John, at the beginning of the summer my IT band was so jacked up, I couldn’t use the Trigger Point roller on my IT’s without it really hurting quite a bit. I had a few ART sessions with my coach where he did some deep and painful work in my IT’s (he did a lot of work close to the knee and hip, as he states a lot of tension is held there) and now I can maintain it by foam rolling with no problem. For those with a lot of soreness and access to an ART practitioner, this might be a useful option.
Stephanie, I have an EMS machine that I use on the active recovery setting and I find it helps muscles, but doesn’t seem to have any effect on my IT.
I only started foam rolling recently, but it can really help when access to therapy is limited, though foam rolling appears controversial to some in reading over previous threads here.
I know my coach down south went to see John Smith and he is apparently big on foam rolling when therapy access is limited. Down there a lot of people do it pre-warmup as well as post-workout or on off days. I wonder if foam rolling + EMS would be beneficial in some cases, or overkill?