How to SAFELY Pop Your Sacroiliac Joint
In this video, I'm going to
show you how to safely pop your sacroiliac joints. Stay tuned. Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe
coming to you from SpineCare in Saint Joseph, Michigan. In this
video, I'm going to go over four different exercises to
safely pop your sacroiliac joint. If you're unfamiliar
with the sacroiliac joint, it's the union of the ilium of the
pelvis and the sacrum. It acts as a shock absorber and a
stabilizer for the spine above the pelvis, the hips, and the
lower extremities. When this joint becomes locked up tight
and inflamed, you can get a lot of localized pain in the lower
back over the region of the glutes, into the hips, and also
into the thighs. So, these exercises are designed to be
done at home and you may find give very quick relief even
within seconds. So, let's get started and self pop that
sacroiliac joint right now. So, here's a really easy way to
self mobilize your sacroiliac joint. I do this one at home at
the edge of a bed. If your mattress is pretty firm, the
trick is to fold up a couple large bath towels or you can
use a blanket, put it at the edge right here while it may
seem simple, it actually does work and it will firm up the
mattress.
So, whatever side that you're having pain, let's
say it's my left SI joint. That is going to be our inside leg
during this exercise. So, let's take our left leg right here
and put it right at the edge of that bed. We're then going to
hook the edge of the bed with our foot and our ankle for a
nice, stable anchor point. Rest your upper body weight to your
arms and hands just like this. The outside leg, I'm going to
bend that knee and then hook my foot on the other side's foot.
What I'm going to do is press down with the top foot right
here into my bottom foot again for a little bit more
stability. We want to position ourselves where the outside
knee is going to be right on the outside of that bed so it
can glide up and down on it.
The movement from here is very
easy. What I'm going to do is move through my pelvis and
through my hips and take my knee downward 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 forming on the inside
sacroiliac joint. So, on my left SI joint. If it is locked
up, you might get a sudden pop, crack, or release but do not
try to force it. Only go towards a deep, comfortable
stretch. Hold this for a couple seconds. From there, what
you're going to do is then raise that right outside hip
upward towards the ceiling as much as you can. You'll notice
that it hits the inside sacroiliac joint just a little
bit differently. Hold this for a couple seconds. You're going
to relax and then you're just going to repeat this one five
to 10 times and with each repetition, try to build into
it just a little bit more. Here, let me switch to the
other side so you can get another view of it but it's
just a great way to really safely open that SI joint up
and get a lot of quick pain relief.
And I do recommend that
if you only have one-sided sacroiliac joint pain to do
this on both sides because it not only will help get pain
relief but it does strengthen the SI joints. So, you want to
keep them both imbalance. So, here's a two-part exercise that
you can do daily that will help strengthen the SI joints,
hopefully giving us long-lasting pain relief but
also offering a nice self pop, crack, or release in there if
those sacroiliac joints are locked up. So, in the first
position, I'm going to lie my stomach right next to a smooth
wall.
You might want to put a pillow, towel, or blanket
underneath your chest or waist for a little bit more comfort.
I'm going to rest my upper body onto my forearms just like
this. They're in a V shape. I just clasp my hands together.
What I'm going to do is bend my knees roughly at 90 degrees.
Get them pretty close to that wall and then put the top of my
feet on the wall. From there, I'm going to tighten my core
muscles and also squeeze my glutes to make sure that we're
really focusing on those muscles.
The movement from here
is very easy. I'm going to have my legs roughly hip width apart
and then I'm slowly going to take my feet outward like this
until I start to feel those sacroiliac joints across the
pelvis start to open up just very slightly. From there, I'm
going to raise my feet upward towards the ceiling as much as
I can, lifting my thighs off the floor. In this position,
you should feel a lot of muscles firing. The core, the
glutes, across the pelvis, into the hips. You may notice with
this one too that you might have a challenge lifting one
leg up as far as the other. That will show you what side
that you really need to focus on.
So, with this one, you
might want to either film yourself doing it or have
somebody watch you because if you do have a lot of weakness
off to one side, it's going to be very visually evident but I
try to hold this one for about five seconds. From there, I'm
just going to relax, take a breather. On the next
repetition, build into it just a little bit more. Really try
to go up as much as you can because it will challenge those
muscles only to help make them stronger in the long run but I
try to do this for about five times. So, moving on to the
second part of this exercise, we're going to focus more on
mobility into the sacroiliac joints which may result in that
self pop, crack, or release that we are looking for. Start
off by scooting forward away from the wall. As a note, if
you have a lot of knee pain or sensitivity, you'll probably
want to put something underneath them like a pillow
for a little bit more support and comfort but what I'm going
to do is bend one knee, keep it flat like this.
Doesn't matter
what knee you start off with because we're going to do it on
both sides. What I'm going to do from there is then position
my other leg on top of the other. So, my left knee is
resting over my right foot. From here, I'm just going to
bend that top knee roughly at 90 degrees foot up towards the
ceiling. With this exercise to make it easier, we can tilt our
body off to the side of the top leg.
So, in this case, it's my
left. I'm going to put my hands off to my side just like this.
So, this one's important too for this movement. Whatever
side that we're tilting towards or the top leg side, we're
going to use that side's hand to push our body to create a
little bit more leverage to do this movement just a little bit
easier.
