Top 3 Mindset Strategies to Overcome SI Joint Dysfunction

Hey everyone,

The more and more I do coaching calls, and draw from my own story, I identify some common themes in my past thinking that held me back — and how shifting the way you view things can help you move forward.

Now, these are the top 3 tips I would make sure you keep in mind so you can move forward.

What do you need to successfully overcome SIJD?

Determination.

Of course, we all know this. And if you’re here reading this blog, of course, you’ve got it!

Overcoming this problem is going to take a lot of hard work. And in the beginning, actually, it’s going to be just as much mental work as physical exercise — if not more so.

After everything I’ve been through, I’m convinced that the stage most of you are in right now — the “figuring it out” stage – is really the hardest part. Getting all the pieces into place, researching, learning way more as the patient than you need to for just about any other health condition – you are in the hardest part right now. So keep going.

Believe that it’s possible.

People often ask me how long it took me to recover from SIJD. The answer is that it took me several years– but that was in fact much longer than it would have taken, if I’d had the answers up front.

Part of what slowed me down was that I took breaks to conserve my energy. After all, I didn’t know what I was looking for. I was afraid to try too many different things, and spend too much money, not knowing if any of them would work.

That’s one thing I’m hoping to change for you all with my site. Although, in some ways, we’re all different, I also believe there are commonalities everyone needs to address in their recovery.

These commonalities include things like

• Correcting Your SI joint Alignment
• Strengthening
• Optimizing your Movement Patterns

Now, I believe you can be empowered and make more knowledgeable decisions in your recovery when you have some of these key goals in mind.

Ask yourself, “What would it look like if my SI joints stayed in the correct alignment all the time? If my muscles were strong enough to support me?” And then you can work backwards from there.

Believe In Yourself.

Here is the key piece I was missing, for so long.

I was always determined. From the beginning, I did everything I thought I could to get stronger. I kept regular chiropractor appointments. I went to the pool 4-5 days a week.

Yet, a few years in, I had an epiphany. On some level, I was doing a lot of things on the surface, by maintaining the strength I had, and keeping up with this routine.

But on a deeper level, I wasn’t actually giving it my all. After my workout was done for the day, I’d stop and wait for the next day, and do the same thing again. Months sometimes went by before I tried a new thing.

My big epiphany was that, on some level, I’d actually internalized some of the negativity and gaslighting from some of the people around me, that’s so common for those of us with chronic and invisible illness (particularly women!).

Unconsciously, there was a part of me that had been actually judging myself for how much time I spent trying to “fix” the problem, holding myself back out of a desire not to let this problem “take over” my life.

Once I realized this consciously, I realized it made no sense at all. SI joint dysfunction already was taking over my life. Why on earth was I holding myself back on purpose?

That’s when I shifted into full research mode. I kept a journal of my symptoms; I read every single research article I could find.

Shortly after that, I decided to take a chance and travel across the country to a friend’s wedding in California. That is when everything began to come together for me.

Tying it all together

Now, I believe you need all 3 of these components to create the mindset needed for SI joint recovery.

To be clear, I don’t believe this is a psychological problem at all! It’s 100% physiological.

But I do believe that having a clear vision of what is possible, and what the key components are that are needed for recovery, will help you make the best decisions to get yourself there, the most quickly.

***

I hope this helps!

Photo credit: San Francisco skyline pic – Melinda Young Stuart 🙂