Hey MrPhsyio+,

Thanks again for your reply.

I've had two chiropractors tell me it's my SI joint. And about a year ago I went to a physio and she had me do a side-lying leg raise to test my glute med muscles. Even as she was doing it I could tell (and obviously she could) that my right glute med "was about 80% weaker than my left glute med." I remember how astonished I was at the difference in strength between sides. With my left one I could resist against her pushing down. With my right one I couldn't even resister her push for a second. It was like my right glutes were jelly. My right SI joint is the one I have a problem with.

{BTW - I had an MRI of my low spine done July 1st, 2011 for a separate issue (burning pain in toes - turned out to be very tight calf muscles). Everything was normal (except they didn't mention the transitional S1 segment - that's why I freaked out about the x-ray). But there were no disk or nerve issues. So, I am pretty convinced this issue now is muscle imbalances causing SIJ problems on my right side.}

I've made a work out program for myself, which I plan to start next week. I was hoping you might review it. My goal is solely to achieve muscle balance to start.

Monday/Wednesday/Friday
At home:
  • Planks 3 reps x 30 seconds
  • Clams 3 sets x 20 reps each side
  • Bridges 3 set x 20 reps
  • Back-lying Pelvic Tilt with extended knee (weight on ankle, stabilizing pelvis when I raise leg) 50 reps each leg
  • Dead Bug 50 reps
  • Side-lying Straight leg raise (abduction) 3 sets x 20 reps each side
  • Side plank 3 reps x 10 seconds each side
  • Monster walk with band around ankles 3 sets of 20 feet in each direction
Then, at gym:
  • Stair machine or bike for warm up
  • Abductor machine
  • Adductor machine
  • Quad machine
  • Hamstring machine
(I add those gym machine exercises because when I used to go to the gym, doing those in that specific order seemed to "reset" my SIJ when it felt out of alignment)

Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday
  • 1 hour walk
  • Stretching (I say "stretching" but what I used to like to do was compression for about 30 minutes with various-sized balls and foam rollers on my muscles (glutes, QL, hams, quads, etc) followed by about 30 minutes of stretching). It doesn't sound like a lot, but it's actually quite the "workout". Takes about 1 hour total.
I'm about 40 pounds over weight right now, so I'm looking for slow weight loss (2-3 per week) and stabilization of my body.

So what do you think of the program I lined out to start with? I was thinking of doing it for 2-3 weeks and then slowly adding more/harder exercises.

Also just a couple questions:

If my right glute med/min is so much weaker than my left, should I be doing exercises for the left side? I mean, if I'm doing a total of 60 reps of side-lying abduction on my right (weaker) side, should I do the same amount for my left (stronger) side?

I know for most exercises you should give yourself at least a day's worth of rest between them, but for the exercises that are working the smaller stabilizing muscles (like clams and monster walks) should I be doing those every day? And what about planks? Should those be done every day or should there be a rest period?

Thanks again, I really appreciate it.