The Sacroiliac Joint Pain Muscle (How to Release It for INSTANT RELIEF)
This video, we're going to go
over the sacroiliac joint pain muscle and how to release it
for instant relief. Stay tuned. Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming
to you from SpineCare in Saint Joseph, Michigan. In this
video, we're going to focus on a main cause of sacroiliac
joint pain which is due to a blend of weakness and tightness
in the muscles that help support them. If you're
unfamiliar with the sacroiliac joint commonly known as the SI
joint, it is the union of the sacrum and the ilium of the
pelvis and it acts as a shock absorber for the spine above.
The main muscles that help support this area include the
glutes, iliopsoas, and the erector spinae muscle group and
a couple other ones. So, to make getting relief easy, we're
going to break the video down into exercises that are going
to focus on lengthening but more importantly, strengthening
these muscles for both quick and long-lasting relief. Each
exercise is going to target a different muscle group. So, to
get the best results, go through them all, use what
gives you the most relief. With that being said, let's get
started.
So, when I deal with sacroiliac joint pain myself,
this is usually the first exercise that I like to start
off with. It's going to target two main instigators of SI
joint pain which would be the glutes and the piriformis
muscles. To get into position, we're going to lie flat on our
back in bed or on a floor. Have your legs roughly hip with
apart, knees bent, feet flat, and just take your hands, put
them off to your side during the exercise for support. So,
whatever side that you're having the most amount of pain.
Let's say it's your right side. Take that side's ankle and
place over your other side's knee. So, when you look up
should look like a figure four. What going to do from here is
take this bent knee and gently press it away from us as much
as we can but don't use your hands instead use your leg and
hip strength the more that you press into it the more that
you're going to feel a ton of muscles across the hip and
pelvis start to fire this would include the glutes and the
piriformis so once you feel that let's hold this position
and now add in some more movement to target these
muscles so I'm going to slowly lower my legs like this to one
side focusing on moving through my hips, through my pelvis.
When you do this, you should feel a really good stretch form
right below the belt line off to the side.
That would be the
sacroiliac joint and if it is locked up, you might get a
sudden pop, crack, or release with this exercise. So, don't
be alarmed if that happens but just go for a deep, light
stretch in that area. Try to hold this for a couple seconds
and then just like a windshield wiper, we're going to go
towards the other side. It'll hit the muscles just a little
bit differently but go back and forth about five to ten times
and with each repetition, try to build into it just a little
bit more. Afterwards, see how you feel. If it's nice and
loose, we're going to move on to the next part but if it
feels like it needs a little bit more, you're more than
welcome to throw in some more repetitions.
Just remember,
whatever you do on one side, always do on the other to help
keep everything in balance. So, after everything is nice and
loose, let's switch gears and now focus a little bit more on
strengthening these muscles for long-lasting relief. We're
going to do what is called a clamshell bridge. So, we're
going to take our feet, press them together like this, and
then gently press our heels downward into the bed or the
floor. You should feel the glutes around the hips start to
activate. Let's hold this and now take the bent knees right
here and then wing them outward as much as we can downward
towards the floor until we feel a really good stretch form on
the inner part of the thigh that works towards the groin
into the hips. Once we feel that, we're going to hold this
position. Next, let's brace our core muscles.
It's kind of like
when somebody pokes you in your stomach, how you tense up,
mimic that and hold it. It'll help protect the spine. So,
once we've done all of this, what we're going to do is
slowly lift our hips upward towards the ceiling as much as
we can until our body is in a nice straight line from our
knees to our hips to our shoulders. If you're unable to
get into this position because of weakness or pain like can
only go up a little, do the best you can. Hopefully, over
time, you will gain strength and flexibility to be able to
get in this position but in this position, you're going to
feel a ton of muscles start to fire. The core, the lower back,
the butt, the legs, everything that helps support the pelvis,
hips, and sacroiliac joints.
Hold this one comfortably for
about three to five seconds, relax, and then repeat this
about ten times but if it feels like you have a little bit more
energy, challenge yourself throwing in another set or two.
With this exercise, we're going to focus on the iliopsoas muscle
which functions as a hip flexor. With weakness and
tightness, you tend to get a lot of pain towards the front
of your thighs into the groin but also working through the
pelvis into the lower back.
So, with this exercise, we're going
to start flat on our back next to a wall. What we want to do
is bend our elbows roughly at 90 degrees, make fist and
gently press our fist into the wall until we feel a activation
of our core muscles. Once we feel that, we're going to hold
that and then lift our legs up like this and have our knees
bent at 90 degrees. The first movement is just slowly
lowering one leg like this downward towards the floor,
just straightening the knee but the key is don't let your heel
or your foot touch the floor. Just let it hover above.
In
this position, you're going to feel a ton of muscles start to
fire including the core right here that works down into the
pelvis to the leg. Hold this one comfortably for about three
to five seconds and then relax, repeat it on the other side.
