Continuing our theme around trigger point pain and their association with common symptoms such as headaches, low back pain, or shoulder issues we turn our attention to the low back. If you have had low back pain for long enough, your familiar with the term SI Joint. The Si joint, which stands for the sacroiliac joint, is a place where many people complain of pain. If you can imagine, the SI Joint is where your spine meets your pelvis. In this picture below, you can see exactly where the pain tends to present:
When do trigger points play a role?
SI joint pain is serious business. The joint is mostly reinforced by something called ligaments, which are designed to stabilize against movements and heal slowly when damaged. If there is damage to these ligaments or the joint itself, recovery requires a long process of rehabilitation and therapy. Sometimes, however, SI joint pain is more about these trigger point referrals:
Here we see a series of referrals that can be experienced by our multifidi and rotators. These muscles are some of the deepest muscles of our spine. Tension and pain related to these muscles will tend to express themselves in multiple locations along the spine. Primarily, the referral at the base of the spine will be mistaken for SI joint pain and can be remedied by work from an experienced bodyworker. Next week, we will look at why these trigger points emerge and what we can do about addressing them.
