Hey everyone, As you may know, I’m a huge fan of aquatic exercise. I think it can be a great way to get a workout without putting pressure on your joints, and the water also offers certain benefits that land-based exercise does not. However, I also know that a lot of people may be hesitant, or possibly even feel intimidated, about beginning pool exercise. On … Continue reading 5 myths about aquatic therapy: let’s clear them up!
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
A huge part of my recovery, in addition to learning which exercises to do and which specific interventions to use, was learning what not to do. As I wrote in a previous post, the SI joint is like a puzzle. For me, the process of understanding my own joints had to be very intellectual. As much time as I spent exercising or going to the … Continue reading Positions where the SI joint is more or less stable
Hey everyone! I’ve been thinking a lot recently about different ways to classify different types of SI joint dysfunction and pain. When most people think of SI joint dysfunction, they think of it as the result of a musculoskeletal injury. However, there are other potential reasons for why people may experience SI joint pain. Sometimes, you can have an underlying medical condition that’s actually … Continue reading The four main types of SI joint dysfunction
Hey everyone– these are some Frequently Asked Questions about the Muscle Energy Technique. (I get asked these so often, I decided to put the answers up in their own post!). What is the Muscle Energy Technique? It’s a form of manual therapy, or “hands-on” therapy. To me, the name sounds a little bit more new-agey than it needs to. The kind of Muscle Energy Technique … Continue reading Frequently Asked Questions: the Muscle Energy Technique
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
Hey everyone, So, the really great thing about water exercise is that it allows you to strengthen the muscles that support the SIJ without putting additional strain on your ligaments. However… As if that wasn’t enough, the pool offers some additional benefits you can’t get from any other form of exercise. The most important move I do in the pool is to let my legs hang … Continue reading Traction: One of the best things you can do for yourself in the pool
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?
My Sacroiliac Joint Saga 