Sacroiliac (SI) joint pain is a condition where you feel pain at the base of your lower back where it meets your pelvis. Most patients can point right to a bony protuberance at either hip bone in the back.
In most cases, your pain will present as a deep, achy, tight sensation that gets worse when either leaning forward or leaning back.
Although it may seem plausible that pain over the SI joint is coming from your SI joint, that only happens in rare cases. 99% of the time, SI joint pain is coming from compression to your L5-S1 disc in your lower back. It’s referred pain. There’s a reason why countless adjustments to the SI joint haven’t provided you with permanent relief.
The solution to SI joint pain is decompressing the lower back by improving the tissue quality and flexibility of your lower back. It should be noted that if your L5-S1 disc has degenerated, some percentage of your pain will be permanent.
It’s best practice to avoid prolonged periods of sitting down if you have this pain. It’s also recommended to moderate your load. Keep deadlifts light. Avoid doing olympic lifts. Keep a neutral spine while picking things off of the floor.
Because the root cause of this compression is a lack of flexibility in your lower back, try out this movement for 4-6 weeks to see if it alleviates symptoms. Do 30 repetitions of this every day. Reach down and touch your toes to get an understanding of how flexible you are before you start. Compare flexibility after 4-6 weeks. If this movement causes pain, please seek professional help. If after 4-6 weeks, your flexibility or your pain doesn’t improve, please seek professional help.
At Wildcard, we can do a multitude of different things to fix this condition. Using shockwave therapy, we can remove adhesion and improve flexibility after only one visit. Shockwave can also help to regenerate your disc, providing further improvement. We can also prescribe exercises that help provide strength and stability to your lower back, preventing adhesion from regenerating.
If you’re in the NYC area, book a consultation online or call the office to see if you’re a good candidate for care.
At Wildcard Spine and Sport, we specialize in fixing pain that’s lasted longer than six months, even if you’ve seen two or more providers. We are the only practitioners in the five boroughs certified to diagnose and remove adhesion. Click the button below or call the office today at 917-908-0055.