Anatomy of the Quads and IT Band
For athletes, one widely heard complaint is "My IT band is tight." This tendon, the iliotibial tract, runs down the side of the leg. It originates in the hip area and inserts on the side of the knee. Although the term "IT band" refers to a specific tendon, it is important to understand that your hip, quads, and glutes can influence your IT band's functionality. Furthermore, biomechanical problems such as a chronic pelvic tilt and poor foot functionality can lead to IT band challenges. 
IT band issues are a culmination of muscular challenges in the entire quad/hip region. You might feel aches and pains up and down the side of your leg and a sharp pain on the outside of your knee. You've tried everything in the book to fix it. Rest, stretching, and icing have not worked. Then, one day you find that the taut band feels like a stiff old rope and it's closer to your hamstring than where you thought your IT Band should be. You know nothing else to do other than stretch, but you find that you feel the same the next time you run or exercise. Now, your hip and groin are affected as they lack flexibility and strength. To eliminate the underlying problem, you really need to address the muscular imbalance that causes the pelvic tilt. Once the pelvis tilts, it pushes your butt out. This puts stress on your IT bands and surrounding muscles causing them to lengthen beyond their natural capacity. This can trigger irritation in the insertion point just to the outside of the knee (not to be confused with pain felt in the insertion of the anterior tibialis in the lower leg). 
Once again, the IT band is not a muscle. It is a superficial thickening of tissue on the outside of the thigh originating on the outside of the pelvis and inserting below the knee. This band is crucial to stabilizing the knee during running and walking. Although IT band issues are most often associated with running, other activities such as biking, swimming, jumping, hopping, skipping, walking, and hiking involve the outside of the quads. Once you become dehydrated and the muscles surrounding the IT band lose sufficient oxygen or blood flow, they will stick together and form adhesions. These adhesions can result in your quads shutting down. Then, the outside of your leg and ankle will feel every step. 
The Chain Reaction: Muscles are designed to create and maintain structural integrity in the body. We have to rely on the structural integrity of the muscles to keep us pain free and allow biomechanics to be proper throughout life. Strength, tone, flexibility and hydration are all vital in keeping the muscles healthy. If you think about it, in order to have structural integrity you must have a solid foundation. I see that foundation as a full functioning foot with great range of motion; a foot that can support the weight of the upper body no matter what happens. The biomechanical chain reaction beginning with the foot can take dysfunction from the lower leg all the way up to the quads, hip, IT band and even the lower back. 
The body's foundation (the foot) is compromised when the soleus muscle in the back of the leg under the calf gets tight and forces you to lose dorsiflection or range of motion in the foot. This happens because the muscles in the lower leg connect in the bottom of the foot, thereby controlling the foot (like a puppet). 
When you lose dorsiflection in the foot, the counter muscle on the front of the shin, the anterior tibialis, becomes tight and overworked which forces the knee to go forward. The body's natural reaction is to adjust for the shift in weight. This creates an unstable platform for the knee and puts added stress on the knee joint. All joints have muscles and tendons that support the functionality of the joint. When the knee joint is compromised, the muscles in the inner, mid, and outer thigh are forced to work harder to maintain the structural integrity of the leg.
When the knees go forward, the butt shifts back. This is when the muscles in the thigh area, the quadriceps, now take a lot of the impact and become overworked. The quads are the biggest muscle group and take the absorbtion of each step when you run or walk. As the quads become tight they pull up on the patella. Because they originate in the pelvic region, the quads will also pull down on the pelvis, forcing an even more dramatic pelvic tilt.
As the pelvis tilts, you may try to lift the upper body to counterbalance the weight. When you try to straighten your upper body and not lean forward, you end up arching your back, therefore, compressing the L4-5 area. The more compression there is on the L4-5 area, the more you compromise the neurological feed to the lower extremities.
Furthermore, when the quads lose their strength and flexibility and become tight and overworked they pull on the pelvis. The opposing muscles/tendons, the IT bands and hamstrings, then lengthen beyond their capacity subsequently creating their own unique aches and pains. Instead of just stretching and massaging the IT bands and hamstrings, you must take the pelvic tilt out of the equation. This will produce better long term results. 
Also during this biomechanical chain of events, a muscle called the psoas is engaged. The psoas connects in the groin and at T12 in the middle of the back. It unites the front to the back.
When the psoas is strong and flexible, it facilitates good posture and prevents compression on the lower back. On the contrary, when the psoas is challenged it can contribute to the upper body leaning in-front of the pelvis which worsens the compression on the L4-5 area. It also has the capability of compressing the diaphragm consequently compromising your ability to breathe.
Next, the piriformis is a muscle set deep within the glut region. A tight piriformis is a by-product of the pelvic tilt, but more importantly the piriformis can be challenged by the way that you sit.
When you sit, the knees will splay out to the side. As the knees rotate outward, the piriformis will bind up and go into spasm. As soon as you stand up and walk, the knees come out straight in front of the body, and the piriformis muscle elongates therefore causing pain in the general glut area.
The sciatic nerve runs directly through the piriformis muscle. When the piriformis goes into spasm or tightens it can impinge the siatic nerve. 
If the piriformis and glut region is not managed regularly with massage, a build up of scar tissue and adhesions surrounding the sciatic nerve can compromise the neurological feed to the lower extremities. Overall, the body's posture and ability to function properly is influenced by the biomechanics and muscular structure. Here you can see the results of bad biomechanics and poor weight distribution.
In conclusion, it is important to remember that every bone has a muscle that surrounds it and every joint has a muscle and a tendon that supports it. If you do not strengthen and create elasticity (with massage) in the muscle, general aches and pains will result. By generating elasticity within the muscle, you are building a sound platform for structural integrity and positive biomechanics.
Exercises: Examples of massages for the areas discusses above.
TP Footballer & Baller Block Soleus Exercise
 
TP Quadballer Video
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