Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Oct:40:1939-1948.
doi: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2024.10.028. Epub 2024 Oct 19.

The effectiveness and characteristics of physiotherapy interventions on adults with iliotibial band syndrome. A scoping review

Affiliations

The effectiveness and characteristics of physiotherapy interventions on adults with iliotibial band syndrome. A scoping review

Iakovos Christofi et al. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2024 Oct.

Abstract

Background/purpose: Although physiotherapy remains one of the main interventions suggested for the treatment of Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS), the appropriate physiotherapy and its effectiveness on this injury haven't been fully defined yet. This study aims to investigate which are the appropriate physiotherapy interventions and their effectiveness in adults with ITBS METHODS: PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews and Template for Intervention Description and Replication checklist were used. Medline, Cinahl, SPORTDiscuss, and Pascal Archive databases were searched to identify trials involving patients with ITBS and healthy adults who underwent any form of physiotherapy with or without medication, compared with those who underwent any form of physiotherapy with or without medication or no treatment. The methodological quality of studies was assessed with the PEDro scale.

Results: Seven studies, with a total sample of 187 subjects, met the inclusion criteria. Physiotherapy interventions like physical modalities, manual therapies, exercises, and multimodal interventions are effective with or without medication in the improvement of patients' pain, functionality, muscle strength, and iliotibial band stiffness. However, a treatment plan with multimodal interventions and medication may increase the patients' iliotibial band stiffness, and deep transverse frictions aren't recommended for the management of patients' pain and functionality. The overall reporting quality of interventions was poor. The small number of studies and their methodological quality don't allow for firm conclusions.

Conclusion: There is moderate-evidence to suggest that physiotherapy with or without medication is effective in adults with ITBS. Well-designed randomized controlled trials are required to elucidate the efficacy and proper parameters of physiotherapy in these patients.

Keywords: Adults with iliotibial band syndrome; Physiotherapy; Scoping review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources