Inflammed Sacroiliac Joint

What is the Sacroiliac Joint and why a sacroiliac joint injection is helpful?

 The sacroiliac joint is a large joint in your lower back and buttocks region. When the joint becomes irritated, it can cause pain in its immediate region or it can refer pain into your groin, abdomen, hip, buttock or leg.

 A sacroiliac joint injection serves several purposes. First, by placing numbing medicine into the joint, the amount of immediate pain relief you experience will help confirm or deny the joint as a source of your pain. That is, if you obtain complete relief of your main pain while the joint is numb it means this joint is more likely than not your pain source. Furthermore, time-release cortisone will be injected into the joint to reduce any presumed inflammation, which on many occasions can provide long-term pain relief.


Although there are numerous ways to treat sacroiliac joint dysfunction, sacroiliac joint injections work powerfully to reduce inflammation and they can provide months of relief.


After consulting with my Rheumatologist about a severe pain I've had for over 20 years on the left side of my buttocks and hip,  he immediately ordered some xrays of my hip and a few of my knees.  To our surprise the xrays of my hip showed that I have nothing wrong but my knee x-rays were not good. My RA has caused my knees collapse collapsing towards the left side of my body.  In other words they are bending towards the left instead of being straight. This is causing me to tilt  towards the left side. This has been the cause of my lower hip and buttocks pain.

 My Rheumatologist asked me to go see the Orthopedic so he could evaluate the xrays and to possibly get new braces that may go up above the knees. This will prevent my knees from deforming themselves to one side and it will stop the pain on my buttocks and hip. After 22 years of suffering with a severe pain on what I thought was a hip pain ended up being all caused by my knees...my knees have caused the Sacroiliac Joint to be severely irritated, that's why it hurts so much. This pain has been hurting for such a long time that I just got so used it. I got an SI injection on the Sacroiliac Joint and today I live with less pain....Yeah!
I met with my Orthopedic, he took new xrays of my legs and he felt that a new brace above the left knee would solve the problem and take away the pain.  This new brace would then keep my body frame straight and in alignment.  It would also prevent my knees from deforming themselves towards one side.
Last Thursday I was fitted for my new brace. My Prosthesis doctor felt that one brace should solve the problem, so I will get the left brace first and if that doesn't help then he will make the other one.  Hopefully this new brace will keep my skeletal frame straight and free of pain. On June 1st, I get my new brace...YIPPie!!!!

Its amazing what the medical field can do to help those who are suffering.