hey everybody it's doctor Jo and mr. spider
bear, and today I'm going to show you my top seven treatments for SI joint pain.
so let's get started. so the first thing that I like to do
with SI joint pain is to do some muscle energy techniques and that's MET for
short. and basically what you're doing is you're using your muscles to get
everything back into place. so if your SI joint is out of place, this is what you
would want to do. now don't ask me which one is out because I can't tell without
getting to evaluate you, you need to have your doctor or physical therapist tell
you what side is rotated. if it's an anterior rotation or if it's a posterior
rotation. so what you're gonna do is if it's let's say a posterior rotation on
my left leg here, then you're gonna bring your left leg up and then you're going
to put your hands on your leg here. you're gonna have the other one down. you
can put a little roll underneath if you want to as a target, but you don't have
to. and so what you're gonna do basically is use your hip flexors on this side,
your hamstrings on the other side to kind of rotate it back into place. so if
I'm this way, I'm using those hip flexors to rotate it back. so I'm gonna put my
hands here and what I'm doing is I'm pushing up this way and pushing down
into the floor here at the same time. I'm pushing as hard as I comfortably can for
about five seconds. so you're not going anywhere you're pushing into your hands
and down into the floor for about that five seconds hard as you comfortably can
and relax. so again make sure you know which way it's rotated because you only
want to do the one side that's rotating. you don't want to alternate back and
forth. that's why it's really important for this one to know, so if you don't
know go ahead and skip this one and then go on to the other one. so you want to do
that three to five times for five seconds pushing as hard as you
comfortably can up this way down that way. so then the next one is what we call
a shotgun technique. so with the shotguns, you're gonna start off with getting a
belt or a strap, but you want it to be something tight. so this is not
those resistive bands. you want it to be something that doesn't give. and
you're just going to take that belt and put it on your thighs just above your
knee. and so while I'm putting this on I want to take a second to thank my
channel members on YouTube. and so if I say your name wrong I'm sorry I
apologize, but dead Spartan, Pavan M, gene a, Susan C, and Janet B. thank you so much
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make sure and check on the description link below. alright so once you get this
on, you're going to get back into this position. and now you're pushing out into
the belt. so it's almost like you're opening up like a clamshell or
butterfly. so I'm pushing out this way with both legs. so it's almost like I'm
trying to drop them flat and I'm pushing into that belt as hard as I comfortably can.
again for about that five seconds and then relax. now sometimes if your SI joint
is out of alignment a little bit, you might feel a little pop with this
shotgun technique. as long as it's a pop and then it goes away, that's probably
just that joint popping back into place. so that's completely normal. so again
pushing out this way both sides push push push hard as you comfortably can
for about that five seconds, and do that 3 to 5 times. so then the second part of
the shotgun technique is now we're just going to go the other way. so now when
you're squeezing in, you can use a basketball, soccer ball, something again
firm and solid. if you don't have something like this, you can use a pillow,
but you want it to be pretty big where your knees are kind of still about
shoulder width apart. the exact distance doesn't have to be that much, but you
don't want to use like a little lacrosse ball or tennis ball, you want to be
something fairly big. and so now this time you're pushing into the ball you're
squeezing that same thing that five seconds hard as you comfortably can. most of time when I do this with people the the squeezing in is the one where they
feel a pop if they're going to feel it. you're not always going to feel it, but
if you do, you a lot of times because this is
opening up that joint now and I'm pushing in it's fanning that pelvic area
out, and sometimes you get a little pop. completely normal
as long as maybe it's just a little bit of pain and then it goes away
immediately. so again five seconds, big push as hard
as you comfortably can, and then relax. and do that three to five times. so then
the next one you're gonna lie on your side with the side that's uncomfortable
up on top. so now let's say it's on my right side just so I can look at you
while I'm talking. so I'm going to lie down kind of get in a comfortable
position. I might prop up throughout this just so I can see you a little bit
better, but make sure you're comfortable. so if you need to lie all the way down,
make sure you're comfortable while you're doing it. so this is kind of a
weird technique, but it usually works pretty well. so you're gonna feel back
behind you where your SI joint is where that SI joint is. it's basically where
the spine are that sacrum comes into the pelvis or that ilium, so sacroiliac joint.
and is it's usually if you look at someone's back where they it looks like
they have little dimples on the low part of their back, that's where that SI joint
is. you can usually feel it it's kind of a little knot back there and that's what
I want you to take your thumb and just push into that joint. so you're going to
give it a little pressure there like you're just trying to push it inwards. so
while you're pushing inwards you're going to take that top leg bring that
hip up kind of into flexion and drop it on the floor in front of you. you can do
this on the bed too if you can't get down on the floor that's fine. you can do
these on your bed, or on a couch, so after you come into this position you're gonna
come up, kick the leg out behind you, and then drop down. now the key is try to be
pushing into that SI joint the whole time. and so by doing this movement again
sometimes it helps it just kind of pop back into place. so just repeat this a
couple times .so now I'm going to come up and then bring that knee up and bring it
down. so just nice smooth motions but always kind of come up, kick it out, and
then drop it down. don't just come back and forth like this because that's going
to irritate your IT band. so make sure when you
come back up you're lifting up bending up that knee, dropping down, up, kick out
behind you, and then come back down. so I would just say you know maybe do about
five of these. you don't have to you know go too crazy with it.
