I hurt.

[KnottedYet]

How do I give my PT good information: First, make note of what makes it feel better, and what makes it feel worse. That is crucial information! Remember, your body doesn't want to hurt any more than you do. Often people are already heading into corrective movements on their own, before they ever get to the PT. (for example think of all the folks who stretch backwards after they've been sitting hunched over the computer too long. the body knows what it wants) Second, do a little experimenting. Wanna see if you've got a wacky rotation going on? Stand up. Stick your hands in your pockets. Feel the pointy bit of bone just inside your pocket? Stand in front of a mirror. Close your eyes. Put your thumbs (over your pockets) on each of those bones. Open your eyes. Are your thumbs level? Is one higher than the other? Make note of that. See if it's the same in the morning as in the evening, or if it's the same when you hurt bad and when you don't hurt much. Good info for the PT.

That's nice, but what can I do RIGHT NOW: Rock the baby and flap the elephant ears. This is moving the thighbones very very gently where they meet the pelvis (ilia-ish). Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the bed. Put a pillow between your knees. Barely squeeze the pillow with your knees the tiniest TINY bit. Hold that imaginary squeeze 10 seconds. Let it go for 10 seconds. Do this until you are bored out of your mind. (3 or 4 minutes or more) This is a soft and gentle motion, like rocking a baby. It calms the panicked muscles, it shifts the hips into a little abduction and adduction, it lets the ilia squirm a little like an elephant flapping his ears. After this, do you feel better, worse, or the same? If same, do it again. (if same after 2nd try, it's probably not doing much for you) If worse, toss this one out. If better, this is your new best friend!
Cobra. This is moving the lumbar spine where it meets the pelvis (sacrum) Yoga cobra, where you lie on your tummy, use your arms to push your chest and belly up off the floor and leave the rest of your body flopping on the floor like a snake. Kind of like a very lazy push up. Hold a second, lower gently back down. Do 10 times. If you can, eventually get your arms all the way straight. After this, do you feel better, worse, or the same? Same rules as above. And let your PT know what these did or did not do for you. (this info is also VERY useful and tells the PT a lot about what is going on - even if you felt the same after each)

[NbyNW]

Yet again, someone else's thread has kicked me into action. I've let this whole relocating to Edmonton thing disrupt much of my self-care work and lately I wanna jump off the table when my (new) massage therapist is working near/on my SI joint. (It's not so much out of place as it is stiff/sticky)

sfa -- hope you get some good info and good information with your own healing, and thanks for starting the thread.

Knott -- what a great writeup! Thanks again for being so generous with your knowledge. Lots of reinforcement for me as well as a few new things.

[Bike Chick]

(((sfa))) I think everyone here understands. Being sidelined is just as tough mentally as it is physically. I hope you are soon healed and are participating in Iron Girl stronger than ever. Knot certainly gave you some wonderful advice (ain't she great?).

Knot, thanks so much for your input....Can I put you on retainer???

[OakLeaf]

Thanks Knott - I've passed this thread on to my next door neighbor who's having SI joint trouble.

Take care sfa.

[sfa]

Thank you all for the replies and support!

Thank you especially, Knott, for all that information. From my MRI we discovered that my SI joint isn't fused properly, either a congenital thing (thanks, Mom and Dad!) or from repetitive stress in my misspent youth (funnyish aside: the orthopedist was questioning me to find out if I had done any activity that would involve repetitive back and forth movement around my waist. He says you see this a lot from people who played tennis and volleyball. I was all "no, nope, never done anything like that." It wasn't until I left the office that I remembered that I spent three years in college as a rower. Oops.) so I was primed for this sort of injury to begin with. I'm picturing my pelvis like a jigsaw puzzle that you can glue together to get it to stay permanently, but if the glue comes loose around individual pieces, it can make that piece pop out and weaken all the other ones around it. I don't know if this is accurate, but it's how I like to visualize what's going on.

From searching other threads I had found the "elephant ears" thing and had tried that to no effect. I'll give the cobra a try later today. The PT has me doing a couple of exercises that twist my pelvis as I do them, and that seems to provide immediate relief, but it doesn't last. I'm doing lots of planks (regular and side), pelvic tilts and bridges. Massage really helps, but what I need is for the PT to give my husband some instructions in how to do it right! It's hard for me to explain to DH what helps because I can't *see* what the PT is doing, and my attempts at explanation don't get the desired effect. I want to tell him to just get a meat mallet and whack the joint into place. Somehow I don't think that'll be too helpful, though.

Sarah

[NbyNW]

sfa -- are you familiar with The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Clair Davies?

My former massage therapist incorporated trigger point into the work he did on me, and he would show me how I could work on certain muscles on my own.

Since I couldn't bring him with me to Edmonton, this book is the next best thing. Assuming your pain is muscle-related, there are great diagrams showing which muscles refer pain to other parts of the body and he provides techniques for working on them yourself.

[Pax]

...Knot, thanks so much for your input....Can I put you on retainer???

I think Knott could make her fortune treating the women here!


sfa - that cobra thing saved my quality of life. My lower back was feeling so good I sort of stopped doing it, then I hurt my knee and was walking with a limp, it has flared up again so bad it makes me cry. Back to doing the cobra thingy religiously!!

[tctrek]

Wow! I've had SI problems for several years after falling down oak hardwood steps on my butt and back. It was so painful to sit down that I worked standing up at my desk for 1.5 years. Visit and visit to the PT's and chiropractors and icing it down. After about 4 years I have it mostly under control, but it will flare up if I don't sit up straight or sit in a soft chair.

