Is Cycling Good for Si Joint pain? [Dead Hip Pain Guide]

Yes, Cycling is good for Si joint pain. The reason why cycling is good for Si joint pain is because it gently increases blood flow to the area of the body that is sore. A combination of blood flow, stretching and gentle exercise will help pain, swelling and inflammation decrease and you will feel better. For more detailed information on how to decrease Si joint pain, please read on.

What is a Si Joint?

The Si joint is the major support center for your body. It connects the lower half of the body to your upper half and is the highway intersection of the largest muscles in your body, along with some of the most important upper body muscles for balance. Pain coming from the Si joint can radiate and cause discomfort further down the leg, as well as up the lower back. This overtime can have damaging effects on your body elsewhere and your mood. 

In this post we will cover all things Si joint pain as it relates to cycling. We will cover: 

• Tools needed to ease Si Joint Pain
• What causes Si Joint pain? 
• How is Cycling good for Si Joint pain?
• What stretches can you do before cycling to ease the pain? 
• What types of cycling can you do to help the pain decrease?
• What can you do after cycling to ease the pain?

Tools Needed

Before moving forward, I would recommend investing in yourself. Here are some very handy tools to help you target your body in the most caring way:

• Lacrosse ball or foam roller
• Shea butter
• Ice packs or Ice Bags

Lacrosse Ball or Foam Roller

A foam roller is probably the best overall recovery tool for any endurance athlete. You can target your gluteus maximus, your gluteus minimus, most of the muscles in your piriformis, your shins and upper back well. I think that there are some opportunities for growth with the foam roller which is specifically that you can’t target one specific 1 inch by 1 inch square of your body with it.

Lacrosse Ball

This is where the lacrosse ball comes in. The major positives of the lacrosse ball is that you can target very specific knots in your body. When you apply pressure to these knots specifically, you are stimulating blood flow and it helps the inflammation decrease. The other major positive of a lacrosse ball is that it is rubber rather than foam. For that reason, you can grip onto the muscle and physically tug the muscle away from the bone. This is a service that typically only another human being can give you.

The one major drawback of a lacrosse ball is that it may work too well. If you are massaging the muscle correctly, you will feel a sense of both intense pain, and intense release as you allow the lacrosse ball to sit on the Si joint.

Shea Butter

You will notice that if you simply do a lacrosse ball or foam roller massage you may still walk away with a bit of pain. I typically do, which is why I highly recommend adding raw unprocessed shea butter to your affected areas. 

A decade ago, we used to have to wait for an aunt or uncle to come from 24 some hours of flights and international travel to give us a jar. Now you can get it sent to your door with Amazon in 2 days. I would not recommend Shea Butter Lotions or creams. They add too many processed things in the mixture which drown out the natural effects of the butter.

The true science on Shea Butter is a grey area. You are reading a blog post of a West-African son whose grandmother has a jar of raw unprocessed shea butter in every room and bathroom of the house and all his numerous aunties do the same. What I will say on the subject is that shea butter has properties that when rubbed on an affected area it will:

• Naturally Decrease the Inflammation of Affected Area

Shea Butter sends signals to the muscles and requests that it relax. Typically, with enough Shea Butter, and lacrosse ball massage, the body will respond positively and you will be happy these signals are sent.

• Naturally Numb the Affected area

Shea Butter has a numbing effect to the body as it decreases the inflammation. Pain, pulling and chronic be reduced.

• Increase Blood Flow to The Affected Area

Shea Butter after being rubbed topically into the skin, your body reacts to it by sending blood flowing to the area in question. This naturally lubricates, loosens and keeps the specific, targeted area limber.

Steps to Apply Shea Butter:

1. Place the shea butter on the lacrosse ball
2. Place the lacrosse ball on the ground with the shea butter side up.
3. Put your back on the ground to where the lacrosse ball can allow gravity to massage the Si joint.  

You will know that you are massaging the joint correctly because you will feel both a mixture of criminally intense pain and intense muscular release.

Ice Packs, Bags of Ice

With Si Joint pain there are two things that we are trying to do. Increase blood flow and decrease inflammation. We just discussed increasing blood flow. To decrease inflammation, the tried-and-true way is ice packs. If you don’t want to keep going back and forth to your grocery store, a reusable ice pack will do.

