Hi everyone, I often hear from people who are struggling to tell whether their pain is coming from the SI joint, or another potential cause of low back/hip pain. I know from personal experience that it can be really overwhelming to try to wrap your mind around exactly all of the things that could be causing your pain. So here, with illustrations, is a guide … Continue reading Major structures of the pelvis– views from the front
SI joint dysfunction tends to begin with an injury to the ligaments that are meant to hold the joint in place. This can happen through blunt force, like falling on your butt, or through repetitive motions and sports that subject the ligaments to more force than they are able to handle over time. In general, I’ve found these factors can be grouped into two main categories: … Continue reading Causes of sacroiliac joint dysfunction: acute and chronic
Hello, everyone. I’ve noticed that my page on the Muscle Energy Technique is one of my pages that gets the most traffic from search engines. It seems like a topic people are really searching for answers on, so I figured I’d try to explain some more of the specifics. I use the Muscle Energy Technique, or MET for short, to realign my SI joints. … Continue reading How exactly does the Muscle Energy Technique work?
Hey everyone, Here’s a concept that comes up all the time, so I wanted to take a moment to clarify it. What is a ligament, and what is a tendon? And what happens when we injure each one? A ligament is a very tough band of connective tissue that connects one bone to another. Ligaments are what stabilize the SI joint (along with our muscles). … Continue reading What’s the difference between a ligament sprain and a muscle strain?
A huge part of my recovery, in addition to learning which exercises to do and which specific interventions to use, was learning what not to do. As I wrote in a previous post, the SI joint is like a puzzle. For me, the process of understanding my own joints had to be very intellectual. As much time as I spent exercising or going to the … Continue reading Positions where the SI joint is more or less stable
Hey everyone! I’ve been thinking a lot recently about different ways to classify different types of SI joint dysfunction and pain. When most people think of SI joint dysfunction, they think of it as the result of a musculoskeletal injury. However, there are other potential reasons for why people may experience SI joint pain. Sometimes, you can have an underlying medical condition that’s actually … Continue reading The four main types of SI joint dysfunction
One of the craziest things about the SI joint is that even though it’s only meant to move a few millimeters, when those few millimeters of motion become restricted, it can really wreak havoc on the rest of your body. Although this joint isn’t meant to move a ton compared to other joints in the body (think of the hip socket, the shoulder, or the … Continue reading How SI joint dysfunction can affect the rest of your body
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
It’s a great way to build muscular strength without negatively impacting your SI joints. Basically, if you have an SI joint injury, you have likely sprained the ligaments that are supposed to hold the joint in place. The only way around this is to build up enough muscle strength around the joint that your muscles are able to hold things in place more. In … Continue reading What’s so awesome about aquatic therapy?
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…
My Sacroiliac Joint Saga 