Brief summary, from the abstract
This clinical update argues that the long-standing "ITB friction syndrome" label, in use since 1975, rests on flawed assumptions about anatomy and biomechanics, and proposes reframing the condition as iliotibial band impingement syndrome to guide better-targeted treatment.
- The traditional friction-syndrome model has driven many ineffective interventions; newer arthroscopic, cadaveric, biomechanical, imaging, and histologic evidence challenges it.
- The author synthesizes this evidence into an updated model, renaming the condition ITB impingement syndrome.
- This is a narrative clinical-concepts review and expert synthesis rather than a controlled trial, so it reframes understanding but does not by itself establish treatment efficacy.
Clinically assessing this area? See the knee special tests.