Workshop 1C: sacroiliac joint pain & piriformis syndrome-20 minute pilates workout

A video of gentle exercises, stretches, and self-massage.

(workshop overview…)

The picture shows the Pilates hundred modified so that the tummy and pelvic floor muscles contract to brace the sacroiliac joints while also permitting calm and efficient breathing.

The video at the bottom of the page takes just 20 minutes and is designed to be gentle yet effective. We explore exercises, stretches, and self-massage techniques that are easy on the body, and stabilise the Sacro-iliac joint and relax the piriformis muscle. We also show you how to breathe to create relaxation.

Since piriformis stretching and massage can be uncomfortable, we use time tested strategies to reduce the pain and calm your anxiety.

These are the pain reduction strategies:

• Calm and relaxed approach from someone who has been there/done that. (this reduces the anxiety component of the pain).

• Gentle exercise (to warm the buttock muscles before stretching and massage).

• Stretching the buttock muscles while "pulling the thigh bone out of the socket" - because this (a) distracts the hip joint and thus potentially relieves hip arthritis pain, (b) pulls the same side sitz bone forward, which restores the sacroiliac joint to its normal position.*

*Refer to diagram 1 of Don Tigney: Dysfunction of the Sacroiliac Joint and Its Treatment, at: https://www.jospt.org/doi/pdf/10.2519...