diff --git a/src/intel/compiler/brw_shader.cpp b/src/intel/compiler/brw_shader.cpp
index bf12c95d01f..bbca3483371 100644
--- a/src/intel/compiler/brw_shader.cpp
+++ b/src/intel/compiler/brw_shader.cpp
@@ -1153,11 +1153,16 @@ backend_instruction::is_volatile() const
 static bool
 inst_is_in_block(const bblock_t *block, const backend_instruction *inst)
 {
-   foreach_inst_in_block (backend_instruction, i, block) {
-      if (inst == i)
-         return true;
-   }
-   return false;
+   const exec_node *n = inst;
+
+   /* Find the tail sentinel. If the tail sentinel is the sentinel from the
+    * list header in the bblock_t, then this instruction is in that basic
+    * block.
+    */
+   while (!n->is_tail_sentinel())
+      n = n->get_next();
+
+   return n == &block->instructions.tail_sentinel;
 }
 #endif