The sacroiliac (SI) joints connect your sacrum in your lower spine to the iliac bones in your pelvis. The SI joints, like the other joints in the body, are covered by cartilage and joint fluid. This helps to make movement smooth and comfortable. As you age, this cartilage can begin to deteriorate, causing chronic pain and other symptoms.

If this condition worsens, you may lose mobility and experience severe pain, but there are effective treatments. Learning more about this condition and the full range of therapeutic options can help you to better work with your doctor in developing a treating plan if SI joint pain is affecting your life.

SI joint pain — causes and treatments

More than one in five people with lower back pain are suffering from problems with the SI joint. Sacroiliac joint dysfunction can be caused by a variety of different conditions or traumas. These can include:

• Pregnancy
• Arthritis
• Degenerative sacroiliitis
• Scoliosis
• Injury

When SI joint dysfunction occurs, pain can dramatically affect your daily routine. In this case, the best person to see is your doctor who can explain your treatment options. He or she will typically first recommend conservative treatments for SI joint pain, including the following:

• Stretching
• Low-impact exercise
• Weight loss
• Chiropractic care
• Swimming
• Physical therapy
• Massage

If a full course of these conservative measures fail to provide long-lasting pain relief, surgery can become an option. However, there are alternatives to highly invasive hospital-based procedures.

SI joint fusion offers pain relief

The SI joint fusion, performed by the board-certified surgeons⁺ at USA Spine Care, is a minimally invasive stabilization procedure that joins the sacrum and the pelvis. This procedure, an alternative to traditional open back surgery, is performed with a small, muscle-sparing incision. The SI joint fusion at USA Spine Care offers you a number of benefits, including:

• An outpatient procedure
• Muscle-sparing techniques that spread muscles without cutting
• Reduced risk of infection
• Less surgical blood loss^{^}

Our SI joint fusion procedure helps to stabilize the spine so that you can return to the people and activities you love. Our goal is to provide you the highest levels of comfort and service while you are in our care.

If you are looking for pain relief from SI joint pain, please contact our dedicated and caring team today to learn more about the minimally invasive spine surgery offered at our center. We offer a no-cost MRI review* to determine if you are a potential candidate for one of our procedures, including the SI joint fusion.

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