The treatment process is unique for every patient. At the UK HealthCare Spine Center, our comprehensive team of experts works together to create the treatment plan that best fits your specific needs. Your providers may use a combination of techniques to treat SI joint pain.
Sacroiliac joint pain can often be treated using conservative, nonsurgical treatment options. Treatment for SI joint pain will vary depending on the severity of the condition and its underlying cause.
Treatment may include options like:
- Physical therapy
- Oral and/or topical medications
- Steroid injections
- Nerve ablations
In cases where conservative treatments fail, surgical fixation of the sacroiliac joint (i.e. sacroiliac joint fusion) may be an option.
Physical therapy plays a crucial role in effectively managing chronic back pain. At UK HealthCare, physical therapy is an integral part of many spine treatment plans. Our spine specialists work with therapy experts who specialize in musculoskeletal care. Together, they create a plan tailored for your unique needs.
A physical therapist can:
- Create a personalized exercise plan to enhance your flexibility and range of motion
- Strengthen your core muscles to maintain proper alignment
- Improve your posture
- Educate you on correct movement techniques and modifications to use during pain episodes, helping you to engage in your favorite activities while reducing the likelihood of recurring back pain
If over-the-counter pain relievers haven't eased your back pain, talk with your doctor. Muscle relaxants might be an option, but they can cause dizziness and sleepiness.
These common, over-the-counter medicines target chemicals responsible for pain, inflammation and fever, reducing their production to ease these symptoms.
If conservative treatments haven’t helped your pain, a targeted injection might offer short-term relief. This injection includes a steroid to reduce swelling around the nerves and a numbing medicine to ease pain right away. While a steroid injection is effective, it's important to note that the pain relief typically lasts for one to two months.
At UK HealthCare, interventional pain management is an integral part of many spine treatment plans. Our spine specialists work with pain management experts specializing in musculoskeletal care to create a plan tailored for each patient's needs.
Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is sometimes used as a minimally invasive treatment option for chronic pain. Also known as radiofrequency neurotomy, this procedure targets specific nerves transmitting pain signals. A thin electrode-tipped needle is inserted near the targeted nerve with the help of imaging guidance (X-ray or fluoroscopy). This treatment uses heat to disrupt the nerve's ability to send pain signals. This can help reduce long-term pain.
In cases where medicines and other therapies don’t relieve SI joint dysfunction, your doctor may suggest a joint fusion procedure. This minimally invasive procedure is performed on an outpatient basis using a sedating medicine along with a local anesthetic.
During the procedure, you will lie face down on a table. Your provider will make small cuts in your back and place tiny pins in the sacroiliac joints, guided by real-time X-ray images. Multiple devices placed on the pin will be used to carve out space for a bone graft, which will then be deployed along with growth factors to fuse the graft in place. This graft reduces movement of the SI joint, which reduces pain. Joint fusion takes about 30 to 45 minutes, and patients go home the same day.
An SI joint injection can be both diagnostic and therapeutic. Therapeutic SI injection is performed in the same way that the diagnostic injection is performed. However, instead of injecting just a local anesthetic, the doctor will inject a combination of a local anesthetic and corticosteroids. The corticosteroids may provide longer-term pain relief.
Pain relief from an SI joint injection varies from person to person. Some patients will only experience pain relief for a few weeks, while others may get two to three months of relief. The pain relief can last for weeks to up to several months.