Muscle guide · Hips and glutes
Also called TFL, IT band muscle
The tensor fasciae latae is a small muscle at the front and outer side of the hip, just below the bony point at the front of the pelvis. It sits between layers of the iliotibial (IT) band and pulls on it.
Through the IT band it reaches past the knee, so it helps at both joints: bending and turning the hip, and steadying the outer knee.
These use its actions, lifting the leg forward and out to the side; no study has ranked exercises for the TFL itself. If you want the glutes to do more of the work, the clam, side-steps, single-leg bridges and four-point hip extension favoured the glutes over the TFL in a fine-wire EMG study.
Taking the hip back and across the body stretches it. What that does to the IT band itself is less clear (see the myths below).
Pain on the outside of the knee, common in runners and cyclists, reported in 1.6% to 12% of runners. The cause is debated: friction over the end of the thigh bone, compression of a sensitive fat pad under the band, or an inflamed bursa. Hills, cambered roads and sudden jumps in training load are risk factors you can change.
The IT band can catch over the bony point of the hip with a snap that is usually painless.
Each grade rates the evidence for the correction.
In a randomised trial of 30 adults, one session of foam rolling or stretching did not change IT band stiffness measured by ultrasound. In a cadaver study the band and TFL lengthened by a few millimetres under a simulated stretch, and nobody knows whether that lasts. Rolling may still feel good; it is not remodelling the band.
It bends the hip, moves the leg out to the side and turns it inward, and through the IT band it steadies the outer knee.
A single session of stretching or foam rolling did not change IT band stiffness in a randomised trial. The TFL muscle itself does stretch when the hip goes back and across the body.
Yes. It helps bend the hip, along with the iliopsoas and the rectus femoris.
The superior gluteal nerve (L4, L5, S1), the same nerve as the gluteus medius and minimus.
Anatomy and movement education, not a diagnosis or treatment plan. If you have pain that follows an injury, is severe or getting worse, or comes with numbness, weakness or swelling, get it assessed. Health disclaimer.