So, what I'm going to do is start off by tightening
my core muscles, squeezing my glutes to fire those muscles
and then, I'm going to press this hand and then rotate my
body towards the other side. When you do this, you're going
to feel a deep stretch across the pelvis into that sacroiliac
joint. Again, you might get a sudden pop or release but don't
try to force it. Instead, hold this comfortably for about 5
seconds. From there, you're just going to relax and then
repeat this one up to five times and with each repetition,
try to build into it just a little bit more. Always
challenge yourself. To make this one more challenging and
taking it to the next level, Start to work your body to the
point where it is now in a nice straight line and you'll notice
that this becomes a much deeper but more challenging stretch.
So, experiment with different angles. If you find that one
just hits that sacroiliac joint pain or just helps release it a
little bit easier, throw more repetitions in and I do
recommend doing this on both sides to keep them in balance.
This is what I call the sacroiliac joint corkscrew.
It's a very easy exercise that can do on a floor or in bed.
The trick with this one is to elevate your feet upward just a
little bit so you're going to be able to hook behind your
knee.
So, this one can be done right next to a staircase. Just
put your feet up on the stairs. If you want to do this one in
bed or on a floor, use something like a stack of
books. You can use a yoga block, a step up board like I'm
using, or even a foam roller. So, just start off by lying
flat on your back. Whatever side that you're having a
issues.
Let's say it's my right SI joint. I'm going to bend
that side's knee and then hook behind the other side's knee.
We want to make sure that this is a nice sturdy point. So, I
really try to focus on hooking in there and then keep the
non-painful sides leg straight as possible. What you're going
to do is take the arm on the non-painful side, hook on the
outside of the bent knee. You're going to keep your
shoulder blades and upper back flat as possible and then
you're going to rotate by pulling on this knee right here
and then moving through your hips and through your pelvis.
The more that you go over, the more that you're going to feel
a deep stretch forming into that SI joint and across the
pelvis.
Only go to your comfort level. This usually feels
really good and you can get that sudden pop crack or
release that you're looking for but again, don't try to force
it. I try to hold this one comfortably for about 5
seconds. From there, I just relax and then I can repeat
this one up to five times and with each repetition, challenge
yourself to pull the knee down just a little bit further but
again, only to your comfort level. If you want to take this
one to the next level, you can add in a little bit more of a
passive stretch focused on that sacroiliac joint. So, let me
switch sides so you can see this just a little bit better.
So, what I'm going to do is get back into my original stretch.
So, I'm pulling down like this but I'm going to take my hand
on the other side and then put it right over that sacroiliac
joint. To find it pretty much you just start right on the
belt line right here. Go down just a little bit off to the
side kind of right over the glute area.
I just kind of cut
that area like this. What I'm going to do is gently push in
there for a little bit of a deeper stretch. So I'm not
going to ram it in or anything like that. I'm just pressing in
for a very gentle stretch and again this might be enough to
finally get that to self mobilize but you want to focus
on a deep comfortable stretch. Relax and then you can repeat
this one up to five times and I do recommend doing it on both
sides to keep them in balance.
This exercise is called the
sacral roll. It feels amazing after a long day. It's not only
going to help open up the SI joints but it's going to reduce
a lot of tension in the soft tissues including the muscles
that help support the pelvis and the sacrum. For this one,
we need a foam roller. I'm going to be using a
twenty-four-inch high-density foam roller. If you don't have
one, it's a worthwhile investment because you use it
on pretty much any part of the body.
I will leave the link in
this video's description if you would like to get one online
but what I'm going to do is start off lying on my back. I'm
going to position my foam roller below the belt line over
pretty much the top of the glutes. We're going to support
the pelvis and the sacrum. From there, I'm going to take my
hands and then place them onto the side of the foam roller or
off to the side on the floor for a little bit more
stability. What I'm going to do is then raise my legs up like
this, have my knees bent roughly at degrees put our legs
together. I'm going to then just turn through my waist
through my hips while keeping my upper body flat taking my
knees downward towards the floor. The more that you go
down, the more that you're going to feel a deep stretch
into that SI joint but you're also going to feel a very good
self massage on the SI joint over this foam roller.
Again,
it feels usually pretty good. I hold this position comfortably
for about three to 5 seconds. From there, I just relax and
then repeat it on the other side. I try to do this slowly
for about 10 to 15 repetitions on both sides and with each
repetition, try to build into it just a little bit more. If
you would like to take this one to the next level, you can do
what is called a pigeon pose or a figure four to hit it just a
little bit differently. So, take one leg and then bring it
up over the other just like this. I'm going to rest my
right ankle over my left side's knee and vice versa when you
want to do it on the other side.
So, when you look down,
it should look like a figure four starting to form. What I'm
going to do from here is whatever side that is on top,
I'm going to then rotate my body towards the other side.
What you'll notice is is that you'll get a very good stretch
on this top side right here. It's going to hit the glutes
and also a muscle called the piriformis, a big instigator of
what is known as pseudo sciatica, kind of like sciatica
leg pain going down but you're also going to feel that deep
massage over that SI joint that is making contact with this
foam roller.
Again, three to five second hold. You're just
going to relax and then repeat this up to 10 to 15 times and
then switch to the other side and repeat to keep them both in
balance. It's just a good way to not only open up the SI
joint but also help focus on the muscles that help support
it. If the exercises help, please support the channel by
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have any comments or questions, please leave them below. I'll
get back to you as soon as I can.
Thanks for watching!.
