Hi everyone!  Here’s a complete list of everything I’ve written.  You may find it easier to navigate this way, or find a topic that you’re looking for.

About Me 

My Story

My Injury 

What is the SI joint?

• Main functions of the SI joint
• Ligaments of the SI joint
• Where is the SI joint? Useful illustrations
• SI Joint Concepts: Useful terminology
• Finally, my own visual aides! (Some basic views of the SI joint).
• Major structures of the pelvis
• The SI joint is like a puzzle
• How the SI Joint affects Movement Efficiency
• The SI Joint and Shock Absorption

Understanding SI Joint Dysfunction:

Getting a diagnosis:

• The four main types of SI joint dysfunction
• Knowledge is power: find the right specialist who understands your issues
• Imaging and the SI joint: why imaging isn’t normally used to diagnose SIJD, but can still rule out other things
• People will dismiss what doesn’t fit their worldview: why you should keep searching even if you aren’t finding answers at first
• SI joint injections, Part 1: Lidocaine: what many doctors consider to be the “gold standard” of diagnosis

Musculoskeletal factors:

• Causes of sacroiliac joint dysfunction: acute and chronic

Alignment:

• What happens when an SI joint is out of alignment?
• Why correcting your alignment can be the missing piece of the puzzle
• Levels of pathology: why some forms of misalignment are more “serious” than others
• How to know when an SI joint adjustment is working

Upslip:

• What is an upslip?
• How to correct an upslip

Posterior rotation:

• What happens when an SI joint gets stuck?

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
• Can the SI joint cause sciatica?
• How I healed from chondromalacia patellae

Other potential causes to rule out:

• Lumbar fusion and SI joint dysfunction
• Tight muscles can mimic SI joint dysfunction
• Is your hip pain a labral tear? 
• How that scary snapping feeling in the front of your pelvis can actually be tight muscles

Important Concepts

• SI Joint Concepts: Hypomobility vs. Hypermobility
• SI Joint Concepts: Useful Terminology
• SI Joint Concepts: Form Closure vs. Force Closure
• Positions where the SI joint is more or less stable
• What’s the difference between a ligament sprain and a muscle strain?

Key Points of My Recovery

1. Identifying the problem
2. Working out regularly in a pool
3. Adjusting my own movement patterns and related post The SI joint is like a puzzle
4. Muscular Strength vs. Endurance
5. Developing a thorough stretching routine
6. When someone finally told me only one SI joint could lock up at a time
7. Learning to adjust my own SI joints
8. Discovering chiropractic adjustments had been re-spraining my ligaments the entire time (and deciding not to receive them anymore) — this link will take you to my original post on my main blog, Sunlight in Winter

Looking back at everything I know now:

• The end of my SI joint issues is officially in sight
• How I healed my SI joints without surgery
• How it all finally came together  
• My Recovery Timeline
• The goal of strengthening is to maximize your body’s own support system (so you aren’t dependent on adjustments)

Daily life with SI Joint Dysfunction:

• The mattress that helped my SI joint issues

Sitting:

• Why sitting can be painful with SI Joint Dysfunction
• My advice for a reader worried about sitting for 10 hours on a plane

Driving:

• If you’ve switched cars due to SI joint dysfunction, you’re not alone.

Approaches to Treatment

Strengthening/Exercise:

• When muscle strength finally takes over for weak ligaments
• How I healed my SI joints without surgery
• Three major muscle groups to strengthen for SI joint dysfunction
• Key Point #4: Muscular strength vs. Endurance
• Key Point #5: Developing a thorough stretching routine
• The goal of strengthening is to maximize your body’s own support system
• When it comes to exercise, start where you are.
• An exercise you may want to avoid

Core

• The most important place to start strengthening: the core & transverse abdominis
• If I was going to start with any one exercise, it would be these gentle core exercises.
• The muscles of the core (and why we focus on the transverse abdominis).

