SI joint exercises: why your sacroiliac joint doesn't need force, but better teamwork.

The pain sits low, usually on one side, where the lower back meets the buttock. It makes itself felt as you get out of the car, climb the stairs or stand up after sitting for a long time. And that's often when someone mentions a "locked" or "stuck" SI joint.

The sacroiliac joint, or SI joint for short, connects the sacrum to the two halves of the pelvis. It is a very stable joint with only a little room for movement. Its job is to transmit forces between the trunk and the legs. And that is where the key lies.

Why the SI joint hurts

Whether an SI joint can really become "locked" is a matter of debate among specialists. What isn't disputed is that the joint sits right in the middle of a system made up of the pelvis, the lumbar spine and the hip joints. When these parts work well together, the load is shared. When one part does too little – a stiff hip, say, or an immobile lower back – another part has to take on more.

Typical triggers are long periods of sitting with uneven loading, always favouring the same standing leg, pregnancy and the time after it, unaccustomed strain during sport, or a fall onto your bottom.

Why gentle often helps more than force

Many SI joint exercises online rely on stretching, strengthening or "putting the joint back". In individual cases that can help. But if you want lasting relief, you need one thing above all: a pelvis that moves freely and evenly again, so that no single part carries the load on its own.

This is exactly where the Feldenkrais Method works. Small, slow movements of the pelvis show the nervous system how the load can be distributed differently. No pressure, no jolting, no pain.

The lesson: the pelvic clock – 6 minutes

Important: The pelvic clock should feel pleasant. If one direction hurts, leave it out or do the movement only in your imagination. That works too – the nervous system already learns from imagining a movement.

What the research shows

There are no studies so far on the Feldenkrais Method specifically for the SI joint. For spinal pain in general, a systematic review with meta-analysis (Berland et al., 2022) concludes that the method shows effects comparable to other physiotherapy approaches. An earlier review (Hillier & Worley, 2015) also stresses how differently the existing studies have been designed. Our study overview sets out the evidence in detail.