you can do five maybe two sets of five a couple times a day throughout the day
just to kind of give that thing nice and loosened up. so then the next one is
going to be a hip flexor stretch. I usually like doing a hip flexor stretch
kind of in the lunge position. if you're stretching out your hip flexors because
sometimes it's tight on one side and then weak on the other side, so you want
to get them nice and stretched out. so when you get into the lunge position
for the hip flexor stretch, I like putting a pillow underneath my knee just
because it protects it a little bit. so especially if you're on a harder surface
make sure you put something under there. so the the side you want to stretch is
going to be the one that's down. so that my left side is the one that I want to
stretch that for that hip flexor. put your other foot a little bit further out
in front of you, and the goal with this to get the best stretch is keep your
upper body straight. so I'm not bending forward like this. I'm getting no stretch
in my hip flexor right now because it's still kind of straight through there, so
I want to keep this upright and then launch my whole body forward. and I
should feel that stretch right through there. so if that hip flexor is tight and
it's pulling on that joint to rotate it forward, then I'm getting it nice and
stretched out. so since this is a stretch, you want to hold that stretch for thirty
Seconds, come back, and do that a total of three times. now you can do both sides,
you probably really want to focus on the side that's tight, but I always like to
stretch both sides if you can just to keep everything balanced. so then after
you stretch out the hip flexors, then you want to stretch out the hamstrings in
the back because it's the same thing, if you have a tight hamstring on one side
is going to then be pulling it into that posterior rotation. so there's a whole
bunch of different ways to stretch your hamstrings, I'm going to show you
standing up. so for the hamstring stretch standing up, I like it because it's
really easy to do. you can do it anywhere. just take the side that you want to
stretch and kind of prop it out in front of you. just prop up your heel like this.
now if you have a little bit of balance issues make sure you're holding on to
something while you're stretching so you can focus
on the stretch and not your balance. making sure you're bending at your hips
and try and keep your back fairly straight because if I'm just curling
down like this, I'm not really getting much of a hamstring stretch. I want to
keep that back straight and kind of hinge and my hips to get that stretch.
yeah I'm getting much more of a stretch here than when I was going all the way
down touching my toes. so again since this is a stretch, you want to hold it
for 30 seconds. you should feel it kind of through here and then do that a total
of three times. so again switching both sides just to kind of keep yourself
balanced three times on each side. I like to alternate back and forth. if you wanna
do them all on one side you can. so to finish up I'm going to show you a couple
exercises once you kind of get everything nice and stretched out,
hopefully get it back into alignment, you really want to then do some exercises. so
the first one of the exercises is a hip hike. and so with hip hikes it's kind of
just how it sounds. you can do it on a step to give you more of a hike, but when
you're starting off I think it's better just to do it standing on the floor
because with the step you're going to get more of a motion. so really what
you're doing is just trying to hike up your hip. so I usually just put my leg
slightly out in front of me and then what I'm doing is I'm just hiking that
hip. so this one's coming up, but I'm also working this one. so you're really
working both sides in different ways. this is an open chain kind of bringing
it up here working that side, and this is a closed chain. so I've heard people kind
of argue the hip hikes what side are you working, I really think you're working
both sides. so this one is really important to do both sides each way
because it's an open chain closed chain. so just hiking up and coming back down
just like that. so it's not bending over to hike it up, you're using these muscles
to hike that hip up. so again make sure you're switching sides because it's
working those hips in different ways. so I'm just trying to lift that hip up, I'm
hiking it up.and so these are a little tough to master, so I would just start
off with five on each side do that a couple times.
and then you can slowly progress from there. and so the last one is going to be
a deep squat. so it's an exercise but it's kind of finishing off with a
stretch too. so if you're still out of alignment sometimes a really deep squat
kind of helps get you back into alignment as well. so this one if you
have something solid to hold on to a lot of times with a deep squat that's the
best way to do is kind of hold on to something. so spread your feet out
shoulder-width apart, maybe a little bit more than shoulder width apart. so a deep
squat is really kind of like when you see a baby squat. babies do the perfect
squat. that's how you're supposed to squat. for some reason as we grow up we
forget how to do it, but as babies you know when you kind of see them down like
this, so that's kind of a deep squat. but see how my knees are still not going
past my toes. so if I'm squatting down like this, that's a really bad way to
squat. you really want to sink that bottom back. this is really tough for
some people, so you might not be able to get into that deep squat. that's okay
this is just another technique to use, but again when you're coming down you
want those knees to still be behind the toes. so I'm squatting but if I had
something to hold on to I could kind of balance a little bit. I can do it a
little bit that's just because I practice these things every day with my
patients, so I can do them a little bit easier, but if you're doing it the first
time this might be a little bit tough. but again that's gonna sometimes help
kind of reset it and then when you come back up you're really working all those
muscles as well. so it's tough. you might not be able to do it, but it is an option
if you can. so there you have it those were my top seven treatments for SI
joint pain. yes it was. if you'd like to help support my channel, make sure and
click on the link up there, and don't forget to subscribe, where bear? down
there. and remember be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.
