Hey everyone, One of the biggest challenges I faced during my healing journey was being able to perform basic movements without pain. A lot of the exercises and stretches I knew I should be doing required me to get down onto the floor, but even the simple act of getting down onto the floor would put too much strain on my ligaments, causing my SI … Continue reading My awesome stretching table
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?
Hey everyone, I realized yesterday that everything I’ve written about my own road to healing really comes down to two factors: These two factors make up two equally important sides of the same coin. You need both for healing. The key is to balance one against the other. Why? Let’s look in more detail. 1) Letting sprained ligaments heal Basically, SI joint injuries occur when … Continue reading How I healed my SI joints without surgery
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
Hi everyone! I’ve had a lot of requests recently for exercises for the SI joint. There are soo many things I want to say about this, but today, I figured we’d start with what I believe to be the most important place to start strengthening: a core muscle called the transverse abdominis. *** The transverse abdominis is the #1 most important muscle to strengthen to stabilize … Continue reading The core muscles & transverse abdominis: the most important place to start strengthening
Hi everyone! One of the topics people ask me about most frequently is my exercise routine for SI joint dysfunction. However, before I go into specific exercises, I wanted to take a moment to try to shift your thinking on what strengthening means for SI joint dysfunction. What a lot of people get wrong is thinking there are certain exercises that they have to do, … Continue reading Three major muscle groups to strengthen for SI joint dysfunction
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…
Hey everyone, I recently stumbled upon this fascinating-looking course: Evidence-Based Examination and Treatment of the Pelvis through Medbridge Education. It’s a continuing education course for physical therapists who want to be able to treat SIJ pain. It’s given by Dr. Alexis Wright, who has a pretty impressive resume. She has a Ph.D. in physical therapy clinical research, is APTA board-certified in orthopedics, and is a Fellow … Continue reading Evidence-Based Examination and Treatment of the Pelvis (Continuing Education for PT’s)
My Sacroiliac Joint Saga 