Hi everyone! Here’s a slightly different type of post for you today. I wanted to make sure anyone who was interested had a chance to read my interview with SpineUniverse (it’s a website about back pain). I was really flattered when they contacted me last month to ask if I wanted to share my story of SI joint recovery on their site. To be honest, I’ve … Continue reading My Interview with Spine Universe 🙂
One of the questions people ask me most often is “How are you doing now?”. I’ve just answered some of the specific questions about what I can and can’t do, and my activity level now, in this post. But what I wanted to talk to you about today is a very important component of my recovery: self-reliance. *** Honestly, I’ve always had sort of a … Continue reading Becoming self-reliant
Hi everyone! I am totally grateful to longtime reader Julie, who emailed me yesterday about her own experience consulting a doctor for prolotherapy. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the concept, prolotherapy is a relatively new form of treatment in which a special solution consisting mainly of sugar is injected into the ligaments of an injured joint. This solution isn’t toxic, but it … Continue reading Why Julie decided to pursue prolotherapy
I haven’t written a ton on my multiple physical therapy failures yet, because unfortunately there are so many. For now, let me just say that my physical therapist Paula, who finally helped me, was actually the fifth physical therapist I saw over the course of this journey. The first four offered varying degrees of helpfulness vs. unhelpfulness, but ultimately what it came down to was that they just didn’t … Continue reading Why do “perfectly good” exercises sometimes not help?
Hi everyone! For some reason this subject has come up a lot in my emails to readers recently, so I thought it was high time I give it its own post. *** At one point into my journey– I’d say it was probably about two years into the whole five year saga– I made an appointment with an orthopedist. I’d already seen one physiatrist, who … Continue reading My experience seeing an orthopedist, and why I didn’t pursue lidocaine or cortisone injections
Hi everyone! I’ve mentioned this stretch previously (have you seen my post on Stretching and Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction?). However I believe this stretch so important, I decided to give it its own post. I started doing this stretch regularly about six months into my battle, and although the saga obviously did continue for quite a while, I found that adding it in to my routine … Continue reading The #1 most important stretch that I do: single leg knee-to-chest
Okay, so here’s a post I definitely could have used back in the day, so I’m putting it out there in case it helps! *** When I first began to experience SI joint dysfunction, I thought of it as “hip pain.” After all, in our day to day lives, we usually refer to the region around our pelvis and waist as “the hips.” However, when … Continue reading Why are there so many doctors who treat “the hip,” but not the SI joint?
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
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
My Sacroiliac Joint Saga 