SI Joint Pain In Warrior 1: How Should I Work With It?

Transcript of: SI joint pain in warrior 1: How should I work with it?

Hey everybody! Welcome to this month’s question of the month. And, as you probably know, if you go to yoganatomy.com/myquestion you can submit your own question and we’ll do our best to get to it. This month’s question is about SI joint pain in warrior 1. You should definitely read: A Reality Check on the SI Joint in Yoga.

The Question:

So, this month’s question comes from Justine. I’ve had some issues with my SI joints, which are kept in check for the most part with visits to the chiropractor as needed. I am particularly challenged with SI joint pain in warrior 1. I might add that this was not a problem two decades ago when I was a mere youth in my 30’s. Any advice for positional adjustments to reduce SI joint pain in warrior 1 would be appreciated.

The Answer:

Alright Justine, great question. And, we are actually in the process of putting out a really well-fleshed-out SI joint article on yoganatomy.com. I’m sure it’s up by the time this gets out there. It’s February 18th right now.

There is a whole series of things that I do and try to change in terms of how pressures and stresses end up making their way into the SI joint. What’s great is that you already know that the discomfort sort of gets aggravated or comes out during warrior 1. It’s one of the places that I almost always make a change in a student’s practice when they generally say they have SI joint discomfort and I’m trying to undo every part of their practice. Well, not every part of their practice, but where I’m trying to undo all the little parts of their practice that could potentially be adding to pressure in the SI joint and causing inflammation and pain, etc.

Changes I make to warrior 1

So, in warrior 1, there’s only one thing that I do. That is I make sure they don’t put their heel down in the back foot. Because what happens is, when the back heel goes down, the leg externally rotates and the pelvis usually gets pulled off and then the cue that’s in everybody’s head is to square the pelvis. So when you have your back leg going externally, and then that same side of your pelvis is trying to pull forward, you’re creating a rotation that goes from leg through the pelvis in the spine and in order to get through the pelvis it ends up going in the SI joint.

So, give it a try. Unless you already doing that. If you are then I would need to know that. But classically, warrior 1 is with the back heel down. So see if that one little change makes a difference and let us know. You can drop a comment on the video or on the page where this is on the website. Or, just send me an email. Either way, I hope that answers your question about SI joint pain in warrior 1. And I’ll see everybody on the next question of the month.