Foam rollering injured muscles question

Hi all
I seen to have a dodgy IT band- not sure the technical name for the muscle but it runs from the hip to the knee, I think, and I have had physio on this in the past. When it tightens up, I get pain in my knee when I straighten my leg and it is really painful. I think now my glutes are starting to give me trouble because of it too.
 
I don't know how or why it has come back- previously I got it from running when I upped my mileage too quickly, but I don't run anymore. Would upping the weight on a leg extension aggrivate it?
 
Anyhow, before I head off to the physio, I thought about using the hard foam rollers in the gym. I foam rollered it today and it was so painful, my eyes were watering and I felt really quite sick afterwards! The IT band on the other leg was much better so I feel this is the likely problem.
 
I figured I would not train legs much this week and concentrate on upper body etc, but can I foam roller the muscle every day, or should it be  every few days?
Many thanks if you are able to help me at all

if it has come back it is because the root cause has not been addressed mate.
the iliotibial band or IT band is suppposed to be tight. It is one part of a sheath of fascia that travels condinuously around the leg muscles. The IT band itself is a particularly thick section that travels down the outside of the thigh to the knee and inserts into glute max and tensor fascia latae (TFL) at ther hip. When these muscle contract they create tension in the IT band but if they are not equal in their function there can be an imbalance in this tension.
 
For example glutes can be inhibited by the hip flexors being in spasm. The TFL can be inhibited by the glutes or piriformis being overactive and all of this can cause problems in the equality of the tension through the IT band. The glutes could be in spasm trying to protect the sciatic nerve for some reason and these are just a few examples.
 
What it all means is until you know why the tension is not correct then it would impossible to know what the remedy is and would be based upon guess work. So ideally you need to see a professional who can assess all of you including pelvic and spinal function, shoulders, knees and feet so be sure all potential influences are addressed.
 
Using a foam roller is a good idea and can help while you find the root cause and can help speed up the process of recovery. However I would recommend you dont roll onto the IT band but on the glutes, piriformis, TFL, hams, calf muscles etc. In other words avoid the painful area and release the areas around it.
hope this helps mate

Hi Rach- thanks so much for this reply- it is much appreciated.
I had physio on it about 2 years ago and it is slightly complicated by this being my left leg and I broke my left ankle badly 4 years ago.
 
I will see if I can go back to see about an assessment.
 
Do you think heavy squts or leg extension could have been the thing that sparked it off again. Or, thinking about it now, I have increased my intensity of cardio on the stepper in terms of duration from about 25 mins to 45 mins and I have been doing some HIIT on the bikes, so maybe I have upped it all too quickly!

It is certainly possible mate but until you have been fully assessed and all areas of dysfunction recognised it would be a guess.
Ease up on anything that aggravates it until you see somoeone