A lot of people often feel pain or discomfort in their lower back and buttock region. Usually, this pain is ignored and wrongly assessed to be some kind of strain, but doing so can worsen it with time. If not diagnosed and treated correctly, sacroiliac joint pain can hamper your mobility and leave you in pain.
Putting an End to Sacroiliac Joint Pain
What Exactly is the Sacroiliac Joint?
The sacroiliac joint is the region of the lower back that connects the hip bones to the sacrum – the bone positioned in between the lumbar spine and the tailbone. The function of the sacroiliac joint is to facilitate movement and to assist with forward and backward bending. The essential job of the sacroiliac joint is to absorb shock or pressure between the upper body parts and the hips and legs. This joint supports the weight of the body and evenly distributes it across the pelvis.
What Causes Sacroiliac Joint Pain?
The hip pain caused by sacroiliac joint dysfunction could arise from several causes. If you suffered a fall caused by a sudden impact or encountered a motor accident, your sacroiliac joint may have become affected in the process.
This is one of the major reasons for hip and buttock pain.
Osteoarthritis, which is essentially wear-and-tear arthritis, affects the sacroiliac joints, spine, as well as other areas of the body. This inflammatory arthritis can make simple movements difficult as well.
Pregnancy and childbirth can aggravate inflammation in the sacroiliac joints, especially due to the altered walking pattern women take in the latter months of their pregnancy. The added weight can also increase the pressure on these joints and wear them out. Lastly, it is also possible for the sacroiliac joints to become infected, although this is quite rare
Sacroiliac Joint Pain
Your sacroiliac joints (we call them the “SI” joints) are the places where your hips meet your spine. These joints don’t have a lot of flexibility, but they do move slightly as you move your body. And if SI joints become damaged or diseased, it can be painful.
Sacroiliac Injection
This injection procedure is performed to relieve pain caused by arthritis in the sacroiliac joint where the spine and hip bone meet. The steroid medication can reduce swelling and inflammation in the joint.
Sacroiliac Fusion
If you have a painful damaged or diseased sacroiliac joint (we call it the “SI” joint), a fusion may help. With the iFuse System, your surgeon uses titanium implants to join your hip’s ilium bone to the spine’s sacrum. This may relieve the SI joint pain.
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Symptoms of Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction
The most common symptoms associated with sacroiliac joint dysfunction are lower back pain and discomfort and pain in the hip, buttock, and pelvic region. Patients might feel a stiff and burning sensation in their groin and pelvic area. Eventually, the pain causes numbness and weakness in the back and the dull ache might transfer down to your thighs and legs as well. Patients usually feel unable to adequately support themselves when they stand up from a sitting position or move for longer durations.
Diagnosis & Treatment
When you visit our expert doctors, you can describe the nature of your pain in detail. We will then encourage you to undergo the necessary imaging tests, such as X-ray, ultrasound, or MRI scan. The doctor will ask you to move and stretch in certain ways to assess where exactly the joints are affected.
Once you have been diagnosed with sacroiliac joint pain, we will prescribe the best non-surgical therapies to improve your joints’ health.
With the help of the right anti-inflammatory medications, physical therapy exercises, and certain other therapies, you will be able to see a significant improvement in your sacroiliac joint pain.
Book an Appointment with Us Today
Living with sacroiliac joint pain can limit your movement, and negatively impact your physical and mental health. Visit our Source Healthcare clinic in Santa Monica, California, to receive the best treatments for your hip pain.
