This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in July of 2022. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/IkUNt4QBtA0
Brad: Have you been diagnosed with sacroiliac joint pain or SI? Right, well, this joint is a little bit mysterious by its location. And a number of other things. It's located right here between the ileum and the sacrum.
Bob: Right between the pelvis.
Brad: Yep. Right there where my fingers hit. So we're going to show you some simple exercises where you can maybe pop that into place, or at least get some quick relief. I've done it myself and with patients and we're going to show you in 9.3 seconds. How is that Bob?
Bob: It's alright.
Brad: Some typical symptoms of SI joint pain. Oftentimes people complain it worsens pain there when you're walking if you're standing in one spot for a while and going up and down steps typically.
Bob: Stairs, right. One-legged activities are the worst.
Brad: Particularly if you step off of a curb on that side and it shoots some pain to that spot. So weight bearing will go through this joint because it goes through the leg and here, are we zoomed in on this? Here's the SI joint and its subtle movement.
Bob: Very little movement.
Brad: Yep. It's not like the hip. And so we're just trying to get this to move a little bit
to get back where it belongs to relieve the stress. So we'll show you some easy techniques for this. Okay. Here we go. We're going to show you how to get that joint to go back where it belongs and just interestingly enough one of our cameramen said he thought the pelvis was one bone, but it's actually three.
Bob: And you have used this yourself.
Brad: Oh absolutely. Yeah. My right SI gives me occasional problems. Easy to treat for myself. I've got this down to a science. Okay. Now with all of these techniques, it should feel good. If it increases the pain, we're moving in the wrong direction. Alright. Now the easiest one for me, now the only thing bad about this one is you need a massage gun. So if you have one, great, if you don't, don't go out and buy one, if you don't want. Just wait for the next options. One thing about the SI joint, there's no real muscle over the top of it. So you need an air-head attachment.
Okay. They pop off and any good massage gun will come with it.
Bob: They’re nice and soft.
Brad: Yep. Five different heads. Get the soft air one out. I'll demonstrate this right now. This is how I do it. I lay down on the floor. This has five different levels. This happens to be the C2 Bob and Brad gun because we like them so much we put our name on them and I just work over that SI joint. And as we do it right now, it feels good. And when I go down lower, it feels better. So I'm going to work in that area more. I may only spend 30 seconds to a minute working on this but boy, it feels good while I'm doing it. And when I get done doing it, it feels good. And it feels good when I'm up and weight-bearing.
Bob: How long is the carryover?
Brad: The carryover is pretty good. Now I haven't had any SI problems for a while, but it is one of those things where if you could walk a hundred feet and it starts to hurt, then you use a massage gun. You should get 200 to 300 feet or even more.
Bob: Times two or times three.
Brad: Yeah. And if it feels better, then you know you're onto something. Use this regularly throughout the day, you know even at work, just lay down and massage your SI joint.
Bob: There we go.
Brad: See what everyone else says, you know.
Bob: They're already talking about you.
Brad: Alright, we're going to go on to number two. Okay. This technique is called a muscle energy technique, known by many therapists. Let's say Bob's right SI joint is the one that's problematic. He's going to interlock his fingers around his knee. And now he's going to push his knee away from him but his hands are going to resist.
Bob: If my hands weren't there, my leg would go down to the mat.
Brad: Yep. It becomes an isometric exercise. He's going to push as hard as he can for six seconds. And while you're doing that, if it feels like a good relief pain or a good sensation in the SI area you're going to do it two more times. If it hurts, when you do it, you stop. You're moving in the wrong direction. So let's say he did it once, it felt good. Pull it a little bit closer to your chest. There you go. Repeat the step. And the last one, you even pull closer if it feels better. You could take this hand and wrap it right around your knee and forget clasping. And I've had patients do that, but that's pretty flexible. People would do it that way. So there you go.
Bob: There you go.
Brad: Okay. Now we're going to do another muscle energy technique. You can use a stick. You can use a cane. We're going to use a Booyah Stik because it's very easy to see with the red color. You put it under one knee and then over the other thigh. And then it's kind of an interesting move. You're going to push the right knee down and you're going to take the left knee and pull it up. So you're doing a scissors technique, but the stick or the cane prevents any movement. And you're actually doing an isometric or muscle energy technique for six seconds. So go ahead, Bob, and push.
Brad: Now, if Bob's hands weren't prevented the stick from moving, the stick would twist and fall out. So you have to hold strong with your hands and arms. And again, if it feels good on that painful spot, you know you're in the right ballpark. You're going to do it three times and you're going to do it multiple times throughout the day. You can try it in the other direction just switch legs, so the thigh is on the other side of the stick, the knee is on the other side, and then try it that direction. You're only going to do it in the direction that makes it feel better. And it's possible you won't get any response in both directions. Then you're going to go on to the next option, which we're going to show you. Okay, I wanted to mention this earlier but you may or you may not hear that pop, as it says in the title. We don't really care if it pops or not. What we do care about is that it feels better. That's the key point. If it pops, that's fine. If it doesn't and it feels better, that's just as good. So the next thing is, while you're there you're going to slide your hips off the edge of the bed.
Bob: Just one hip.
Brad: Yep. Just one hip, not the shoulders. And then we're going to let the right leg go down and grab the other leg like Bob's doing and we're going to see how it responds that way. It makes a difference, doesn't it, Bob, when you pull that up higher and you can see, you know with patients I've actually had them pull up and I'd give gentle pressure on the leg hanging down to see if that felt better. Only continue to push there if it feels better.
Brad: Alright, we're going to go on, I think we're on number five. This is my personal go-to.
Bob: Yeah, you do this a lot.
Brad: Yes I do. For maintenance as well as when it's irritated. I'll take a stool or the stairs works as well. I get something about this high and I just lean forward with my back straight and then I drop my pelvis in. And actually right now this feels good. It's a good stretch. I will push my knee away from me. This one is from Kelly Starrett. That little modification I got from him. So again, if this feels good, work it.
Bob: It should feel good. 100%.
Brad: 10 to 20 seconds. If it hurts, you do not do it. You might want to try the other leg and see how it responds to that one. If it feels good on that side and not on the other, you'll only do the one that feels good. Follow the rules only if it feels good. Alright. And the final, but not least, this isn't really a technique. Now, if you really have some SI pain and you work with these and you're not having success which actually I did have a case of this two years ago on vacation all my tricks weren't helping. I went to this book written by Deborah Riczo. The name of the book is "Sacroiliac Pain: Understanding The Pelvic Girdle Musculoskeletal Method". Anyway, she goes through, explains it, and she has a really nice system. I went through that, it took more time, but it was successful. I got through it and now I continue with the other ones we went through. So the old sacroiliac, you can work with it, you have to be able to live with it one way or another.
Bob: We can fix it too, right?
Brad: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Bob: But we can't fix...
Brad: –A broken heart. But yeah, maybe Deb could help us with that.
Bob: Somebody needs to help us.
Brad: Yeah. Yeah. We're just men.
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