My Recovery

I had to chart a course, when no one person could provide me with answers.

I originally started this blog in 2016, when my whole life was on hold due to SI joint dysfunction. I was seeing a chiropractor regularly, and I’d already tried tons of physical therapy, but nothing I did seemed to totally solve the problem.

So, I made a conscious decision to treat my recovery like it was my “job.” To make it my mission to find whatever it was going to take to make myself well again.

Now, I’m living pain-free. My joints are staying in alignment, and I’m even able to do things like going out dancing and hiking.

How did I get here?

Eventually, I discovered that a lot of the things I’d been doing weren’t helping the way I thought. In fact, some of my exercises and treatments had actually been increasing the amount of stress and inflammation in my SI joints.

So, I changed things up.

I took bits and pieces of things I learned from different people along the way. I paid incredibly close attention to what helped me, and what made things worse.

I took courses in anatomy and physiology, exercise physiology, and kinesiology, to take as much control over my own situation as I could.

I began to carve out a path. If a certain approach caused pain– no matter how well-recommended or conventional it seemed– I stopped doing it, and found another way.

Through a process of trial and error, I learned to use my body in optimal ways and build up my muscle strength, in a way that was still gentle on the joint itself.

Now, I use these strategies to help other people, too.

It’s all about the cost-benefit ratio.

A lot of treatment programs don’t work because while they may give you exercises to strengthen your muscles, they don’t factor in the negative impact those exercises can have on the joint itself.

The main principles of my recovery:

I learned to be as gentle as possible on the ligaments to allow them to heal — using the most gentle adjustments possible.

I designed my own exercise routine that let me begin to build up my muscle strength around the joint, without continually re-stressing the joint itself.

In addition, I developed my mind-body connection, and learning to move my body in the most optimal ways. This required a total change in thinking. Ultimately, I learned a ton, and am so much more in touch with my body now!

For more on how I recovered, check out How I healed my SI joints without surgery