What I like to do is about five repetitions on both sides. Just
get everything nice and warmed up and loose but afterwards,
this is how we're going to take this one to the next level.
We're going to do like a bicycling motion just like
this. So, start off doing a bicycling motion for about 5
seconds. Relax. On the next repetition, what you want to do
is your legs out just a little bit more and then repeat the
further that you push your feet out like this the harder this
will be so build into it to your comfort level just
challenge yourself as much as you can so if you really want
to take this one to the next level what you can do is what
is called flutter kicks so let's lower both feet down like
this straighten our knees and I like to point my toes away from
me let's just flutter kick like this so we're going to raise
both legs up both feet and just gently kick like we're in a
pool again you're going to feel a ton of muscles start to fire
in the core but more importantly right on the front
of the thighs.
Try to do this for about 5 seconds. Relax,
take a breather, and then repeat this about five times
but if it feels like you have the energy, challenge yourself
by throwing in a couple more repetitions. A big overlooked
cause of sacroiliac joint pain comes from weakness and
tightness in the erector spinae muscle group. These muscles
pretty much run the whole length of the spine and are
included in the core muscle group. So, here's a really easy
exercise that will lengthen and strengthen them. Hopefully,
give you a lot of relief. What we're going to do is start on
all fours in bed or on a floor. This first movement is called
the bird dog. It's one of the best exercises that you can do
to pretty much strengthen the whole body and also help
improve balance and coordination. So, what I'm
going to do first is slowly straighten one leg back like
this right at the knee and I'm going to point my toes away
from me at the same time. Just keep the top of your foot flat
on the bed or the floor slide it away until you feel a really
good activation of the muscles in the calves that works upward
towards the back of your legs, into the hamstrings, into the
glutes.
Really focus on feeling it across your pelvis around
the SI joint. Once you feel that, you're going to hold that
position and then slowly raise your leg up like this so it's
in a straight line with your body. You should feel a ton of
muscles start to fire including the glutes but more
importantly, you should really feel it in the lower back. That
would be the spinal erectors starting to fire. So, I like to
hold this one for about 5 seconds, relax, and then repeat
this on the other side and I just do this one nice and
slowly for about five to 10 repetitions on both sides but
if it feels like you have a little bit more energy, you're
more than welcome to challenge yourself by throwing in another
set or two.
So, to take this one to the next level, what you
can do is add in what is called a hydrant which is going to
also help strengthen the glute muscle so this one looks a
little bit weird I'm going to forewarn you this time around
we're going to keep our knee bent in 90 degrees and just
raise one side up like this and then swing your whole body
kind of like turning it upward like this towards the ceiling
including your head so the more that you rotate and look upward
now you know why we call it the hydrant you're going to feel a
ton of muscles start to fire but this time around you should
feel it more around the hips into the glute muscles the
buttocks hold this one comfortably for three to five
seconds you're going to relax and then you're going to repeat
this on the other side do this one nice and slowly for about
five to 10 repetitions, but again if it feels like you have
a little bit more energy try to challenge yourself by throwing
in another set or two with this exercise we're going to focus
on the quadratus lumborum also known as the QL muscle the
quadratus lumborum is a main stabilizer of the lower back
sacrum and the pelvis so when weakness and tightness sets
into this muscle it can cause a lot of lower back pain that
works downward towards the belt line even into the SI joint.
So, this exercise is called the step up.
All we need is a step
or a stair. So, let's break it down. I always like to start
with the most painful side off the step. So, I'm going to
demonstrate what to do if you have a lot of right-sided
sacroiliac joint pain. So, let's take our left foot, put
it right up here at the edge. The other foot is going to go
off just like this.
During this exercise too, let's try to keep
our body nice and straight. So, don't try to lean away like is
to be able to raise the hip. Instead, we're going to raise
our hip upward towards the ceiling by moving through our
hip, through our pelvis as much as we can while keeping our
body straight. The more that you go up, the more that you're
going to feel a lot of muscles start to fire including the
glutes around the hips but more importantly, you're going to
feel a lower back muscle right at the belt line area and right
off to the side of the spine that works upward towards the
bottom of the ribs. That would be the quadratus lumborum. So,
really focus on feeling it in that area once you do hold this
position right here comfortably for about three to five seconds
and then you're going to go in reverse so you're going to
slowly lower your foot and heel downward towards the floor
again moving through the pelvis through your hips this time
around you're going to feel a deep stretch form on the other
side so we're going to focus on strengthening one side but
stretching the other that's why this exercise is really really
good try to hold that one comfortably for three to 5
seconds and then repeat this whole cycle about five to 10
times on both sides but if it does feel like you have a
little bit more energy, I do recommend throwing in another
set or two and remember, whatever you do on one side,
always switch to the other side and repeat to help keep
everything in balance.
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