One of the most important steps you can ever take to eliminate low back pain is to unlock your sacroiliac joint with a Don Tigny mobilization exercise.
What is your sacroiliac joint and why should you even care about it?
Your sacroiliac joints (also known as S.I. joints) connect your sacrum and your right and left iliac bones.
These joints are so crucial because your lumbar vertebrae directly above your S.I. joints support about two-thirds of your body weight.
If you sit or stand improperly, you may unknowingly cause your S.I. joints to lock up on one or both sides, leading you to experience low back pain.
Many people think that if they lost weight they might experience less back pain, but I’ve had clients who weigh 95 pounds dripping wet with rocks in their pockets who still experienced chronic low back pain because of S.I. joint dysfunction.
When I do a postural assessment to help identify why your back has been hurting one of the first things I check is the function of your sacroiliac joints.
If you’ve been suffering from back pain, ask me to show you what precisely has been going on with your S.I. joints – I can explain your body very clearly.
You could be locked on one side or jammed on both sides, but either way if your S.I. joint has tightened up on one or both sides you will continue to experience low back pain no matter how many chiropractic adjustments, steroid injections, physical therapy appointments or surgical operations you receive.
I’ve had clients leave their physical therapist’s office and drive directly to my office in pain, only to learn that their S.I. joints were still locked up despite an hour of physical therapy.
One client even burst into tears in our first session because she had spent two years working with a physical therapist with no relief.
In our very first session, I taught her the Don Tigny mobilization and other personalized exercises and her back pain was gone in less than an hour.
She could hardly believe she had wasted two years of her life in chronic pain and now it was suddenly gone.
Your body and the status of your S.I. joints can change day to day and even hour to hour.
The more you learn about your body, your posture and the way your muscles and joints work, the better care you can take to alleviate and prevent low back pain in the future.
The Don Tigny mobilization is one of my most important tools in working with any client with low back pain.
This exercise is especially important if your lumbar curve is less than 30 degrees or if you have scoliosis or spondylolisthesis.
The way I like to explain this exercise is this. If I tried to walk in a door and it was locked, I couldn’t get in the house. Practicing the Don Tigny exercise is very much like unlocking the door to relieving chronic low back pain.
We can all thank Don Tigny, a physical therapist and expert in S.I. joint dysfunction, for developing this wonderful exercise.
Here’s how you do this very important exercise:
- Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet hip width apart.
- Pull your heels towards your buttocks.
- Straighten your left leg with your left foot straight up to the ceiling, setting your hip bone properly in the socket.
- Gently inhale and slowly press your right knee forward, lifting your right hip off the floor about 1/4 inch.
- Exhale as you lower your right hip back into the floor.
- Inhale as you lift, exhale as you lower.
- Continue 1 minute before repeating the exercise on the other side.
Benefits:
- Unlocks your sacroiliac joint.
- Relieves low back pain.
- Relaxes your spine.
Caution:
- Move slowly and gently, making this a small movement to unlock your lower back.
- Do not force, push or strain.
- Make sure your feet are straight.
- Be sure to breathe deeply and relax!
While I am a big fan of chiropractic work and often refer my clients to non-force chiropractors for adjustments, you can learn to restore the proper function of your own sacroiliac joint by practicing the Don Tigny mobilization.
I am much less of a fan of back surgery, and no fan at all of steroid injections or opioid drugs that are regularly handed out to folks who could get rid of their own pain by simply learning how.
Would you rather go under the knife or spend a few minutes every day to feel better?
According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2015, more than 15,000 people died from overdoses involving prescription opioids. That averages out to about 288 people dying from methadone, oxycodon and hydrocodone – the most commonly overdose opioids.
Would you rather be one of the 41 people a day who die from opioids or learn how to take better care of your back so you don’t need to take any drugs to alleviate your pain?
Many of my clients spend most of their days sitting at a desk, further aggravating low back pain, hip pain and other postural distortions.
If you have been experiencing chronic back pain not alleviated by chiropractic, physical therapy, steroid shots or surgery, make an appointment today by calling 678-612-8816 or emailing catherine@unlimitedenergynow.com.
I’ll start with a postural assessment, explain to you precisely what’s going on with your spine and teach you exercises to correct your problem.
Photo courtesy of Diane Fulmer of Savannah, Georgia.