I had a pretty interesting experience yesterday that I thought I’d share with you all– the good and the bad. I saw a physiatrist at Mass General Hospital who was actually familiar with treating the SIJ. (A physiatrist is a type of doctor that treats physical dysfunction, similar to an orthopedist or a pain specialist. People always think I’m saying “psychiatrist,” but I’m not). I … Continue reading What I learned from seeing my third physiatrist
Hey everyone, I was just working on revamping the “My Story” page for this blog, and I ended up reflecting on one aspect of this saga which I really haven’t talked about as much: How totally and completely crazy I felt when I was first trying to get help for this problem. The first time one of my SI joints locked up, in 2011, it was a … Continue reading So, it turns out I wasn’t crazy…
Okay, it’s been officially three weeks since my fall on the ice, and I think it’s safe to say that this episode is resolving without turning into the dramatic re-injury that I feared. It is more a blip on the radar– the kind of setback I had from time to time for years while trying to recover from my first injury– than its own new … Continue reading Post-Fall Update, Part 3
I had been starting to think of this fall 10 days ago as a thing of the past, however tonight something odd happened. A few things have come together to create kind of the perfect storm: –-Falling hard on ice 10 days ago –I saw a new massage therapist who put way too much stress on my knees and made my knee issues flare up, so … Continue reading Post-Fall Update, Part 2
Well, it’s been 10 days since I fell and predicted I was going to have an increase in SI joint problems. Here’s what happened: For about five days, things felt a little bit loose. I felt as though my SI joints were moving more than they were supposed to, but nothing really moved crazily out of place. It seemed as though my ligaments and my … Continue reading Post-Fall Update
Well, I knew it had to come eventually– the day I slipped and fell on ice, and landed on my butt. Blunt force to the SI joints, particularly if it’s asymmetric, is known to be a potential cause of injury. That’s because it can subject the ligaments to greater force than they can handle, stretching them out. A similar fall, I believe, is what caused … Continue reading Facing one of my worst fears: a potential reinjury
Honestly, as much as I have criticized chiropractors at times on here, I know I would have been completely lost when my SI joint first locked up back in 2011 if my chiropractor hadn’t been able to explain things to me. I’ve flat out never seen a physician that had anything truly helpful to say about the mechanics of this joint. I’ve seen one orthopedist … Continue reading Key Point #1: Identifying the problem
Well, I had a feeling it was inevitable… I knew that, at some point, my SI joints were probably going to lock up again. And, at the end of last week, it happened. As is the case with most things that go wrong with the body, I think a combination of factors came together here to make this part of my body (temporarily) worse again. … Continue reading What made one of my SI joints lock up for the first time in 8 months?
So I tested my SI joints today in a way that I haven’t since I injured them: I went for a hike, not in my regular shoes, but in my actual winter boots. They were still relatively new and had that just-out-of-the-box feeling– in other words, they were kind of stiff. And I pushed myself. I charged up hills, I gingerly balanced my way down … Continue reading In the Woods
Every time I write this, I’m afraid I’ll jinx myself. But my SI joints are still in place. They haven’t moved out of place since May (my first San Francisco trip). Since then, I have begun to do more and more. I’ve even run, at times, though it hasn’t been any more than a few strides crossing the street in a hurry. But still, that’s something– … Continue reading Still stable/what we can heal from.
My Sacroiliac Joint Saga 