10 Best Tips for How to Sit With SI Joint Pain

If you have any sort of discomfort in your sacroiliac (SI) joint, then most likely, sitting just got a whole lot more painful for you. And unfortunately, pain when sitting just won’t cut it in our day and age, where we often sit for extended periods of time at work and even at home when we crash on the couch. So, if you want quick tips for how to sit with SI joint pain, you’re in the right place. 

Here at Back Muscle Solutions, we’re experts in muscles. In fact, we specialize in helping people with back pain caused by many of the muscles surrounding the SI joint. Today, we’ll help you go from sitting for hours in SI joint pain…to feeling comfortable and like yourself again. 

We’ll cover: 

- SI Joint Pain: Anatomy, Symptoms, & Causes

- How to Sit With SI Joint Pain: 10 Tips 

- How to Stand With SI Joint Pain

- How to Sleep With SI Joint Pain

- FAQs: How to Sit With SI Joint Pain

Let's learn how to sit with SI joint pain. 

 

SI Joint Pain: Anatomy, Symptoms, & Causes

One study estimated that 15-30% of people with lower back pain have their SI joint to thank for it. [1] 

So, if you’re in any sort of back pain, especially while you sit, this article could be a good read for you!

 

Before I cover how to sit with SI joint pain, let’s do a quick overview. 

The SI joints can be found at the base of your spine–at your pelvis on either side. More specifically, where the sacrum (triangular bone at the bottom of your spine) connects to your pelvis. 

And their prime location at such a crucial intersection on your body allows the SI joints to: 

→ Serve as a shock absorber during movement

→ Transfer force from the upper ot the lower body

→ Stabilize both the pelvis and the spine

Simply put, these joints are powerhouses. 

Working as stabilizers, the SI joints don't like to move too much. So, when they become misaligned, and your pelvis gets out of whack, you may feel pain in your: 

→ Lower Back

→ Butt

→ Thighs

→ Legs

→ Groin

This can happen from a variety of causes, such as high-impact sports, pregnancy and childbirth, or aging. 

The result of all this? Well, one of them at least is pain when sitting. 

 

How to Sit With SI Joint Pain: 10 Tips 

 

With the SI joint causing pain in so many potential areas of your body, it can be difficult to target and know for sure that your pain is caused by the SI Joint. 

If you’re still on the fence, check out our article, where you can learn about 3 Tests to Tell You If Your Back Pain is Caused By SI. 

But if you’re confident that SI pain is what you’re dealing with, let's get into how to sit with SI joint pain.  

When it comes to SI joint pain, you may notice that you have pain when: 

→ Sitting in general

→ Sitting for long periods of time

→ Going from sitting ot standing 

If any of these sound familiar, the 10 tips for how to sit with SI joint pain below should help! 

Tip #1: Keep Your Hips Level

Your SI joints take a hit any time you shift your weight to one side when you sit. This includes: 

→ Pulling up one foot underneath the opposite thigh. 

→ Crossing your legs. 

→ Or even just leaning slightly to one side.

I know it can feel comfortable to just lean back and cross your legs, but if you have any inflammation in your SI joints, this will make it worse. In fact, moving your hips to any type of uneven position will increase the pain. 

So, keep your hips level as you sit, focusing on even contact throughout your buttocks.

Tip #2: Keep Your Hips Above Your Knees

I know lots of people harp on 90-90-90 when they talk about sitting in a neutral position or in good posture. But sitting like this actually shortens your hip flexor muscles, causing tightness and leading to increased back pain. 

Instead, open the angle of your hips by sitting so your hips are above your knees. This helps keep your hip flexor muscles in a lengthened position, ultimately resulting in less pain when you sit. 

For this, I recommend an adjustable chair or a chair cushion. More on that later! 

Tip #3: Neutral Spine and Good Posture

This one won’t surprise you. Everybody always emphasizes having good posture, and that’s for good reason. It works. 

Sadly, it’s all too easy to break good posture when we sit, craning our necks forward to stare at a screen, slouching our shoulders, or disengaging our core. Doing so places more emphasis on your SI joints. 

To sit with good posture:

→ Keep your head stacked right over your shoulders. No craning forward or leaning back.

→ Let your shoulders relax naturally. Don’t hunch them up or pull them too far back.

→ Sit or stand tall with your spine in its natural S-curve while lightly engaging your core. Avoid slouching or twisting.

→ Keep your elbows bent around 90 degrees, forearms straight, and wrists in line, especially when typing.

→ Sit with feet flat on the ground and knees stacked under your hips.

To learn more about the benefits of neutral posture, check out our article below: 

“What’s the Most Important Benefit of Maintaining a Neutral Posture?” 

Or for a suggested posture routine, we’ve got a video for you: 

Tip #4: Use Lumbar Support

So, if you’re wondering how to sit with SI joint pain while maintaining the natural S-curve of your back…I recommend adding in some lumbar support. 

You can do this with an at-home item, such as a rolled-up towel. Or you can also buy a specialized lumbar support pillow. 

This will help align your pelvis and SI joints, reducing strain on your hips and lower back. 

It can also help correct a posterior pelvic tilt. 

Tip #5: Use a Support Cushion

 

Remember tip #2? Keep your hips above your knees. 

