How One Tight Area Can Throw Off the Hip

Pain rarely comes out of nowhere.
Across this Joint Pain Series, we look at common pain patterns throughout the body and how everyday use, old injuries, and quiet compensation shape the way pain shows up over time. Each entry focuses on one area, not to isolate it, but to better understand how the body adapts until something starts to hurt.
Check out the Master Post: here.

Something we’ve been seeing a lot of this year in the clinic is hip pain linked to a tight IT band. While this isn’t the only type of hip pain we treat, it’s one of the most common patterns showing up lately.

Hip pain often shows up when one tight area starts pulling everything else out of sync.

The IT band, short for iliotibial band, is a thick layer of connective tissue that runs along the outside of the leg, from the hip down to the knee. Because this tissue doesn’t have great circulation, it can easily become tight and bound up over time. When that happens, it starts pulling unevenly on both the hip and the knee, creating tension that can spread through the entire leg.

This kind of pain often starts quietly. It might feel like tightness along the outer thigh or a deep pinch in the hip when walking, sitting, or climbing stairs. Over time, as the IT band continues to restrict movement, it can change how the hip moves, how the glutes support the body, and even how the lower back stabilizes. It’s one of those patterns where the body slowly stops working together, and compensation becomes the new normal.

Because the IT band isn’t muscle, it doesn’t respond well to stretching alone. Once it becomes bound up, circulation drops even further, and the tissue can start to feel dense, tender, or ropey. This is why, when treating hip pain, we don’t just focus on the joint itself. We also work with the surrounding structures that are contributing to the problem.

During treatment, we often address both the hip where the pain is felt and the IT band as a key part of the pattern. Releasing tension through acupuncture, gentle manual therapy, and ATP Resonance BioTherapy helps improve circulation and soften restrictions in the tissue. As the hip and IT band begin working together again, movement often feels smoother, alignment improves, and the body can reset out of that stuck, compensatory state.

Just like with lower back pain and other chronic pain patterns, lasting relief comes from helping the body move and function as a whole again. When things start working together, pain eases, strength returns, and movement feels more natural.

When the hip stops moving well, the knee often steps in.
Next, we look at why knee pain shows up during everyday movement.