In this video, I'm going to show you how to fix sacroiliac
pain off to one side. Stay tuned!
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
some great exercises that are going to target sacroiliac
joint, or SI joint, dysfunction and pain off to one side. Pain
that tends to start in the lower back, at the belt line,
goes off into the buttocks towards the hip, possibly into
the leg. The two big causes of SI joint pain and dysfunction
are tightness and weakness of the muscles that support the
pelvis and sacrum. So, I want to break this video up into two
separate parts to address this. In the first part, we're going
to focus on activating the muscles and mobilizing the SI
joint, and the second part we're going to focus on
strengthening everything to hopefully build stability and
get rid of sacroiliac pain for good. All of the exercises work
just a little bit differently. So, go through all of them,
take what works best for you. As a bonus, they can all be
done at home do not require any special equipment and may give
quick sacroiliac pain relief even in little as 30 seconds.
So, let's get started. Let's start with a great exercise
that's really going to help target and isolate a painful,
achy, sacroiliac joint. I call this one the SI joint
activator. It's best done at the edge of a bed. Lie flat on
your back just like this. Whatever side that you're
having pain, let's say it's my right side. I'm going to bring
that leg up, bend the knee roughly at 90 degrees. The
movement, I'm going to take my foot and I'm going to turn it
inward is much as I can. From there, I'm going to take the
hand on the opposite side and place it on the inside of the
bent knee. The movement is I'm going to take my knee towards
the other side shoulder. So, in this case, my right knee
towards my left shoulder but I'm going to resist against it
with my hands. So, I'm pushing into my hand and resisting
against that movement. When you do this, you're going to feel a
lot fire across the pelvis into the sacrum, that SI joint,
really focus on feeling that. Try to hold this one
comfortably for about 5 seconds. You're just going to
relax. On the next repetition, try to stretch into it even
more. You want to do this 110 to 15 times. After that, we're
going to do a different motion to attack the SI joint just a
little bit differently. So, this time around, I'm going to
take my foot but go outward with it as much as I can. I'm
going to take the hand on the painful side, place it on the
outside of the bent knee. The movement is I'm going to take
my leg 45 degrees straight away from me like this but I'm going
to again resist that movement with my hand. When you do this,
you're going to feel that SI joint activate but it'll be
just a little bit of a different feeling this time.
Five to five-second holds with this one. You're just going to
relax, take a breather, and then repeat this 10 to 15
times. This exercise is what I call the seated SI joint
opener. It's a two-part process that's going to help stretch
and activate the muscles around the sacroiliac joint but it
also may end in a satisfying self pop crack or release into
that joint this one can be done pretty much anywhere we just
need to sit at the edge of a chair have very good upright
posture the first movement we're going to do what is known
as a seated figure four or pigeon pose whatever side that
you're having pain bring that leg up over the other just like
this rest the ankle over the knee so when you look down it
should look like a figure four if this position is hard to get
into, what you can do is straighten the non-painful
side, put the painful leg over it, and then I'm going to
pretty much grab the back of the pant leg right here, bring
it up, and then slide the heel back into position just like
this. Let's start with very good upright posture. The first
movement, I'm going to take my hands, place them off to my
hips right here, keep my back straight as possible, and I'm
going to lean forward, pivot through the hips and through
the waist. We don't want to round the back with this one.
It's really going to target off to the side. It's going to hit
the glutes, the pure muscle, you're going to feel a lot fire
around that sacroiliac joint. Focus on that. You want to keep
going forward until you feel a deep but comfortable stretch.
Try to hold this one for 20 to 30 seconds. Do nice, slow,
controlled breathing also. From there, come back up and relax.
You can do that one three to five times. Just build into it
just a little bit more. If you feel like it's still just not
enough, we can start to incorporate some dynamic
movements in there to target the muscles a little bit
differently. So, let's get back into our original stretch like
this but what I'm going to do is put my arms in front of me
like this, kind of like a genie position, and I'm going to
rotate my back in the opposite direction, so I'm going all the
way towards my left. You'll notice that the muscles get hit
just a little bit differently around the sacroiliac joint
hold this one for 20 to 30 seconds, relax, and then do it
towards the other side and see if that one helps too. You can
also do a lateral bending motion to target more off to
the side of the lower back. So, have very good upright posture
with this one. I'm going to pretty much stabilize off to
the non-painful side right here with my hand. Put the other arm
and hand overhead just like this. I'm going to pivot away
from the painful side right here. You're
going to feel a deep stretch going all the way down into the
hip into the pelvis. You hold this one for 20 to 30 seconds,
come back up, and then relax. Go through all of those
motions. If you feel like one is targeting your pain just a
little bit better At that point, throw more repetitions
in, generally three to 5. What we can do to self mobilize the
joint and the next part is with a great isometric exercise. So,
I'm going to bring my legs down just like this. My legs are
going to be roughly hip width apart. I'm going to take my
hands, place them on the outside of my knees right here.