One of the best ways to accomplish this is with a specific support cushion for your chair. You can find all kinds of ergonomically-designed support cushions that will help reduce SI joint pain from sitting. 

Specifically, I recommend finding one that elevates your hips slightly higher. 

Tip #6: Use a Support Footstool

Barstools may be fun to sit on, but not for your SI joints. The key for how to sit with SI joint pain is to keep your feet firmly planted on the ground. 

When you do this, you encourage a neutral posture and decrease potential strain on your SI joints from dangling your legs. 

Tip #7: Use an Adjustable Chair

 

Along the same lines, if you have an adjustable chair, you can make sure your feet are firmly planted on the ground by adjusting your chair to a height that works for you! 

Plus, when you can adjust the back of the chair, you promote good posture. 

And finally, some chairs even have an adjustable seat where you can tilt it forward slightly to elevate your hips. 

Use Armrests

Armrests on a chair can also help encourage you to keep an upright torso and engaged core–all of which help decrease further pain in your SI joints. 

Tip #8: Take Breaks From Sitting

 

We could say that the best tip for how to sit with SI joint pain is to not sit. But it’s not that simple. 

We all need to sit for various reasons throughout the day. 

Plus, some people experience SI joint pain from walking too much. 

At the end of the day, finding a balance between sitting, standing, and walking helps keep your SI joints healthy. 

If you take frequent breaks from sitting during the day, you’ll feel relief from built-up stiffness while increasing blood circulation around your SI joints. 

If you know you’ll just get in the zone while working and totally forget, you can always set a timer for every 30 minutes or so. At that point, you can adjust your desk into a standing position or even just go for a brief walk. 

Tip #9: Massage Before Sitting

Remember how I told you that we’re experts on muscles? Well, at Back Muscle Solutions, we specialize in helping people release the muscles and relieve the pain–especially for all 5 muscles that tend to cause lower back pain. 

These 5 muscles are: 

1) Quadratus Lumborum (QL)

2) Iliacus

3) Psoas

4) Glute Medius

5) Piriformis

All 5 of these muscles are located in close proximity to the SI joint. 

And when they become inflamed, short, irritated, you name it…they can easily pull on the pelvis in different directions, which is exactly the opposite of what the SI joint wants. In fact, since the SI joint is a stability joint, it’s specifically designed to NOT move. 

Here’s a breakdown of how each muscle can potentially impact the SI joint: 

Keeping the surrounding muscles loose, long, and stretched is key to staying out of SI joint pain. 

So you could argue that the most important step in how to sit with SI joint pain is to massage these muscles before you even sit on that office chair, couch, or dining room chair. 

For this, I recommend only one tool: the QL Claw. 

Unlike other back muscle massage devices, the QL Claw has a trigger point that is specifically designed to target and provide therapeutic massage to all 5 muscles in the chart above. 

 

In fact, our founder, Ben, created the QL Claw out of frustration. He didn’t want to buy multiple devices to massage back pain muscles. He wanted one device. So, when he found no existing product, he created the QL Claw. 

But don’t just take my word for it. 

Here’s what people have to say about the QL Claw and how it’s helped massage their specific muscles.

To learn more about the QL Claw, click the button below. 

 

 

Tip #10: Stretch Before Sitting

Similar to massage, you can do some pre-care for your muscles before sitting for long periods of time by stretching. 

It’s always best to stretch your muscles after massaging them. 

I recommend the two stretches below: 

Seated Figure 4 Stretch

Learn more about this stretch in the article below:

“Seated Piriformis Stretch”

 

Pigeon Stretch

Standing With SI Joint Pain

As I mentioned, it can be helpful to switch up how much you’re sitting during the day, especially if you have a job that requires you to sit for long hours. 

Using a standing desk enables you to easily switch from sitting to standing without the hassle of moving your entire workstation. 

For more tips on how to create an ergonomic workspace, check out this article. 

How to Sleep With SI Joint Pain

 

Sleeping with SI joint pain is a whole other topic, but here’s the TL;DR. 

If you’re struggling to sleep with SI joint pain, the best positions are: 

→ On your back

→ On your side

→ On your stomach

This topic requires a whole other article, which is why we have one!

“The BEST Sleeping Positions for Sacroiliac Joint Pain Relief”

FAQs: How to Sit With SI Joint Pain

Does sitting make SI joint pain worse?

Yes, sitting in poor positions can make SI joint pain worse. That’s why I recommend checking out these 10 tips for how to sit with SI joint pain. Applying these tips can make sitting less painful and put less strain on your SI joints. 

What is the best position to sit with sacroiliac pain?

The best position is to sit in a neutral posture with your hips slightly higher than your knees. 

How do you pop your SI joint while sitting?

Some people can pop their SI joint while sitting. All you have to do is perform hip abduction or adduction while using your hands for resistance. It’s not guaranteed that you’ll hear a pop, but many people do! 

What not to do when you have sacroiliac joint pain?

It’s important to try and avoid crossing your legs when you sit, This can put your hips in an uneven position, exacerbating your SI joint pain. 

How do you calm sacroiliac joint pain?

Massaging the surrounding muscles can help calm sacroiliac joint pain because the muscles will no longer pull your pelvis out of line. 

Sources: 

 

[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6707638 

[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7041664/ 

[2] https://www.painphysicianjournal.com/current/pdf?article=MTM3&journal=15