Category Archives: diagnosis

Therapy by charisma

Thought of the day, from my article on structuralism: Patients with great anxiety, pain and frustration are especially vulnerable to persuasion, or “therapy by charisma.” This is why I really make an effort in my work to be reassuring without offering miracles, to be knowledgeable without claiming to “know” what the problem is. All too often, [...]
Also posted in debunkery, hip weakness, myths, pain, structuralism, therapy | Leave a comment

Is there a bursa under the IT band or what?!

Iliotibial band syndrome (runner’s knee) is usually treated as if it were a tendinitis. In a recent post, I explained how two recent surgical studies (see Michels and Hariri) have produced strong evidence that “tendinitis” isn’t quite right: it’s not the IT band itself, but something under it. So … what? These are the possibilities [...]
Also posted in anatomy, bursitis, it band, research, surgery, tendonitis | Leave a comment

Is your IT band really too tight? Or is that just your craving for an elegantly oversimplified biomechanical explanation for pain?

Tight IT bands have a really bad reputation. They are blamed for two common knee conditions: the aptly named “IT band syndrome” (ITBS, pain on the side of the knee) and the less obviously relevant “patellofemoral pain syndrome” (PFPS, anterior pain). But do people with these conditions really have tight IT bands? This has been [...]
Also posted in it band, patellar alignment and tracking | Leave a comment

Therapists cannot agree on the location of people’s kneecaps!

Considering kneecap alignment is a reflex for most manual therapists — a staple of knee pain diagnosis, as inevitable as a doctor asking you to say “ah.” Kneecap alignment is almost universally regarded as a sign of patellofemoral pain syndrome and patellar instability and accurate assessment of knee position is essential for meaningful taping (a [...]
Also posted in myths, patellar alignment and tracking, taping | Leave a comment