Should you roll your IT Band?

Challenges with the IT band (or iliotibial tract) are pretty common. Press the outside of your thigh and you may feel tender.

Anatomist Gil Hedley created a fabulous video (click title above to view or the you tube link is at the bottom below) with great insights into your IT band and how to work with it. WARNING: This video shows the leg on a cadaver.

It's not a fix. He’ll help you understand what your IT band does for you and what kind of rolling is most effective to keep it healthy (or can cause more problems).

Gil Hedley is a mentor I completed a human dissection with last fall. The week was filled with powerful insights.

This is one reason I am excited to share this impromptu 10 min video.

A human dissection with Gil is a beautiful balance where the fascinating science and anatomy does not take away from the human form as a complete and magnificent wonder.
The week created even more appreciation for the incredible marvel you are as a body.

And this is important at Born to Move, since both Nia and MELT Method are not about pain to feel gain or to make your body the enemy to be conquered. There are lots of programs like that elsewhere if you want one. (I know MELTers the work can feel pretty tender but that isn't a goal and remember it is a soft roller and we back off when it's too intense)

And as Gil shows us, the truth of your inner world is reveled through an anatomist choosing where to cut and separate. Your thickened IT band, for example, is a continuation of the fascia of your thigh; skin thru to fascia coverings to muscle to bone.
Not disconnected. All interdependent. In MELT class we roll parts of the IT band and lots of other places too.

Nia and MELT Method use this lens that you are whole and not separate bits to help you feel better, stronger and have less pain even in specific challenge areas. (And we love and support your body workers that help you focus in to help as well)

One area affects another.

If you want to feel better by attending to your whole body in a virtual ZOOM Melt class or Face book live Nia class check out the schedule.