IT Band Syndrome, Illiotal Band Syndrome

Try rolling the tennis ball or roller in the opposite direction i.e. away from the heart. I know the first rule of massage is that it must be towards the heart but the IT band is mostly tendon and thus it is much less painful to massage this away rather than towrds for the same effect!

Alternatively the step over stretch is a classic.

I'v seen ITB questions in several categories. This is a copy of my answer from somebody else's question.

Are you certain the problem is ITB? If so, the pain is usually lateral knee just below the level of your patella, at the ITB's insertion site. It'd be nice to have a picture to show but I'll try to describe the stretch that has worked for me. I dropped out of a marathon in '92 with severe knee pain, not knowing at all what the pain was from until I asked a x-country coach for a diagnosis. After descibing what had happened, he said, "OH, that's your IT band. Start stretching like this."

Stand perpendicularly and an arm's length away next to a wall or table or anything you can use to hold onto with the nearest hand. The leg being stretched is one nearest whatever. Bring the further away leg in front and past the one to be stretched and let it bear your weight. Keep the stretching leg straight while you squat a bit down on the weight bearing leg. Keep your upper torso vertical. I hope you can picture your lateral upper leg being stretched. It's more effective for the foot on the leg being stretched to be laying on its lateral side against the ground. You should feel being stretched your hip and lateral upper leg. I never feel stretching at my knee though that's where the pain was.

I jogged to warm up and did that stretch daily for about 2 weeks. I've been cured since. I do this stretch kinda regularly. If not done enough I may feel a bit of ITB tightness but then know what to do.