In this video, I'm going to show you how to fix your
sacroiliac joint pain in a very easy to follow, step-by-step
guide. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over a
step-by-step guide that can give both quick and
long-lasting relief for sacroiliac joint pain commonly
known as the SI joints. If you're unfamiliar with them,
they're the union of the sacrum and the ilium of the pelvis and
they function as a shock absorber for the spine above.
When these joints get irritated and inflamed, it can cause a
lot of issues including lower back pain, buttock pain, even
pains that will travel into the thigh and the legs. What
usually causes this is because the muscles that help support
the pelvis notably the glutes become tight and weak. So, I'm
going to show you how to fix this by breaking the video up
into three separate parts. While these parts may be
different, they are meant to work together. So, if you want
the best results, go through all three. As a bonus, all of
the exercises can be done at home require no equipment and
you may find give quick SI joint pain relief even within
third seconds. So, with that being said, let's get started.
So, let's start by warming up the muscles in soft tissues
that helps support the sacroiliac joint. This is a
really important step because it helps improve circulation,
increases flexibility and will also make it less likely that
you irritate those muscles later on through exercise. So,
here's a really easy one that you can do in bed or on a
floor. Just lie flat on your back. One leg is going to go
straight. The other leg is going to go up, knee bend at 90
degrees. We're going to take the foot on the bent knee side
and turn it inward as much as we can. You should always start
to feel some muscles starting to fire. From there, we're
going to overlap our hand and put it on the inside of the
bent knee. The movement is really straight forward. What
we're trying to do is take this bent knee across our body
towards the other side shoulder. So, in this case, my
right knee towards my left shoulder but I'm going to
resist against that movement with my hands. So, press your
knee into your hands as much as you can until you a lot of
muscles start to fire including the glutes a big stabilizer of
the SI joint you want to hold this one comfortably for five
seconds you're going to relax and then you're going to repeat
this five times and with each repetition press into it just a
little bit more from there we're going to take it to the
next level and target the muscles just a little bit
differently so let me switch to the other side so you can see
this better again we're going to have our knee bend at 90
degrees, but this time around we're going to turn the foot
outward as much as we can. The movement this time is taking
our knees straight away from us like this but again, we're
going to resist against that movement with our hands. You'll
feel the muscles get hit and activate just a little bit
differently. This time around, I feel it a lot on my outside
over that glute medius. Five-second hold. You're going
to relax and then you're going to repeat this five times but
you want to do this in both directions for five times for
five-second holds and do both legs. So, after we have
everything warmed up, we're going to move on to
strengthening exercises. This is by far the most important
part so don't skip it. If you want long-lasting sacroiliac
joint pain relief, you have to focus on strengthening the
muscles that help support it. Notably, the glutes. Here's an
easy exercise called glute glides. To get into position,
we're going to start off on the floor next to a smooth wall.
You want to wear socks with this one too because it will
help take friction out of the movement making it a little bit
easier. So, to get into position, I'm going to start
with my backside flush against a wall. It doesn't matter which
side is going to be up because we're going to do it on both
sides but the bottom side, we're going to take our knee,
bend it, and then press our foot into the wall for support.
I like to just support my head with my hand just like this.
So, let's tighten our core muscles to help support the
spine, keep this top leg straight, and then press our
heel into the wall. The movement from here very
straight forward. You're just going to lift your leg upward
towards the ceiling as much as you can. The more that you go
up, the more that you're going to start to feel some muscles
start to fire in the legs, the hips, across the pelvis, and
into the back. You want to hold this one comfortably for 5
seconds. From there, you're going to slowly lower your leg
downward towards the floor but you want to do this one nice
and slowly resisting against your leg weight. It hits the
muscles just a little bit differently. It should take you
about three to five seconds. From there, just relax, take a
breather, and then repeat this one10 to 15 times and with each
repetition, challenge yourself to go up just a little bit
more. If this becomes a little bit too easy, you can take this
one to the next level by putting some different motions
in there to challenge the muscles just a little bit more.
So, as you go up, turn your foot outward as much as you
can. You'll really feel those glutes start to fire. So, give
that one a try for a five-second hold and as you
lower your leg this time around turn your foot inward as much
as you can and don't allow the toes to touch the floor let it
hover just a little bit above the floor and hold that
position for about five seconds and then relax repeat this 110
to 15 times if that feels like it's a little bit too easy and
you want to take this one to the next level scoot away from
the wall like this because that way we won't have the support
of it but as you do this exercise make sure that your
whole is in a nice straight line so you don't want your leg
trekking forward like this or backward but give that one a
try going up with it and also putting those motions in for 10
to 15 repetitions and remember whatever you do on one side
always switch to the other to keep them both imbalance so if
you want to keep it easy and just have one exercise that can
give long lasting sacroiliac joint pain relief this is it
this is known as the pelvic bridge but I'm going to show
you how to take it to the level and really target those muscles
that support the SI joint. You can do this one in bed or on a
floor. Just start off lying flat on your back, knees bent,
feet flat. I'm going to show you the basic bridge first and
then we'll progress into the more challenging moves. So,
what you want to do is tighten your core, taking your belly
button towards your spine, and then you're going to squeeze
your glutes. Take your hands, put them right on your hips.