What Causes Si Joint Pain?

Causes of Si joint can be very wide ranging and can be from something as insignificant as getting up incorrectly to being rear ended in a car.

• Arthritis
• Physical Injury
• Pregnancy
• Inflammation
• Bodily Infection
• Heavy Lifting

How is Cycling Good for Si joint pain?

Cycling is good for Si joint pain when done at an easy relaxed pace that does not bring added stress to the body. This means easing off the big gear and staying on your lowest possible gear that still gives you stability while riding. Cycling is good for Si joint pain for three reasons. 

• Increased Blood Flow
• Zero Impact Exercise
• Muscle Stimulation

Increase Blood Flow

The Si Joint will be happy that you are moving the joint because this will signal to your body to increase blood flow to that area. The increase in blood flow will give the area more space to move and allow releases to occur in the surrounding muscles. The muscles that are associated with Si Joint pain are typically the hamstring, gluteus maximus, gluteus minimus, piriformis and the sciatic nerve. If these areas receive blood flow, then the area becomes more limber.

Zero Impact Exercise

You want to exercise the area which will increase the blood flow to the area, while also being kind to the body. This means that squats, sit-ups or excessive running in incorrect shoes may not be the best idea to decrease Si joint pain. 

Muscle Stimulation

Your muscles like to be in motion. They don’t need to be working out constantly, however sedated muscles become very unhappy very quickly. Cycling is a great way to get the muscles moving so that they can function correctly. Cycling on a low gear allows you to move the muscles in the fashion that they were created in a kind and gentle way.

What Stretches Can You do Before Your Ride to Ease Si joint pain?

There are many stretches that you can do to ease Si joint pain. The goal of the stretches is to open the pelvis and hips to allow the Si Joint to ease on its hinge while rotating mindfully.

• Swan
• Dancer
• Eagle

What is the spindle reflex?

The spindle reflex is your body’s natural way of protecting itself. When you are walking and almost twist your ankle after stepping on a rock; the almost occurred because of the spindle reflex. When your body stretches, it will naturally constrict the muscle to protect it from overstretches. To overcome the spindle reflex, allow the muscle to stretch for longer than 60 seconds.

Swan

The swan stretch when done correctly will target the piriformis which typically is in pain along with the Si joint. This is more of a piriformis stretch. It is included on the list because when this muscle becomes tight it is the largest and first connecting muscle to pull directly at the Si Joint. Relieving tightness in this muscle will help ease Si Joint pain. The laying down swan variation of the stretch can be held indefinitely and is an excellent post-cycling stretch.

Dancer

The Dancer Stretch is a full back and leg stretch that will center directly onto the Si joint. It allows the SI joint to be pulled backwards. This is a position that is typically unnatural to the body and allows release that it has not felt very often. When performing the dancer stretch, you are empowered to use a prop for balance. The focus for your Si bone is to take the leg and raise it high enough that the muscle is bending backward with the back itself.

Eagle Pose

The Eagle pose when done correctly stretches the Si joint and rotates it to allow space where the joint is typically closed off in normal movement. You are empowered to use a prop to help with balance to hold this stretch longer.

During Your Ride

• Shift to a Lower Gear
• Fall in Love with Hill Work

Shift to a Lower Gear

You may want to shift to a higher gear so that you will “feel” like you are working out when in fact you want to be at a lower gear to ease the stress that your body will take from them exercise.

Fall in Love with Hill Work

When you are on flat land, most of the power output is coming from your quadricep. Shift your workout to a hill. You will place a relatively higher load onto your gluteus muscles to work and stimulating more blood flow to the Si Joint. 

Post Cycling

• Strengthen
• Recovery Stretch
• Ice
• Rest

Strengthen

There are three exercises that strengthen the piriformis while adding mobility to the Si Joint:

• Clamshells
• Straight Leg Lateral Swing
• Fire Hydrants

Clamshells

Straight Leg Lateral Swings

Fire Hydrants

Conclusion

Is cycling good for Si joint pain? Yes, cycling is an excellent choice for Si joint pain when paired with these suggestions to help ease the pain and bring blood flow back to the pained area. Get out there and cycle and do all the things that you need to do to keep your body happy.