The iliotibial band is an important, yet easy to aggravate, structure in the leg.  The band itself is a very thick, fibrous tissue that arises from two main muscles in the hip, the gluteus maximus and the tensor fascia lata.  There are two bony areas in what people refer to as 'the hip.'  The pelvis is made up of two bones, a right and a left ilium (read, il-e-um), that come together in the back and attach to the sacrum.  The top of the ilium on the outside is just below the ribs.  Just below the bony part is where these muscles attach.  These muscles work to move the leg backward and outward when the leg is swinging and they stabilize the pelvis on the leg when standing or weight bearing.  Their attachments to the iliotibial band come together around the other bony part, the greater trochanter, which can be felt on the side at about the level of your side pants pockets.  

Goals are not necessary but they do provide a framework to design and build your program upon.  Goals provide you with not only a direction but a magnitude. Saying you want to drive north for a vacation doesn't give you much, other than a direction.  Deciding you would like to travel north, 467 miles to a nice resort town for a 4-day stay, stopping at 246 miles in a quaint town with a nice bed and breakfast on the way to your vacation destination is a simple example of having a goal and creating a plan on how to achieve your goal.

The SAID principle should be taken into consideration by most everyone when developing an exercise routine or rehab program.  Click on the heading to read some of the FAQs on this topic.

A repetition, or rep, is one cycle of an exercise that you will repeat a certain number of times until you finish a certain number, which completes your 'set'.  A set can be pre-determined in number or it can be 'until exhaustion' where you cannot do another rep and you have completely fatigued the muscle.  Click the heading link to read more FAQs on repetitions and sets so you can understand how to adjust your own program for the results you are looking to get.

Rehab is a process you go through after some type of injury to physically restore your body to its maximum functional level.  Due to the nature of the injury, in some instances you will not be able to return to the same level you were at prior to injury.  Other times, you will return to the same level or an even better level than you were at before the injury.  A Rehabilitation professional will perform a physical evaluation and set up a program to address all the areas that need to be improved while guiding you through your body’s healing process.