... I can’t stand doing it but it’s totally worth it. Couple of days later and I can run again.
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Re: Dry Needling - Specifically for IT Band [tridave101] [ In reply to ]
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tridave101 wrote:
Same - dry needling worked wonders on my calves.... I can’t stand doing it but it’s totally worth it. Couple of days later and I can run again.

I've had similar results. Several times I couldn't get my calf to stay loose when running (calf heart attacks) and the dry needling has worked the best. Next day I'm stiff and by day two I'm good to go.

As for IT Band, the best medicine I have found is to deep tissue the front of the quad and some on the side, which helps release some stress on a tight IT Band. And I'm talking come off the table on the quad.
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Re: Dry Needling - Specifically for IT Band [summitt] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the input everyone... I went ahead and had it done. He said some people see results almost immediately as things loosen up, so being the idiot that I am I went home and ran. It's not much by ST standards, but I was out there for 1.7 miles, which is a mile further than I was able to run last year. Granted, I didn't try to run beforehand so I can't say for sure if there was an improvement, but the fact that I've been feeling it on easy bike rides tells me that running would have been a bad idea. I'm starting to feel like someone hooked a torture device up to my quads and electrocuted them now, but I'm happy with the initial results. I'll try to post back here in a few weeks with a progress report in case anyone comes across this thread in the future and wants an update.
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Re: Dry Needling - Specifically for IT Band [Toefuzz] [ In reply to ]
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Has been successful for me although my pain is minor compared to what you are describing. I doubt it works in isolation though. My prescription is:

1. Dry needling ~1x/week for a month or so with ~1x/month after that
2. Foam rolling 2x/day
3. Strength exercises 1x/day
4. If you have pain on a run...stop running. Can't continue to upset it or it won't heal.
5. Uphill running..downhill really upsets it so just a ton of uphill repeats on treadmill initially

Seems to be doing fine after locking up in IMWI last year. We'll see how STG 70.3 and Boulder IM go this year.
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Re: Dry Needling - Specifically for IT Band [Toefuzz] [ In reply to ]
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Skeptical PT here... if you’ve been through all this treatment and it hasn’t worked, how do you know you are accurately diagnosed?

There are multiple things that can mimic ITBS including paint from your spine and internal derangements of the knee.

My thoughts on the dry needling is that it’s the next hot thing in treatment and the research is loose at best. It may work for some, but realize that if you have ITBS- this is a friction syndrome with the ligament being dragged over your lateral femoral condyle over and over and over again. This is an inflammatory process at first followed by a mechanical disorder. It likely needs mechanical treatments. The ITB is an incredibly tough structure that doesn’t really stretch well. It is a tough diagnosis that needs continuous monitoring. Surgery is rather rare with mixed results.

Consider that you are misdiagnosed before going all in with irreversible treatments.
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