What is the Tensor Fascia Latae?
The Tensor Fascia Latae is a small muscle on the top and outside of your hip. As a runner, it’s probably not the first thing you think of when you imagine your key running muscles, but this little guy plays an important role in the stride. TFL tightness and soreness is, unfortunately, extremely common in runners. First, we’ll explain the TFL’s role in the running stride, and then we’ll show you how to fix TFL – Tensor Fascia Latae – tightness with a few simple exercises.
What does the TFL do in runners?
The TFL’s primary job is to rotate the thigh inwards towards the midline of the body. The power of the running stride comes from the quads and calves, but the TFL is one of the many supporting muscles that guides that power through the stride into the ground. When we pick up the pace, increase our mileage, run more hills, or run on too little sleep, we ask a lot of this little muscle.
What causes TFL pain in runners?
If your TFL feels tight, the first thing to know is that flexibility is not the problem! Contrary to popular belief, feelings of tightness are not strongly correlated with range of motion or flexibility (study). When a muscle is overwhelmed by training (usually more miles, hills, pace, or workouts than it was ready for) it sends a signal to the brain which our conscious mind interprets as “tightness” and “soreness.” Basically, the body uses the nervous system to say, “Hey! I’m not ready for all this hard work.”
So,
the way to fix TFL tightness is by strengthening the muscle, not stretching it. If we make the muscle stronger, it will be able to tolerate your training (and eventually more training) without becoming overwhelmed and sending a pain signal to the brain.
How to fix TFL tightness from running – the single best exercise
Thank the lord for science. In 2012 at the University of Nevada, a group of scientists took 20 healthy runners, attached them to a bunch of machines and had them perform different exercises while monitoring activation of different glute muscles. They found that side leg lifts with external rotation loaded the Tensor Fascia Latae most effectively (study). This means that we can use this exercise to target the TFL and make it STRONGER.
The best exercise for TFL tightness in runners: side leg raises with external rotation
Note: The “external rotation” is when you point your toes towards the ceiling. Our model could do a few degrees more for maximum TFL activation. You can increase the difficulty of this exercise by adding a light ankle weight. In the study, runners worked up to velcro ankle weights totalling 5% of their body weight.
Exercise 2: Hip thrusts
Why it works: This exercise is a great way to strengthen the glute maximus. The glute maximus and the TFL attach to the top of the IT band, so strengthening the Gmax could help support the TFL. However, this is less immediately beneficial than strengthening the TFL directly.
Exercise 3: Side planks with hip abduction
Why it works: This is the best equipment-free exercise to strengthen the glute medius. The glute medius manages a lot of load and femur positioning in the running stride, so making it stronger can help with other areas of hip tightness.
You can try this routine, along with a few other key exercises, in the Recover Athletics app. The Recover App helps runners fix aches and pains and prevent injury. A year’s subscription costs less than one trip to physical therapist and we have an unlimited free trial. Give the app a try today!
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