Strengthening

For me, one of the keys to stabilizing my SI joints was to strengthen the muscles around the joint.

When your muscles are stronger, they’re able to do a much better job holding your SI joints in place, so that the joints can function optimally.

Additionally, when your muscles are strong, they can also help to take some of the pressure off of your sprained ligaments, allowing them to heal.

Although a ligament that has been sprained may never completely go back to the way it once was, you may find that by keeping up a certain baseline of muscle strength, you’re able to compensate for this and move normally.

This was what happened for me. Once I built up enough muscle strength after my initial injury, I stopped having to think about my ligaments at all. My joints just started staying in place, the way they were meant to.

Ultimately, the path forward can be different for everyone. People often ask for my thoughts on how strengthening compares to some of the alternate forms of treatment out there, such as prolotherapy and PRP injections.

My personal perspective is that strengthening is important for everyone.  When implemented under proper medical guidance, the right strengthening program can help maximize the outcomes of any additional treatments you try.

Here are some posts I wrote related to the topic of strengthening (and more to come!):

General Strengthening:

• How I healed my SI joints without surgery
• Your muscles are magic
• The point I’m at now: When muscle strength finally takes over for weak ligaments
• Three major muscle groups to strengthen for SI joint dysfunction
• The goal of strengthening is to maximize your body’s own support system.

Core Strength

• The most important place to start strengthening: the core & transverse abdominis
• Start building core strength with exercises that are gentle on the SI joints and lower back
• The muscles of the core (and why we focus on the transverse abdominis!).
• The most powerful core exercises can be subtle
• Why the core is your home base

Muscles of the Hip

• A great exercise to try: Isometric Glute Squeezes

Foot Core

• The foot core: how to strengthen the muscles of the foot and ankle, to stabilize your entire body!

Aquatic Exercise

And of course, one of my favorite forms of exercise is pool exercise! I have found that it’s a great way to build up muscle strength without doing anything to re-strain your ligaments. Check out my Aquatic Therapy page for more.