SI joint pain
Do you have pain on one side of your low back?
Have you ever heard of the SI joint?
Listen up!
Do you ever have pain over the lower part of your back and off to one side or the other? Usually above the glutes and in that dimple area of the low back. A lot of people think this pain coming from the hip, but it’s actually pain over the sacroiliac joint, aka the SI joint. We have two of these joints and they connect our giant pelvic bone to the sacrum on both sides. The primary function of the SI joint is to absorb shock between the upper body and the pelvis and legs. This makes it quite a stable joint surrounded by many thick ligaments for support.
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We can have pain in this area of the back from this joint either moving too much or not moving enough. This is a very important distinction to figure out because that will dictate what type of treatment will decrease the pain and improve the overall function. SI joint pain can even cause referred pain down the leg, into the groin, low back, or hip. Talk about a wide variety of how this issue can manifest in the body!
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There are many causes of SI joint pain. Some of them are things that cause repeated stress on the joint, like contact sports and heavy lifting. Pregnant women are also at a bit of a higher risk to have SI joint pain because of the relaxin released into the body which causes the ligaments to become more lax than normal. This causes hypermobility/instability of the SI joint. An anatomical difference in leg length has potential to cause this type of pain because of the uneven pressure between each side of the pelvis. SI joint pain can come from something more obvious like a fall, or something not so obvious like wear and tear over time.
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In the office we go through a series of tests to diagnose your low back pain as accurately as we can. If the SI joint is stuck and not moving as well as it should, adjustments to the joint are necessary to restore that motion. If the joint is moving too much and needs some stability, we will put you through functional rehabilitation to strengthen around the joint so it does not chronically become and issue for you.
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In the video we showed you FIVE exercises to get this joint nice and strong on your own:
Single leg glute bridge
Bird dog
Banded hip extension
Dead bug
Single leg deadlift
Tune in to the video below to see exactly how to do each one of these!
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These are a great start to get your SI joint strong and working properly again. But if you’re still in pain, we’d love to get you in for a further assessment and treatment!