SI Belts

• Let’s talk about SI Belts

Stretching:

• Stretching and Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction
• Tight muscles can mimic SI joint dysfunction
• Stretches for the hamstrings, and how to protect the SI joints while stretching 
• The #1 most important stretch that I do: one leg knee-to-chest
• My awesome stretching table
• Key Point #5: Developing a thorough stretching routine

Aquatic Therapy:

• Pool Exercises: A Basic Overview
• Pool exercises for the sacroiliac joint (preliminary/rough draft)
• One of the best things you can do for yourself in the pool: traction (letting your legs hang beneath you in the deep end)
• The benefits of swimming in cold water
• Youtube playlist: aquatic exercise

Physical Therapy:

How to find a good physical therapist:

1. Persistence
2. Thinking creatively
3. Find someone with experience in treating the SI joint
4. Search tips
5. The PT’s I observed as a student

More on physical therapy:

• Evidence-Based Examination and Treatment of the Pelvis with Dr. Alexis Wright (a fascinating-looking continuing education course for PT’s who want to know more about the SI joint).

Muscle Energy Technique

• How exactly does the Muscle Energy Technique work?
• Clarifying the Muscle Energy Technique
• Finally, a decent video of someone using the Muscle Energy Technique for the SI joint!
• Why I switched from chiropractor visits to the Muscle Energy Technique 
• Do’s and Don’ts for the Muscle Energy Technique

Other Conservative Approaches:

• The Feldenkrais method and SI joint pain

Chiropractors

I have mixed feelings on chiropractic as a whole.  I do believe the chiropractors who are more aligned with mainstream medicine have something to offer, although I believe the field needs more research.  Due to safety concerns, I personally do not receive chiropractic adjustments.  Overall I think physical therapists who offer the Muscle Energy Technique are a better way to go.

• What I think chiropractic has to offer
• A chiropractor explains why he doesn’t believe adjustments can heal SI joint dysfunction

Traditional Doctors:

• A type of specialist you might want to see: physiatrists

Treatment Approaches & Differing Perspectives

• When people claim SI joint dysfunction isn’t real

History of SI Joint Treatment

• Why do we know so little about the SI joint?
• Amazing Interview with Dr. Carter Beck (History of SI joint surgery)
• Why are there so many doctors who treat the hip, but not the SI joint?

SI Joint Injections:

• Part 1: Lidocaine
• Part 2: Lidocaine & Cortisone Combined
• Part 3: Will an SI Joint Injection Help You?

Prolotherapy:

• What is Prolotherapy? (and why I didn’t end up having it)
• Why Julie decided to pursue prolotherapy (an alternative perspective!)
• Can you heal the SI joints without prolotherapy?

Resources:

SI Joint Reading List

Women’s Health

Pelvic Floor

• Can pelvic floor physical therapy help the SI joint?

Newer posts:

Learning I have a genetic hypermobility disorder (2020)

• Understanding hypermobility: An overview, and how I first learned I was hypermobile
• The first time someone ever told me I was hypermobile: My hypermobility story, Part 1
• Strengthening, hypermobility, and “why you need to always keep your muscles strong: My hypermobility story, Part 2
• The SI joint and hypermobility: how an SI joint can be hypermobile
• New England area hypermobility resources: treatment options in my little corner of the world
• What you can learn from people with hypermobility: we are on the extreme end of the spectrum, in terms of what can happen with the SI joint– which is why everyone else can learn a lot from our experiences!

Genetics consultation for hypermobility

• Why I decided to see a geneticist about hypermobility
• My official hypermobility diagnosis

Newer posts/current routine (2020-present):

• When you’re in it for the long haul: Isometric exercises (featuring my lockdown exercise routine!).
• Taking it to the next level
• Working the foot core
• Having enough muscle strength can change everything
• The function of a muscle spasm — a lot of readers had been asking, “If one particular muscle gets tight, is that enough to pull the SI joints out of alignment on its own?” This was my response.
• A rough workout that made me super happy
• How walking on softer surfaces can reduce joint pain

Mind-Body

• The SI Joint… and the brain?!
• Do I recommend DNRS for SI joint dysfunction?