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CONTACT The Human Joint at Wellness First 40 West Louisiana Avenue Denver, Colorado 80223 Phone: 303-744-6567 Fax: 303-733-6567 Send Us 
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© Copyright 1999-2008 Wellness First All Rights Reserved. |
| Sacroiliac Pain is a "Pain in the Butt" |
GOT A 'HITCH IN YER GITALONG?'
They used to come in and tell us: "I've got a hitch in my gitalong." And we knew what they meant. These days you tell us you "tweaked something" and point right AT your sacroiliac joint. Whatever you call it, it's one of the most common conditions we treat.
Where is it? Well, do this: put your hands on your waist; then drop your thumbs down toward the floor--maybe two to four inches. You might feel a bony bump. If so, you're right on it. Clue: there’s also a dimple there.
What is it? There are two of them, and they are the joints between your sacrum (the triangular bone at the bottom of your spine, which the tailbone attaches to) and your two pelvic bones.
How does it get injured? Shoveling snow, sweeping, raking, vacuuming, pulling weeds, falls & accidents, doing practically anything while pregnant or overweight, a pronated foot arch on one side, posture that involves locking your knees while standing or walking, and anything else that involves twisting - especially while carrying, pulling, pushing or lifting something. We'd call this a sacroiliac sprain because it pulls and injures the ligaments that normally hold the joint tight. And often the joint will actually feel loose or unstable afterward. And you might feel sharp or stabbing pains in the joint when you take a step, or go up or down stairs.
What should you do about it? There are two things to do right away if you can.
1. Knee-Chest Exercises. Lie down on the floor, flat on your back. Gently pull one knee up to your chest--not too hard--don't hurt yourself. Leave the other leg flat on the floor if you can. Hold it there while you take two breaths, and then return the first leg to the floor and lift your other knee up to your chest. Hold it for two breaths and put it back down. Repeat this five times on each side. If the injury was small, this can sometimes correct what you've done. You won't feel it right away, but it will often feel better soon after doing this stretch.
2. Apply ice to the spot that hurts. Be careful not to "burn" your skin by putting the ice right on your skin, but just put a paper towel or thin piece of cotton (not a thick towel) between the ice pack and your skin. Leave it on your skin for NO MORE THAN 15 MINUTES AT A TIME. Then remove it for 15 minutes. You can repeat this procedure on and off during that first day. The more times you do it, the better. If you don’t have an ice pack, many people use a bag of frozen peas or corn!
And, YES, you guessed it! You might also need an adjustment. Chiropractic is the best thing in the world for a sacroiliac sprain as far as we're concerned, and we see it so often that we have lots of ways to help it. These conditions can become chronic (meaning ongoing), especially if left untreated.
First of all we'll evaluate you and probably adjust your sacroiliac with the Activator (a hand-held adjusting instrument). And sometimes we can give you a belt that will help hold it in place and help the ligaments heal. We might suggest nutritional supplement to help nourish the ligaments. We'll look at your feet and see whether one arch is more pronated. We might check to see if the supporting muscles of the pelvis are too weak to hold your sacroiliac in place. Often we use special "blocks" to help push the pelvis into position in addition to the Activator adjustment. We might give you standing and walking lessons to help you keep from injuring your sacroiliac. Other times just losing a few pounds will help a lot--we can help you with that.
So if it doesn't get better pretty quickly, give us a call, and we'll help you with it.
303.744.6567
