The sacroiliac joints aren’t big on movement. They are plane joints that interface between your spine and pelvis. Pain originating in one of your sacroiliac joints can often be mistaken for sciatica, causing lower back and radiating leg pain.
When you think of the joints in your body, you likely associate them with motion. Hinge joints like your elbows and knees and ball-and-socket joints including your hips and shoulders permit extensive ranges of motion.
But your sacroiliac (SI) joints aren’t big on movement. They’re typed as plane joints, serving as the interface between your spine and pelvis. You have two sacroiliac joints, one on each side of your spine’s base.
Pain originating in one of your sacroiliac joints can often be mistaken for sciatica, causing lower back and radiating leg pain. Problems with these joints can be difficult to diagnose because of the similarity of symptoms with sciatic nerve pain and other lower back conditions.
Visit Rudy Malayil, MD, and our team at Pain Management 360 in Huntington, Hurricane, and Charleston, West Virginia. when you experience persistent lower back pain. It might not be the disorder you think it is. As back pain specialists, we can help with diagnosis and, more importantly, pain relief.
Let’s dive deeper into sacroiliac joint dysfunction, its symptoms, and its causes.
Pelvic anatomy
The ilium is the blade-shaped portion of your hip that connects with your sacrum, the large bone at the end of your spine. These bones fit closely together, forming your sacroiliac joint.
Their principal task is to support the weight of your body over your hips and legs, acting as a shock-absorbing joint as well. While these joints have dramatically less movement when compared with others, they can still suffer from common joint problems, like deteriorating cartilage or inflammation.
Symptoms of SI pain
Like sciatica, SI pain originates in your lower back and can cause referred sensations like numbness and tingling down your leg while also creating muscle weakness and overall instability.
Also like sciatica, SI pain typically affects one side at a time. The type of pain can be dull or sharp, and you may experience worse pain in the morning, improving through the day. Rising from a seated to a standing position may also trigger pain symptoms.
Causes of SI joint pain
Sometimes it’s not clear why your SI joint creates pain. The likely reasons are either too much or not enough motion in your joint.
Hypermobility (too much motion) tends to stay in your lower back area, though it may also radiate into your groin region. Fixation (too little motion) causes symptoms more in line with those shared with sciatica.
We arrive at a diagnosis of SI pain after ruling out other causes. A targeted nerve block injection might be used to confirm your SI joint as the source of your pain.
Treating SI pain
While there are surgical solutions for SI pain, these are used only in situations where conservative treatment methods have been exhausted without success.
It’s common to start with rest combined with cold and hot compresses. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory pain medications (NSAIDs) can help to relieve both pain and swelling.
Sometimes, manual manipulation of your SI joint relieves fixation. This could be in the form of massage or chiropractic adjustment.
Hypermobile SI joints often respond well to braces or supports to limit excess movement. Physical therapy, including low-impact exercise, is also an effective approach; and if your pain is severe, water therapy provides exercise while using buoyancy to relieve your pain as you work out.
At Pain Management 360, we’ll help you determine if your pain originates in your sacroiliac joints. Contact us by calling our location nearest you today or requesting an appointment online anytime.
