The Health & Fitness Show with Tracy - Podcast
The Health & Fitness Show with Tracy is your source of practical, uplifting, and science-rooted guidance for living a stronger, safer, and more confident life — at any age.
Hosted by Tracy Markley, internationally recognized fitness educator, award-winning author, stroke recovery specialist, and creator of the bestselling books The Stroke Recovery Workbook, Brain & Body, and Balance Walking and Fall Prevention, this podcast blends expertise with heart. Tracy’s decades of experience helping stroke survivors, seniors, and everyday adults rebuild strength, balance, mobility, and hope shine through every episode.
Whether you’re looking to improve your proprioception, feel steadier on your feet, better understand your body, prevent falls, recover from injury, or simply age with power and grace, this show gives you real tools — not fluff. Tracy brings compassion, clear explanations, and encouraging motivation to help you feel capable, empowered, and ready to move forward.
🎧 Tune in for:
- Balance, gait, and fall-prevention tips
- Stroke recovery insights from one of the most trusted voices in the field
- Fitness and mobility guidance for seniors and pre-seniors
- Brain–body education and nervous system support
- Strength training, walking programs, and functional movement
- Real stories from people who regained independence and confidence
- Encouragement, mindset support, and realistic strategies you can use today
- Hearing loss
- Fitness and exercise for all ages
- Muscles, joints, ligaments, fascia and more
- and much more
⭐ Learn More & Stay Connected
Website: https://www.tracymarkley.com
Books by Tracy Markley: https://www.amazon.com/author/tracymarkley
YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@TracyMarkley
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tracy.markley
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracyfitt
⭐ Your Host
Tracy Markley is a fitness trainer, educator, and author known for blending anatomy, neuroscience, and compassion to help others move better and live better. Her work has transformed lives around the world — from stroke survivors rebuilding mobility to adults who simply want their body to feel like home again
The Health & Fitness Show with Tracy - Podcast
The iliotibial band — often called the IT band — is one of the most misunderstood structures in the body.
The iliotibial band — often called the IT band — is one of the most misunderstood structures in the body.
In this educational episode, fitness professional and movement specialist Tracy L. Markley explains what the IT band really is, what it does, where it attaches, and why so many people unintentionally make IT band pain worse by treating it incorrectly.
Many people think IT band pain means they should stretch or aggressively foam-roll the area, but this can actually cause more inflammation and damage. Tracy breaks down what’s truly happening when the IT band hurts, why the problem is rarely the band itself, and how muscles surrounding the hip and thigh play a major role in IT band tension.
Listeners will learn safer, more effective ways to address discomfort — without over-rolling, over-pressing, or worsening the tissues.
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:
- What the iliotibial band is and the muscles connected to it
- Where the IT band attaches and why that matters
- How people commonly injure or irritate the IT band
- Why aggressive foam rolling can actually cause tissue damage
- Signs of IT band overuse, inflammation, and imbalance
- The role of the glutes, TFL, hips, and thigh muscles
- Why alignment and movement patterns influence IT band tension
- Safer, more effective strategies for reducing IT band discomfort
This episode will help you understand the IT band in a whole new way — with clarity, accuracy, and practical tools to protect your hips, knees, and whole-body movement.
🌐 LEARN MORE FROM TRACY
Website: www.tracymarkley.com
Amazon Author Page: www.amazon.com/author/tracymarkley
Stroke Recovery Bookstore: www.strokerecoverybooks.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/motivate_healthyfit