I've been doing Feldenkrais lessons for a few months now and it is also helping me. Another funny thing that helps me when my back gets tight is to get on my hands and knees and totally relax my stomach muscles.... kind of like those yoga poses where you make your back convex and concave.

But no one has ever explained it like Knot did. That was absolutely awesome.

sfa --- I really hope you find the clues from your body about how to get past this.

[Pax]

...But no one has ever explained it like Knot did. That was absolutely awesome.

I know what you mean, when I ruptured a disk in my back last year I came here and asked Knott to help me understand what my PT was talking about...she made it crystal clear for me and I got sooo much more from my PT sessions after that!

[KnottedYet]

I'm glad all my ranting and raving is useful. I work at a clinic where the major emphasis is on educating the patients. I don't heal anyone, I teach them how to heal themselves. I rarely touch patients. I don't use modalities (ultrasound, electrical stim, traction) other than hot or cold packs every once in a great while. People already have a good idea what is going on. The body is already working like sixty to fix itself. They just need some guidance to make it happen faster and more efficiently.

Another funny thing that helps me when my back gets tight is to get on my hands and knees and totally relax my stomach muscles.... kind of like those yoga poses where you make your back convex and concave.

Yoga is cool beans. Here's an exercise program that's been refined over 3,000 years. How can PT beat that? (ummm, by stealing yoga poses... which we do shamelessly) Here's a system that's been studied over generations. Lots of attention paid to aging bodies, injured bodies, and what happens to them over years and years. Student learning from mentor, and then watching mentor's body change until death. Incredibly valuable stuff. Yogis had disc problems. Yogis had SI problems. They knew this stuff over the lifetime of the patient.

TCTrek, if doing the cow part of cat/cow feels good, consider doing the cobra as well. Both are extension of the lumbar spine at the sacrum. Remember, the only way we can reach the pelvis (ilium and sacrum) is through the bones that meet it (femur and lumbar spine).

[KnottedYet]

The PT has me doing a couple of exercises that twist my pelvis as I do them, and that seems to provide immediate relief, but it doesn't last.

Excellent! You've already got your corrective movement!

I assume you are doing this 10 repetitions, every two hours? (so 8 or more sessions a day)

How long does the relief last? You may need to do it more frequently for a few days: for example, if relief lasts for 35 minutes, you may need to do the movement every 30 minutes, etc.

The more time the bones spend lined up right, the faster the collegen your body is throwing at the SI can get it stuck back down. It's like spiderweb. You don't want to stretch or tear it and you want it to build up.

It may take a while and a lot of work, but if you can chase it down and keep it symptom free for a week (that means in place for a week and doing your corrective movement that entire time) that is about enough time for the collagen to build up. It may take a few weeks to get to that point.

[NbyNW]

Knott, all that talk about collagen has me wondering -- is there anything nutrition-wise that helps that process along?

[KnottedYet]

Knott, all that talk about collagen has me wondering -- is there anything nutrition-wise that helps that process along?

Not really. The body wants to heal the area, that's part of why it hurts. It hurts because it's out of place and it hurts because it is inflamed. Inflammation is your friend: it is increased metabolism and circulation and collagen production and white blood cell excitement, etc.

If you are not eating adequately, the body will borrow from existing healthy tissue to supply the repair. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

That's why we jump all over athletic folks who decide to cut down their food intake while they are injured, because they are afraid they will gain weight. No, no, no! You need continued performance-level nutrition to fund and fuel the repair! Repair is expensive! Eat good food and lots of it, no dieting during repair.

The best way to help repair is to keep the parts of the joint functioning and lined up where they belong. It's like a slow setting glue. You gotta keep them lined up for at least a week (no symptoms at all. pain = not lined up) before you can begin to assume the glue has "set." If they keep coming apart, all that glue goes to waste and the body has to start all over again.

SFA mentions not being fused. THIS is the fusion process. This IS the repair. Put them where they belong and work on keeping them there until you can keep them perfectly there for an entire week. Any time a sypmtom shows up, you start your week over. (symptom = oops, we lost it, start over)

[sfa]

I assume you are doing this 10 repetitions, every two hours? (so 8 or more sessions a day)

How long does the relief last? You may need to do it more frequently for a few days: for example, if relief lasts for 35 minutes, you may need to do the movement every 30 minutes, etc.

Hmmm, more like just three times a day (once in the morning, right after work, before bed). I'll up the frequency, even if it means looking like a fool lying down on my office floor! One of them involves an exercise ball, so that's not happening at work. The relief lasts about an hour or so, but can be longer depending on my overall activity level.

Thanks so much for your help!

Sarah

[KnottedYet]

Hmmm, more like just three times a day (once in the morning, right after work, before bed). I'll up the frequency, even if it means looking like a fool lying down on my office floor! One of them involves an exercise ball, so that's not happening at work. The relief lasts about an hour or so, but can be longer depending on my overall activity level.

Thanks so much for your help!

Sarah

Oh my goodness!!! You DO have your corrective movement! Fabulous! If you know relief lasts about an hour, then I'd suggest you try to do the movement every hour. Your goal is to never let it slip awry enough to hurt, chase it back into place before it even THINKS about slipping awry.

This is so exciting, you've already got everything you need to fix it! Choose the one exercise that works the best (gives the best relief) and do that one 10 times every hour. Don't wait for the SI to hurt (by which time it's already awry), fix it before it gets the chance to hurt. Doing a movement 10 times will take about 45 seconds out of your hour, well worth it to get the healing process rolling.

After a few days you may find the SI is less sloppy, and you may be able to decrease the movement to every 2 hours. It gets less sloppy as collagen builds up without getting torn asunder every time the SI moves.

You know how to put the SI right, you know how to make your pain go away. Don't put up with any pain! Get rid of it! You have the power!