Sacroiliac Joint Injury

3 1/2 years ago I popped my sacroiliac joint out during the eccentric portion of a leglift. It’s never been the same- while much of the initial misery gone, I still experience subluxation. Most of my training is affected in some way- olympic lifts are compromised, and standard fare such as situps and the turkish getup are impossible to complete without exacerbating the injury. I’ve had moderate success with prolotherapy, and am diligent about working to improve the strength of my hams, glutes, back, and other core musculature. Most doctors I’ve talked to have said I’ll just have to live with it, and I can expect lots of fun with arthritis in my golden years.

Fuck them. I’m fixing this.

I’ve been a t-mag reader for about a year now, and have grown to respect the knowledge and experience of the community- so I thought I’d throw the question out to you guys for the hell of it.

Has anyone had any experience with sacroiliac joint injury? Any suggestions to help stabilize the refractory region?

Thanks in advance,
Steve

I had a bad sacroiliac sprain the fall of 1999 that had me completely out of commission for 3 weeks and on “light duty” and thrice weekly physcial therapy for 3 months. About once a year I do something stupid and reaggrivate it, but not to the level previous. The things I found that helped were massage, heat, traction, hyperextensions, very light but very strict squats, crunches on those ab board (padding helps) and sitting on a Swiss ball at work. I change my sitting positions often, swapping a chair for the Swiss ball or kneeling. You probably know all this already but I thought I’d share the pain with you! :wink: Good luck!

I probably did something to it about five weeks ago. On the eccentric (albeit limited) portion of my last rep of sumo deadlifts, I lost all of the tension from my glutes to my ankles and essentially did a face plant. It only hurt for a split second, but my hams were numb and tingly for three days afterwards.


I’m still having trouble with movements where the knees and hip are flexed simultaneously (e.g. deadlifts, tying my shoes). Strangely, though, I CAN do stiff legged DLs, rock bottom front squats, and leg curls. It has definitely impacted my pelvic alignment, as I can no longer go past 80 degrees on back squats because it feels like my femur is too far up into the FA joint. I say probably because no one has been able to definitively diagnose it or treat it. I’ve been to two chiropractors (one of them an ART), a physical therapist, two ATCs, and my kines prof (who is also an ATC). The fact that it was bilateral initially and has now switched from exclusively left to exclusively right clearly proves that there’s some sort of nerve irritation.


All in all, it’s frustrating as hell, as I thought that I was finally getting healthy after having a bum shoulder for five years. Incidentally, the shoulder is acting up again. Shit. When it rains, it pours…

Steve, what kind of exercises do you do that involve the hamstrings, glutes and low back all in one movement? Are you performing these under a trained eye or are you rehabing yourself?

I feel for you but it sounds like you are doing the right things. Reverse hyperextensions come highly recommended. Romanian deadlifts and Good Mornings (of course starting out very lightly) as well. An agressive but smart approach is the way to go. If something is killing you then don’t do it (i.e. Back Squats). Deep massage therapy and stretching to go along with the weight training specific to the region. Good luck.