What is a good exercise to increase SI joint mobility?

Question

Dr. Mitchell Tanner, PT, DPT, CSCS · Answer

What is a good exercise to increase SI joint mobility or sacroiliac joint mobility? So the SI joint is at the bottom of the spine and it sits right in between your two big pelvis bones and this joint is actually not supposed to move a ton. I think that oftentimes whenever we have SI joint pain, we think that that means we need to get it moving better. You might have been told that that's something that has to happen, but it actually just doesn't move that much at all and it's not supposed to. So Good et al did a systematic review in 2008 that showed the SI joint only moves 0 to 8 millimeters, like maximum, and that's all you really need. This isn't supposed to be a super mobile joint. And so oftentimes whenever we think about needing to improve SI joint mobility, really more than likely we just need to work on moving the muscles that surround the SI joint rather than think about moving the joint itself. And so any type of movement where you are going into deep extension or flexion with your back in a comfortable range tends to work well. And spending time doing things with one leg, so lunges, step ups, things like that can be helpful for moving one side of the hips at a time around the SI joint. But yeah, the SI joint really isn't supposed to move that much. It moves very little, so if it feels like it's not mobile, that's okay.

Dr. Sam Rauchwarter, PT, DPT, SCS · Answer

What is a good exercise to increase SI joint mobility? So that's a really tough question because the SI joint itself actually only moves a couple of millimeters. So there's not really a good exercise particularly to increase SI joint mobility. However, you can definitely stretch and strengthen all the muscles around there. You can stretch and strengthen the low back. You can stretch and strengthen the pelvis, including like glute med, glute min, and a whole bunch of other muscles within there, within that pelvis. But those are probably your best bets. If something like that is bothering you, the best bet is to probably go to a physical therapist and get a proper diagnosis on it. But in terms of good exercises, there really isn't any because the SI really doesn't move.

Sue Falsone · Answer

What is a good exercise to increase SI joint mobility? Well, for me, I would say there is not a good exercise to increase SI joint mobility, and that is a very good thing. When we look at the anatomy of the SI joint, there are a lot of really thick ligaments there, and it's a really, an incongruent joint surface, but it fits well together, kind of like a puzzle. And so, anyway, the SI joint is really meant to have a lot of stability, and I don't think we really want to have a lot of mobility at the SI joint. The only time we really get SI joint to become mobile is when someone's pregnant, and the SI joint becomes much more mobile due to hormonal releases, so the mother came past the baby out of the pelvic cavity. So, hormonally, that will improve the mobility of the SI joint almost too much. If you know any pregnant mothers, they can have a lot of SI joint pain because of the extreme hypermobility that is happening as the body prepares for actual birth. So, my argument would be there is not a good exercise to increase SI joint mobility because we don't want to have SI joint mobility unless you are preparing to give birth.

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"What is a good exercise to increase SI joint mobility?"