You Are Stronger Than You Think...

In the immortal words of Superman “you are much stronger than you think you are”

I whole-heartedly believe this, and it is a message echoed within Yogic Philosophy.

Weakness and instability are messages that have somehow become omnipresent in our society - that we need to be careful with how we move, or only move in certain ‘safe’ ways. The result is a layer of conditioning leading to fear and decreased movement.

The sacro-iliac (SI) joint is an area of the body particularly susceptible to myths and misconceptions. Instability, fragility, vulnerability, hyper-mobility, manipulability (and lots more ilities) are constantly bandied about in SI joint discussion.

The truth is, that the SI joint is one of the most stable joints in the body! It has some of the strongest ligaments and muscles supporting it, not to mention the shape of the joint makes it fit snuggly with its surrounding muscles, creating even more stability.

The sacrum is a triangular bone that sits between your two ilium (pelvic bones) in your back. The shape of it - a downward pointing triangle - is the symbol of Apana in yogic philosophy: the downward rooting force that creates stability in both the body and mind.

The sacrum is designed to transmit force from the upper body through the lower extremities - a strong task that it is highly capable of doing. The sacrum and the ilium move through a process called nutation and counter nutation - a nodding of the bone forward and back in relation to what is happening in the lumbar spine and pelvis. .

When you walk one side is nutating whilst the other is counter-nutating in order to absorb and transmit the force of walking.

Pregnancy (due to a release of hormones that enable the pelvic bones to move) and hypermobility disorder (which affects the cells that create connective tissue in the body such as ligaments, blood and lymph) are the only times that the SI Joint can become hyper-mobile or problematic.

If neither of these are present then it actually takes traumatic force like a car accident, falling from a horse or ladder or similar accident to move or displace this joint.

So why do we experience pain here then?

Well pain is often multifactorial and it may just be that the area is hypersensitive due to a previous injury or fall, or that the joint is experiencing some irritation either due to too little movement or too much of one thing like sitting, or other factors such as stress, lack of sleep or even our own fear or stories about this area of the body.

The nervous system is key, remember it likes movement and thrives on receiving proprioceptive information from the body. Without movement the brain can get bored and send out wide dynamic neural impulses that will search out and magnify nociceptive input from the tissues.

Breathing is also important. I know I must sound like a stuck record by now, but the way you breathe influences how your body stabilises, influences the level of cortisol and tension held in the muscles and tight muscles and increased sympathetic nervous system activation can increase our levels of pain. Breathing helps us create the intra abdominal pressure needed to stabilise but also has a direct influence on our nervous system.

This month's video includes a new breathing exercise to bring you more in touch with how to create and maintain intra abdominal pressure.

In this class you will be guided through somatic exercises as well as some loaded poses to help bring awareness to how you move and the muscles that provide stability in and around the SI joint.

Becoming more aware of how we move can often be a game changer as issues with neuromuscular firing could be the instigating factor. These can be easily fixed through mindful somatic movement that provides the nervous system with alternatives and helps to develop new neuromuscular pathways.

Often when we experience discomfort in this area (or any area) we go towards things like stretching to make it feel better. This can offer temporary relief but will not always fix the underlying issue.

Instead try activating the muscles that support the area with these variations:-

• Bridge

• Chair Pose

• Chair Step outs

• Block hip drops

• Active Pigeon

• Loaded locust

See the above video for how to perform these.

Or try somatic movements to see if there is unnecessary tension or muscular activation that does not need to be present in the movement.

Most importantly move!

Find movements that feel good and do them often. Work out what makes it worse and avoid these while it's irritated, but then slowly introduce them working within the range that feels comfortable.

Remember FEAR of moving a certain way can also increase our pain perception. There are no bad movements. Expand your movement repertoire, find what you like, and have fun.