I just wanted to share a couple of books that I have found helpful. The first
is the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook, which teaches how to self-treat trigger
points (basically knots that cause tightness/weakness/pain) in muscles. For IT
band problems, the TFL muscle on the front of the hip is often involved which
pulls the ITB tight; in addition, the vastus lateralis can have trigger points
that cause pain in the ITB area and can mimic real ITB pain (I think these are
the reason the foam roller helps). The second, which I just got this week, is
called 8 Steps to a Pain-Free Back; it's all about posture and really is good
for a lot of things besides back pain. It goes over proper posture for sitting,
standing, bending, walking and even lying down and uses as examples people in
Africa and other places whose everyday life is very active and they hardly ever
have back pain. The reason I think it is helpful for IT band problems is that
the posture it teaches facilitates using the glutes (especially gluteus medius)
the way they should be used for propulsion. This takes the excessive stress off
the TFL/IT band. It doesn't talk much about running, but the principles it
teaches for walking have so far been helpful to me in working on my running form
(the big exception is that while walking your heel should touch the ground
first, while with running this is not the case). Hope this helps!