My Forum

I can see the logic in the opinion that many tightnesses are created by muscular imbalances. In particular, I firmly believe that if the muscles of the hips (glute med, glute max) are not working/firing as they are supposed to, then other muscles have to compensate for that. Take hamstring tightness, for instance. Plenty of food for thought in this article;

http://www.sbcoachescollege.com/articles/HamstringDominance.html

Instead of trying to stretch your hamstrings, try strengthening your glutes!

It's all interesting stuff! 

I put a post on last week describing how I solved my lower ITB issue;

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/health--injury/useful-info-about-how-i-have-solved-lower-itb-pain/240096.html

Hope some of the steps that I have taken can also help you. Good luck!

This article gives some serious food for thought;

http://sock-doc.com/2011/04/stop-stretching/

I just put a post on about how I have resolved my ITB problem. Many of the posts above echo the remedial steps I have been taking;

- foam roller

- strengthening exercises for the glutes

- releasing of tension and breaking down of scar tissue in the ankle which had accumulated after a bad sprain some years ago

- forget orthotics and work instead on correcting muscle imbalances

In the meantime,if you are running and the ITB pain comes on, try running sideways for ten to twenty steps on each side, crossing one leg in front of the other, making sure you face forwards and not in the direction in which you are running. You should feel the pull from your hip and the tension in your ITB should start to release.

So pleased my post has helped in some way. You mention considerable pain in your soleus when you roller it. It's possible you could have done some damage to that muscle and even further up your leg when you sprained your ankle? Go easy on it, just in case. When the ankle has settled down and the pain has gone, some proprioception work (wobble board etc) will help the receptors in your ankle to start firing again properly and hopefully help to avoid another sprain in the future. Also, do some self-massage to stop the build up of scar tissue in the ankle, which can greatly inhibit mobility and flexibility if it goes too far, which is where a lot of my problem started, I think!

Good luck and have patience ..... no, that has never been my strong point either