You're going to drive your hips and pelvis upward towards the
ceiling until your body is in a nice straight line from your
knees to your hips to your shoulder. If you're unable to
get into this position, maybe you have a lot of weakness or
pain and can only go up an inch or two. Do the best you can.
Over time, you should gain strength and flexibility to get
into this position but hold this one for five seconds and
you're going to feel a ton of muscles start to fire. Core,
lower back across the glutes right here and hips and also
the legs. We're going to relax and then we're going to repeat
this 110 to 15 times. To take this one to the next level,
we're going do a marching motion. So, what I like to do
is hold this position but lift one leg up. Hold this one for a
second or two. Relax it and then go towards the other side.
Try to do this one for 10 to 15 repetitions on both sides and
when you do this, make sure that your hips are level so
it's not sagging down like this. You really want to focus
on keeping everything in balance. From there, if you do
feel like you have a little bit more energy, you can always
throw in another set or two. But I like to target the glutes
a little bit more and really help focus on those SI joints
with what is known as a clamshell bridge so with this
one we're going to put our feet together press them together
and then take your knees outward as much as you can you
should feel an initial stretch in the inner part of the leg
towards the groin and also on the outer part of the hips from
there the movement is very similar take your hands put
them on your hips and now drive your hips upward towards the
ceiling this time around you're really going to feel it outside
hitting those glutes but also across those sacroiliac joints.
Five second hold, relax, and then repeat this 110 to 15
times. Again, if you feel like you have a little bit more
energy, challenge yourself by throwing in another set or two.
So last, let's focus on stretching. Stretches are
perfect to do after strengthening exercises to keep
the muscles loose but also help avoid soreness but with
stretching, you can do it throughout the day anytime that
you need quick pain leaf. Here's one that you can do
pretty much anytime, anywhere including at home or at work.
We just need a chair for this one. So, you're going to start
off at the edge of that chair with very good upright posture.
Just have the back nice and straight. You're going to bring
one leg up over the other, resting your ankle over the
other side's knee. So, when you look down, should look like a
figure four. If this position is difficult for you to get in,
what you can do is straighten the other leg, pull your ankle
over the shin, either grab your pant leg in front of the shin
right here and then pull the leg up into position. Take the
bottom leg and just slide your heel back like this now but
with this one, we're really going to focus on the glutes
right here but this also targets a muscle called the
piriformis which is really important for pain in that
area. So, I know a lot of people have probably seen this
exercise and they really just want to crank down into their
knee with this but it can actually put a lot of stress
over those muscles. So, we don't want to do that. Instead,
we're going to actively press down with our knee as much as
we can until we feel the muscles around the hips
including the glutes start to fire. From there, I'm just
going to take my upper body right here and pivot my chest
forward keeping my back straight and going down towards
the floor as much as I can. The more that you go down, the more
that you're going to feel a deep stretch across the pelvis
and hips. Again, it really targets those glutes. I like to
hold this one comfortably for 20 to 30 seconds and just do
nice, slow, controlled breathing. From there, I just
come up and then I relax. On the next repetition, I try to
build into it just a little bit more for three to five
repetitions and then from there, I just switch to the
other side and repeat to keep everything in balance. If you
want to take this one to the next level though, here's some
other motions that you can do to target the muscles just a
little bit differently. So, instead of going straight
forward with it, go all the way down as much as you can, put
your arms overlapping like this kind of like a chin position
and then turn and rotate away from the side of pain. So, I'm
turning a little bit towards my left. You'll notice it hits the
muscles just a little bit differently. So, give that a
try going towards the left. Go towards the right. If any of
those positions offer you more relief, throw some repetitions
in at that point. You can also do a side bend away from the
side of pain. So, with this one, instead of going straight
down with it, what I'm going to do is just tilt my body away
from the bent knee side. So, I'm just really tilting my body
towards the left. With this one, you should feel a deep
stretch forming off your side pretty much on the lower back
going to the hip and also into the pelvis. It usually feels
really good. So, give that one a try. Again, with any of those
positions, if they offer you more relief, throw more
repetitions in. If the exercises help, please support
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can. Thanks for watching.