Sacroiliac Joint Injection

Sacroiliac Joint Injection - for low back or buttock pain

A sacroiliac joint injection is used to treat lower back pain that comes from your sacroiliac joint. This joint is the place where your spine connects to your pelvis. For the procedure, Dr. Singer injects a local anesthetic and a steroid medication directly into the joint to ease pain.

This information will explain what it is, Dr. Singer can determine if it is for you.

What are sacroiliac joints? Sacroiliac joints connect your spine to your hip bone. They connect the bottom of the spine, called the sacrum, to the outer part of the hip bone, called the ilium. You have two sacroiliac joints. One is found on each side of the sacrum. Sacroiliac joints help control your hip area when you move. They help transfer forces from your lower body to your upper body. Each sacroiliac joint has several ligaments to help strengthen it.

What is sacroiliac joint pain? You may feel pain if the sacroiliac joint is injured. At times it may feel like simple muscle tension, but at other times the pain can be severe. Sometimes the cartilage inside the joint is injured, but at other times only the ligaments around the joint are affected. You usually feel sacroiliac pain in an area from your lower back down to your buttocks. Sometimes, if a joint is very inflamed, pain may even extend down to the back of the leg.

What is a sacroiliac joint injection? In a sacroiliac joint injection, a local anesthetic and corticosteroid are injected into one or both of your sacroiliac joints, or into the ligaments surrounding the joints. The local anesthetic, a numbing medicine, lessens your pain temporarily. The corticosteroid reduces inflammation that may be causing pain. The injection can be used for diagnosis and treatment. If the injection immediately lessens your pain and helps you move better, it tells the doctor that the sacroiliac joint is causing the pain.

What happens during an injection? A local anesthetic will be used to numb your skin. The doctor will then insert a thin needle directly into the sacroiliac joint. Fluoroscopy, a type of x-ray, must be used to ensure the safe and proper position of the needle. A dye may be used to make sure the needle is at the correct spot. Once Dr. Singer is sure the needle is correctly placed, the medicine will be injected.

What happens after an injection? You will be free to get re-dressed and check out at the front desk. It may help to move in ways that hurt before the injection, to see if the pain is still there, but do not overdo it. You may feel immediate pain relief and some numbness for a limited time after the injection. This may indicate the medication has reached the right spot. You can usually return to work the day after the injection. Your pain may return after this short pain-free period or may even be a little worse for a day or two. It may be caused by needle irritation or by the steroid itself. Steroids usually take two or three days to start working, but can take as long as a week.

How long can I expect pain relief? The effects of a sacroiliac joint injection can last several months, but they are not permanent. In order to experience long-term pain relief, periodic injections are needed. Other coexisting factors may be responsible for your pain. Sometimes an injection brings several weeks to months of pain relief and then further treatment is needed. Other times, a single injection brings long-term pain relief. If your pain is caused by injury to more than one area, only some of your symptoms may be helped by a single injection.

This information is for general education only. Specific questions or concerns should always be directed to your doctor. Your doctor can explain possible risks or side effects.