The movement is very easy. I'm going to drive my knees out but
I'm going to resist against it with my hands. You're going to
feel a lot fire across the sacrum pelvis. Hold this
position right here for about 5 seconds. You're just going to
relax. You're going to do this for five times. Now, here's the
knee part. We're going to take our hands right here, put them
together, and then place them in the inside of the knees.
This time around, we're going to squeeze inwards and I don't
know if you heard it over the microphone but actually my
right side just clicked right there. Very good release into
that SI joint. Again, I just hold this one for about 5
seconds. I'm just going to relax. I'm going to repeat this
five times. It's just a exercise to really activate so
much across the pelvis and sacrum and hopefully get it to
self pop, crack, or release. Give that one a try. This
exercise is called the SI joint corkscrew. It's a personal
favorite for many because it may end in a satisfying self
pop, crack, or release in the back and sacroiliac joint. This
one is best done at the edge of a bed. Start lying on your side
with the painful side up towards the ceiling. I'm going
to take the bottom leg, keep this one straight and take the
foot on the other side, place it right underneath the knee.
Press down with that straight leg to create a stable anchor
point at that foot, so it's not sliding like this. Next, let's
find our contact point, the sacroiliac joint. Start with
your hand on the painful side right around the belt line in
the center of the back. You're going to go down a little bit
and then off to the side. This should be the region of that SI
joint. To help find it even further, what you can do is
wing the knee up and down like this and it will activate the
pelvis and sacrum and help pinpoint areas of pain and
tightness. You want to take the meaty portion of the palm and
center over that spot. So, it should look like you're kind of
cupping your buttock like this. Let's put our head down. I'm
going to take the hand on the other side and then hook right
behind the knee. From here, the movement is very easy. We're
going to do a rotational corkscrew movement. We're going
to press into the pelvis into the SI joint and then hook and
pull the knee towards the floor at the same time. This puts a
lot of good movement in there and if it is locked up, you
might get a sudden pop or release in the back and across
the pelvis but do not try to force this one. Only go for a
deep, comfortable stretch. Hold this position for about 15 to
20 seconds, you're just going to relax, take a breather, and
then on the next repetition, try to build into it even more.
You want to do this for three to five repetitions. The best
way to prevent sacroiliac dysfunction and pain is to
build stability and strength across the pelvis and lower
back. This exercise is known as the bridge. It's my favorite
because it's going to hit pretty much everything that
will help stabilize those SI joints. You can do this one
lying flat on your back in bed or on a floor. We just need
something like a large roll-up bath towel or a pillow to place
in between our knees. What I'm going to do is squeeze in with
my knees into towel until I feel an activation into my
pelvis. From there, my hands go off to the side of the hips
right here. I'm going to squeeze into the towel as much
as I can and then slowly raise my butt up towards the ceiling
until I have a nice straight line from my knees to my hips
to my shoulders. You should feel the core muscles
activating the lower back, the glute, the buttocks, the legs,
all across the pelvis. It really just fires everything.
If you're unable to get into this position, just raise up as
much as you over time you will build strength and hopefully
get that nice straight line I try to hold this position for
about five seconds from there I just relax take a breather and
then repeat this one up to 10 times. This is how we can take
it to the next level and focus a little bit more off to one
side. So let's say that I have a lot going on on my left side
what I'm going to do is a one legged bridge at this point so
my other leg the non-painful side goes straight like this
and then I'm going to do the bridge only on that one side.
You'll feel a ton fire. This can be very very challenging.
Again, for about a five-second hold, you're just going to
relax from there. Take a breather and then try to do
this 10 to 15 times. Even though you might have one-sided
pain, I do recommend doing this on both sides to keep them in
balance. So, here's another great stability and
strengthening exercise that's going to hit the pelvis and a
sacrum just a little bit differently. It's a combination
exercise I call the bird dog hydrant. You're going to start
off on all fours. If your mattress is firm enough, you
can do this in bed but it's probably going to be easiest to
do it on a floor. So, let's start on all fours. Tuck our
chin towards our chest. Whatever side that we're having
discomfort, let's say it's my right side. I'm going to slowly
start to straighten my leg and then reach out with my toes.
Keep reaching and gliding away from you as much as you can
until you feel an activation of the muscles in the leg going
all the way up to the hip and also the pelvis. From there,
we're going to slowly raise the leg up until we feel a great
activation of the muscles into the core, the lower back, the
glutes, the buttocks, and also the leg. You want to hold this
one comfortably for 5 seconds. From there, you're just going
to relax, take a breather. The next movement is known as a
fire hydrant and you're going to see for good reasons
here in a second why. I'm going to start off on all
fours. What I'm going to do is raise the painful side up, keep
my knee bent at 90 degrees, and then we're going to rotate our
whole leg and our body upwards towards the ceiling. So, it's a
nice fluid movement of rotating like this. Go up as far as you
can. You're going to feel a ton fire across the glute. A great
stabilizer of that sacroiliac joint. Again, hold this one for
five seconds comfortably. You're just going to come back
down and relax at that point but just do this complete cycle
for about 10 repetition and build into each movement and
challenge those muscles and when you're done on one side, I
do recommend doing it on the other to keep them both in
balance. If the exercises helped you, please support us
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