Sacroiliac Joint Pain Treatment & Physical Therapy

If you have been diagnosed with SI joint dysfunction, your doctor may first consider nonsurgical treatments, such as medications and physical therapy. However, if those non-surgical treatments fail to provide relief, ask your doctor about minimally invasive SI joint fusion as your sacroiliac joint pain treatment.

At Long Island Neuroscience Specialists, we treat a variety of back and neck pains, but none more successfully than Sacroiliac Joint Pain Treatment. The reason for this is simple: the procedure we use is the most advanced and effective SI joint therapy available.

It's important to know that SI joint pain is actually not a condition in itself — it's merely a symptom of another underlying problem. That's why our doctors are all physiatrists (specialists in pain management and rehabilitation). We're able to accurately diagnose your pain's source so we can treat it effectively.

It's time to start talking about sacroiliac joint pain. The word "sacroiliac" sounds old-fashioned, but it's not just a relic from the past. It's the name of a real problem that affects thousands of people every day.

Woman in back pain because of Sacroiliac Join Pain

The sacroiliac joint is located where the lower spine and pelvis connect, and it can cause pain in your back and buttocks—but it accounts for only 10-15 percent of back pain cases.

Diagnostic methods have improved so much that spine specialists are able to see how many people are suffering from this condition—and they're calling on us to start talking about it.

At Long Island Neuroscience Specialists, we know that you're suffering. We understand that you're in pain, and we're here to help you find the treatment that works for you.

We specialize in identifying the sources of your pain so that we can treat it effectively. Once we confirm that you have sacroiliitis (inflammation of one or both SI joints), we will make sure that our treatments are tailored to your specific condition so they can provide relief from the discomfort and pain associated with this condition.

Causes of Sacroiliac Join Pain

If you’re experiencing SI joint pain, you know how debilitating it can be. You may feel like you’ve tried everything to get rid of the pain—from ice packs to anti-inflammatories—but nothing seems to work.

There are many reasons you may be experiencing SI joint pain. No matter what the cause, the pain can be severe and debilitating. SI joint pain may result from:

  • Traumatic injury due to an accident or assault
  • Osteoarthritis resulting from the wear and tear of normal aging
  • Arthritic conditions known as spondyloarthropathies
  • Pregnancy, during which the joint stretches to give the fetus room and for childbirth
  • Weight gain, which alters the gait and puts stress on the SI joints

In rare cases, disease conditions or infection may be the causes of SI joint pain

Symptoms of SI Joint Pain

The SI joints are located in the pelvis, and they connect your spine to your hips. When they’re inflamed, they can cause pain in your low back, hips, buttocks, and groin—and sometimes down one or both legs.

 

This pain is often worse when you’re standing for a long time, putting more weight on one leg than the other, running, taking long strides, or stair climbing.

  • Lower back pain
  • Sensation of low extremity: pain, numbness, tingling, weakness
  • Pelvis/buttock pain
  • Hip/groin pain
  • Feeling of leg instability (buckling, giving way)
  • Disturbed sleep patterns due to pain
  • Disturbed sitting patterns (unable to sit for long periods, sitting on one side)
  • Pain going from sitting to standing 

WHAT TO EXPECT +

Diagnosis of S.I. Joint Pain

When we're suffering from back pain, the last thing on our minds is making sure that the pain isn't coming from something else. We just want it to go away! But if you're getting treatment for your back pain and it's not working, you need to make sure that your doctor knows exactly what they're treating.

At Long Island Neuroscience Specialists, we take the time to make sure that our patients' diagnoses are correct—and that means knowing exactly where their pain is coming from. That's why we use diagnostic injections during our sacroiliac injection procedures. By injecting an anesthetic directly into the sacroiliac joint that we believe is causing your pain, we can pinpoint the exact origin of your pain and help rule out other conditions like disc herniation or ankylosing spondylitis.

If you've been told that your back pain stems from something else but are still suffering from chronic pain, contact us today! Our physiatrists are highly skilled at finding the source of your discomfort by pressing on or stressing specific parts of your body during physical exams.

Sacroiliac Joint Pain Treatment

If you have sacroiliac joint pain, you know that it can be debilitating. You might have trouble walking, sitting, or even lying down. This is why we take our patients' health very seriously at Long Island Neuroscience Specialists.

We offer a variety of treatments for sacroiliac joint pain, including:

Sacroiliac Injections

Pain injections are one way that you can treat your sacroiliac pain without invasive surgery or other invasive treatments. They work by numbing the area so that you don’t feel any pain while the injection is being administered. There are two types of injections: epidural injections, which numb the entire lower half of your body; and local anesthetics that just numb the area being treated.

 

The type of injection depends on what kind of sacroiliac pain you’re experiencing. For example, if your pain is localized around your spine and sciatic nerve, then an epidural injection would be best for treating those symptoms because it will block all sensation from reaching those areas in your lower half. If however you have more generalized SI joint pain throughout your whole lower body then a local anesthetic would be more appropriate for treating those symptoms because it will not block sensation from reaching

Medications

There’s no need to suffer with sacroiliitis. Our doctors have the knowledge and experience to help you find the right treatment. Depending on the severity of your pain, as well as its diagnosed cause, our doctors may recommend over-the-counter analgesics or prescribe stronger drugs, such as muscle relaxants, to reduce the muscle spasms often associated with sacroiliitis.

Sacroiliac Joint Pain Physical Therapy

We know what it’s like to be in pain, and we know how hard it is to find a way to get better. That’s why we’ve created a team of physical therapists who are certified and have extensive hands-on experience with therapeutic techniques.

 

We maintain ongoing contact with them to ensure progress and patient satisfaction. Our physical therapists will also educate you in stretching and range-of-motion exercises that may help you strengthen your muscles for stability and restore your joint flexibility for easier movement.

 

In addition, our therapists may recommend applications of ice and heat, ultrasound, electrical muscle stimulation, pelvic traction, and stretching exercises to help relieve your sacroiliac joint pain.

MIS S.I. Joint Fusion – iFuse

The iFuse Implant System is used in a surgical procedure that is performed in an operating room with either general or spinal anesthesia. The iFuse Implant System is the ONLY minimally invasive surgical option available for SI joint fusion clinically proven effective by multiple high-level clinical trials for certain causes of SI joint dysfunction.

 

During the procedure, your surgeon will make a small incision in your side, not on the buttock itself. This allows them to place the implants into your body and ensure that they are positioned properly.

 

A three-centimeter incision is made on each side of your iliac crest (the top of your hips), which is located on the side of your buttock. The entire procedure is performed under fluoroscopic guidance so that your surgeon can see exactly where they are placing each implant. Typically three implants are placed during this procedure, depending on your size. 

Traditional or “Open” S.I. Joint Surgery

Open surgery involves a longer incision, screws and typically bone grafts, a significantly longer stay in the hospital and a longer recovery time. Pain relief is several points lower than MIS as reported by patients 12 months after surgery. Open surgery is not typically recommended anymore by doctors for SI joint fusion.


This is because the risks of open surgery outweigh the benefits of the procedure. The risks of open surgery include increased pain and difficulty recovering from the procedure. In addition, patients who undergo open surgery are likely to have more complications than those who have minimally invasive SI joint fusion.


These complications can include infection, bleeding and damage to surrounding tissues or organs including nerves or blood vessels. These complications can also lead to longer recovery times and additional surgeries that may be required if these complications occur during your procedure.