FAQs

Yes! This is difficult to understand, but the sacroiliac joint is considered to be the keystone of the body. This means that if there is a problem with this joint, it will affect the joints above it (low back, mid back, neck, head, shoulders, wrists and hands) and below it (hips, knees, ankles and feet). You should never work on any body part before the sacroiliac joint is stabilized using my exercise protocol. If a physical therapist works on your mid back before your sacroiliac joint is properly aligned, soon after your mid back is fixed, it will be twisted again, causing your pain to return. The reason for this is, that if your sacroiliac joint is not aligned, when you stand up, you will have a scoliotic curve in your spine. This is referred to as an “apparent scoliosis” and is caused by your body’s compensation of the mal-aligned sacroiliac joint below. Until the sacroiliac joint is corrected, this apparent scoliosis will continue to exist. It is the apparent scoliosis which is the major cause of neck pain in most people with EDS. Until the apparent scoliosis is corrected, the neck will continue to have pain. Think of your body as a house. The sacrum and pelvis are the foundation of this house. Your mid back represents the walls of the house and your head and neck are the roof. Your neck can never be aligned as long as your foundation (sacrum and pelvis) is crooked. For those of you who have had treatment for neck and mid back pain and are not getting better, it is probably because the physical therapist did not fix your sacroiliac joint and low back first. Once they address your sacroiliac joint and low back per my protocol in Chapter Two of my book, then you can follow my Neck, Mid Back and Upper Extremity Protocol in Chapter Three to help your mid back pain. After this is completed, Chapter Four outlines exercises for the hips, knees, ankles and feet. By the end of the book, every joint will be stabilized due to these exercises. Click here to listen to my webinar entitled, “Sacroiliac Dysfunction in the EDS Population.”

I would like to discuss why people with EDS should never run or jump. When you run or jump, the ground places an upward force on your hips, knees, ankles, feet and pelvis, which is equal to five to ten times your body weight. This force is called a ground reaction force and occurs every time you jump and your foot hits the ground. This excessive force can easily sublux your ankle, knee, hip or pelvis. More than likely, it will cause an SI joint dysfunction called an upslip. An example of a ground reaction force is: if a 100 pound person goes running, every step they take, the ground pushes up on the person’s leg and pelvis with a force between 500 and 1,000 pounds. This large amount of force is extremely difficult for your ligamentous system to absorb. I suggest to my patients with EDS, to either do pool exercises or ride a recumbent bike in order to get their cardiovascular exercise.

Many of my patients with EDS have difficulty riding in a car for long distances. This is because, most car seats are bucketed, which causes them to slump. When you sit in a slumped posture for a prolonged period of time, you will have a tendency to sublux your sacrum. The ball exercises in my protocol will help you be able to sit in a car for a longer time without pain. I do however suggest to my patients, that if they are riding in a car for distances longer than twenty to thirty minutes, they should wear an SI joint belt. This will give them some external support to their SI joint during the long car ride and hopefully avoid them subluxing their sacrum during this trip.

I would like to talk to you today about proper body mechanics, which is how you move your body around during your daily activities.  You have EDS, which means your ligaments are weak.  Ligaments hold your joints together and have an inherent strength to them.  If you place a force on a joint that exceeds both the strength of your ligaments and muscles, the joint will go out of place, which is called a subluxation.  Using proper body mechanics for such activities as lifting, walking and doing laundry will decrease the force you place on your joints while performing these activities, thus help preventing these joints from going out of place.  Go to my web page which is entitled, “Body Mechanics” to see pictures and videos of how to properly perform many daily activities.

I would like to discuss why it is so important for people with EDS to wear custom orthotics. Most people with EDS have flat feet and a custom orthotic is designed to control the arch in your foot so your foot is not flat while you are wearing them. When your foot is flat, it affects not only your ankle, but also your knee and your hip. People with EDS who have a flat foot have a tendency to sublux their ankle, causing pain in the front part of their ankle joint. Also, when your foot is flat, it will bend your knee inward which is called valgus, causing increased pain on the inside part of your knee and may also contribute to having your patella sublux. Finally, flat feet can also rotate your hip inward, causing bursitis in your hip which causes pain on the outside part of your hip every time you take a step. Therefore, proper fitting of a custom orthotic can reduce not only your foot and ankle pain, but also will reduce your knee and hip pain as well. Most of my patients with EDS require at least three adjustments to their custom orthotics in order to fit them properly. I understand that custom orthotics are expensive, but trust me, they are worth the price.