SI joint problem?

Hang in there and do your best to be patient. I'm 14 weeks into treatment here in Portland with my PT. I had been living with frequent hamstring pulls that my PT has said were caused by misalignment and malfunction in the pelvis area. In addition to strengthening exercises you've described, she has me doing specific SI mobility movements as my SI joint tends to get 'stuck'. This then led to other issues up and down the chain from my fibular head in the calf area up to my lower back.

The strengthening exercises made a big difference but didn't quite get me over the hump to consistent running. She had me get PRP injections in the SI area which led to some breakthrough improvements and has me running every other day. I'm still unable to string together more than 4 days in a row and am going in for another round of PRP.

Do you have a good PT you can visit? I was luck to find a fantastic one here in Portland that has not only worked on my body but my mind as well. She's talked me off the ledge a few times as frustration got the better of me.

It's probably going to take more than a handful of visits to get you back to health so it's important that you and your PT are committed to a long-term plan. I realize that this may not be the magic bullet answer you were hoping for but you can and will get better. Approach your injury as you would a sound training program and have faith in your PT. I'm actually feeling stronger at 40 than I was at 25 which has led to noticeable improvements in my running; improvements on only 3 long-ish days running vs. 75 miles per week pre-injury.

Best of luck.

OP, is your pain on the lateral aspect of your knee (outside)??

If so, you might just have some trigger points in your hip. IT Band pain at the point of insertion on the knee can be very painful / debilitating, but in my experience is one of the easiest injuries to fix. Check out your entire hip area for any tender / tight spots and massage them out!!!

Yeah well the IT band pain has gone away because I've been rolling it out, it's more or less the cause that I am worried about.

I realize that this may not be a short term injury, actually I realized that after the first week.

I actually do have a really good physio that is working with me, so I will continue to do that. I hope that your SI joint problems get better as well.

Is there anyway to specifically test if it is the SI joint in particular?

I've also been side-lined for a long time with SI joint issues (well PT says SI joint, some debate about whether it might instead be a labral tear).

Either way, I'm planning to try prolotherapy if PT doesn't completely resolve the issue soon. Check caringmedical.com if you are interested in the same idea. That doctor claims that he can end pain caused by ligament laxity and labral tears...

I don't think there is a test to determine the cause of your (our) pain.

Ah, I've read the Prolotherapy doesn't exactly have a great success rate. I would be very weary to try it from reading what exactly they do to you.

How long are you guys normally able to run before it starts to bother you, and in what way does it manifest?

I also noticed that when I am doing any curls with a bar in the gym it looks like one of shoulders it higher than the other, but maybe I was just being paranoid because of the SI joint thing, but could that be due to one leg being higher than the other because of the SI joint dysfunction?

I had an SI joint problem from May through August. I ran through it for a few races at the end of track until it got bad enough that I had to take time off, and it took a VERY long time to get better.

I saw a chiro for regular adjustments which seemed to help some but mostly temporary relief. Best advice I could give is to not let it get out of control and do little things like ice, core, etc to prevent it from becoming chronic.

I have had quite a few issues with SI joint problems but the good news they have been pretty easy to fix. Your PT should be able to tell if your pelvis is rotated anterior/posterior which will let you know if it is an SI joint problem. Seeing a chiropractor provided me with the most immediate relief, although the most lasting has been a physical therapist specializing in manual therapy (its like a little bit of both). In this case I dont think its just ice and rest...your body is probably misaligned with certain core muscles not firing. Figure this out, then strengthen and return. Best of luck!

Chiro made my SI joint problems much worse, but many people say it was a cure for them so try it out. What worked best for me was ultrasound, stem, and having the area worked on by a PT 3 times a week. Had me back at it in no time.

2 herniated discs L5 S1 and a rotated pelvis. Shooting pain down my right leg. What has worked best for me is sleeping with a pillow between my legs and alot of core especially planks. I was doing planks 5 times a week up to 3 minutes in each direction. Especially planks with belly button up.

From what I have heard talking to several excellent PTs, prolo has great success for certain injuries, including SI joint. And if struggle for years with the same injury, you might open your mind a little more. *But*, something that appears to be an SI joint injury could be something worse, including labral tear. Surgeons say that prolo will not help labral tears, docs who perform prolo say that it will; obviously I have no idea as I am neither a surgeon nor a doctor. But just keep searching and don't give up. Focus on a singular goal has helped me a lot in dealing with this injury.