Sacroiliac 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.
When a ligament is sprained, it becomes slightly stretched out. This means it can’t hold the joint in place as well as its supposed to, and abnormal motion patterns begin to develop, causing pain, inflammation, or even the feeling that the joint is “stuck.”
SI joint dysfunction can affect different people in different ways, depending on the extent of their injury, as well as other factors such as gender and age.
Another common factor can be if you have a genetic hypermobility condition, which affects your ligaments and connective tissue.
Although I didn’t know it at first, I would later discover that hypermobility was a big factor for me.
The SI joint and the rest of the body
SI joint dysfunction can affect the motion patterns in the rest of your body, causing pain in other areas.
On the other hand, there are different conditions which can cause symptoms that are very similar to SI joint dysfunction, so it’s important to ensure you’ve received a proper diagnosis.
Here are some posts I wrote to clarify SI issues, and how to get a diagnosis:
Understanding SI Joint Dysfunction:
- Four main types of SI joint dysfunction
- Causes of sacroiliac joint dysfunction: acute and chronic
- What happens when the SI joint is out of alignment?
- What happens when an SI joint gets stuck?
- SI Joint Concepts: Hypomobility vs. Hypermobility
Effects on the rest of the body:
- How SI joint dysfunction can affect the rest of your body
- The pubic symphysis: the joint at the front of the pelvis
- How the SI Joint affects Movement Efficiency
- The SI Joint and Shock Absorption
Other potential causes to rule out:
My Sacroiliac Joint Saga 