7 Ways to Help Ease SI Joint Pain
SI joint pain is also common during pregnancy because your body produces more of a specific hormone called relaxin. This hormone makes your joints more elastic to allow your pelvis to widen during childbirth.
Is Your SI Joint Giving You Back Pain?
If you stand up from your chair and feel a pain in your lower back, it could be your SI joint acting up. Don’t let it get the best of you! Take charge with a treatment plan that brings relief.
What Is the SI Joint?
Its full name is the sacroiliac joint. There are two of them in your lower back, and they sit on each side of your spine. Their main job is to carry the weight of your upper body when you stand or walk and shift that load to your legs.
What Does the Pain Feel Like?
It could be a dull or sharp pain. It starts at your SI joint, but it can move to your buttocks, thighs, groin, or upper back.
Sometimes standing up triggers the pain, and a lot of times you feel it only on one side of your lower back. You may notice that it bothers you more in the morning and gets better during the day.
It’s more common than you might think. About 15%-30% of people who hurt like this have a problem with the SI joint.
Why Is This Happening?
The pain starts when your SI joint gets inflamed. There are several reasons it could happen. You could hurt it when you play sports or if you fall down. You might also get this problem from an activity that gives the area a regular pounding, like jogging.
Do you take uneven strides when you walk because one of your legs is longer than the other? That could be a cause of SI joint pain.
Sometimes you start hurting when the ligaments that hold your SI joint together are damaged, which may make the joint move abnormally.
Arthritis can lead to the problem. A type that affects your spine, called ankylosing spondylitis, can damage the SI joint. You’ll also hurt when the cartilage over the SI joint slowly wears away as you age.
SI joint pain may also start if you’re pregnant. Your body releases hormones that cause your joints to loosen up and move more, which leads to changes in the way the joints move.
How Can I Get Relief?
You have many choices for treatment. The first step is simply to stop the things that make you hurt. Your doctor will tell you to lay off any sports that inflame your joint. They may also prescribe some pain drugs.
Some other ways to feel better:
Physical therapy. Exercises can improve strength and make you more flexible. You’ll learn to correct any habits you might have picked up when you were trying to avoid pain, like walking with a limp or leaning to one side. Your therapist may try ultrasound, heat and cold treatments, massage, and stretching.
Injections. You may get a shot of cortisone to cut down the inflammation in your joint. If that doesn’t help, your doctor may numb the nerves around your SI joint to give you relief.
Your doctor might also inject a solution of natural ingredients, such as saline, and numbing drugs into your joint. You may hear them call this “prolotherapy.” It’s thought to help tighten loose ligaments, if that’s the cause of your SI joint problem.
Chiropractic treatment. Adjustments by a chiropractor can help relieve pain. They’ll use techniques that move your muscles and joints.
Nerve treatment. Your doctor may use a needle to permanently damage the nerve that sends pain signals from your SI joint to your brain. They may also freeze it with an injection, though that technique isn’t used much.
What If I Don’t Get Any Relief?
These treatments usually reduce the inflammation and pain in your joint. But in rare cases, if you’re still hurting, your doctor may recommend surgery. In an operation called SI joint fusion, a surgeon uses pins and implants to join the bones near the joint.
Show Sources
Laslett, M. Journal of Manual Manipulative Therapy, March 2008.
Cohen, S. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, January 2013.
UCLA Spine Center: “Sacroilac Joint Disease.”
7 Ways to Help Ease SI Joint Pain
Low back pain is a common health complaint among adults, and the risk of lower back pain increases as you get older. It’s estimated that roughly 25 percent of lower back pain cases are caused by irritation to the sacroiliac (SI) joint.
In some cases, stretching may help alleviate SI joint pain by loosening tight muscles that put extra stress on these joints. Tight muscles around your back, hips, buttocks, thigh, and core can all potentially contribute to SI joint discomfort.
In this article, we’ll walk you through 7 different moves that may help relieve tension in the muscles that support your SI joints.
You have one SI joint on each side of your lower spine. More specifically, these joints are found where the flat bone at the base of your spine (known as your sacrum) meets your ilium or hip bone.
Your SI joint is supported by various muscles and ligaments that let your body transfer energy from your legs to your body when you walk, run, or move around. These muscles and ligaments also absorb shock from your lower body and reduce compression on your spine.
There are a number of potential causes of SI joint pain. Some of the most common causes include:
- injury
- osteoarthritis
- intense exercise
- ankylosing spondylitis
- biomechanical issues like abnormal walking patterns
SI joint pain is also common during pregnancy because your body produces more of a specific hormone called relaxin. This hormone makes your joints more elastic to allow your pelvis to widen during childbirth.
Although pregnancy is a very common cause of SI pain, the source of the pain in this case stems from hypermobility, or “too much motion.” Therefore, stretching may not be helpful if a recent pregnancy is the source of your pain.
Numerous muscles attach to your pelvis and sacrum. If any of these muscles become overly tight, they can cause changes in your movement patterns. This, in turn, can put more stress on your SI joint.
Stretching the muscles around your SI joint can potentially help you loosen up tight areas. This may help relieve tension in your lower back and make it easier to move around with less pain and discomfort.
Try to set aside some time each day to stretch. Even doing a couple of stretches for a few minutes a day can go a long way.
If you’re dealing with ongoing SI joint pain that doesn’t seem to improve with gentle stretches, you may want to visit a physical therapist. They can design a custom stretching and strengthening program to help you manage your pain.
Let’s take a closer look at 5 stretches and 2 gentle exercises you can do at home to help ease SI joint pain.
1. Knee-to-chest stretch
The knee-to-chest stretch helps elongate the muscles in your hip. If you’re having trouble reaching your knee, you can hook a strap or band behind your knee.
To do this stretch:
- Lie on a mat or other comfortable surface.
- Grab your left knee and pull it toward your chest until you feel a stretch in the back of your leg.
- Hold for up to a minute, then repeat on the other side.
2. Knees-to-chest stretch
The double knee-to-chest stretch may help ease SI joint pain by reducing tension in your lower back, hamstrings, and hips. Like with the stretch above, you can try to hook a strap behind your knees if you’re having trouble reaching your knees.
To do this stretch:
- Lie face-up on a comfortable surface.
- Grab both of your knees and pull them toward your chest as far as you can. Try not to let your back come off the ground.
- Hold for up to a minute.
3. Figure 4 stretch
The figure 4 is a great way to target multiple muscle groups at the same time. You’ll likely feel this stretch primarily in your outer hip and glutes. You can use a strap or band if you’re having trouble reaching your knee.
To do this stretch:
- Lie face-up on a mat with your feet in front of you.
- Raise your left leg so that your hips and knee are both at roughly 90 degrees.
- Place your right ankle just above your left knee.
- Gently pull your left leg toward your chest until you feel a stretch.
- Hold for up to a minute and repeat on the right side.
4. Trunk rotation stretch
Trunk rotations help stretch the muscles located on the sides of your core. When performing this stretch, only twist as far as you can comfortably. Stop immediately if it hurts your lower back.
To do this stretch:
- Lie on the ground with your feet flat on the floor and your arms outstretched in a T-position. Your knees should be together and pointed toward the ceiling.
- Keep your knees together and twist to one side as far as you comfortably can.
- Switch to the other side and perform 10 twists on each side.