“They come at night, mostly” my client Kim quipped, quoting the famous line from Aliens (one of my top ten movies).

She’s referring to the pains down the side of her left leg that regularly wakes her up at night.

This vicious pain pattern is ubiquitous. Gyms are full of people foam rolling their lateral thigh/ IT bands.
 
Trigger point referral patterns to the lateral thigh come from quite a few muscles – the main culprits are gluteus medius, minimus and tensor fascae latae.  Mmm – all abductors of the hip. There’s a clue here!

These muscles fall into the phasic category and tend to be weak/inhibited. Bursitis and tendonitis of the muscles that attach to the greater trochanter is rampant. (Quadratus lumborum refers right into the greater trochanter often mimicking GT bursitis.)