There is Hope for Sacroiliac Pain
Do you experience pain in your lower back? Does the pain radiate into your buttocks? Or run down the side of your thigh? Or even travel to your groin? If so, your pain could be coming from the sacroiliac area.
Located on both sides of your back above your buttocks, the sacroiliac joints connect the sacrum (the base of your spine) to the ilium (your hips and pelvis).
Sacroiliac pain can manifest in many ways. It can be sharp and stabbing, or just a dull ache. It can be bad when you stand, and worse when you sit. It can be acute - meaning hurting right now - or it may be that it gets better but doesn’t ever completely go away.
Sacroiliac pain is challenging to diagnose. Orthopedists usually ignore it, chiropractors want to adjust it, physical therapists want to mobilize it, and massage therapists want to release the piriformis muscle. You may have already gotten four different opinions as to how to treat your pain!
Our Approach
Let me tell you about our approach at Southern Oregon Sports and Spine. We find that the usual problem is hyper-mobility in the pelvic joints, meaning that these joints are moving too much. At the same time, there are probably spinal and pelvic joints that are stuck, so that puts an extra load on the already moveable joints.
How do we help you solve this problem? We take a three-way approach.
1. Get the stuck places unstuck. We prefer low-force, non-thrust methods of adjustment, because we know the overall area tends to already move too much.
2. Retrain the muscles. The muscles are critical here. Some get too tight. Some get shut down, which is what happens whenever pain lasts. If you are willing to do some simple rehabilitative exercises, we can help you wake up and strengthen the weak muscles.
3. Restart healing. We are one of the few offices that use the Graston technique -which utilizes special stainless steel massage instruments to break down tissue adhesions - to stimulate your ligaments and tendons to heal. Ligaments and tendons don’t have the best blood supply. Six weeks after an injury, they have stopped healing. If they aren’t completely intact, they will continue to contribute to your pain and instability. Deep pressure, using the Graston technique tools, can help restart the necessary first stage healing.
Too many orthopedists ignore sacroiliac pain or prescribe pain killers. Too many chiropractors just want to adjust the area over and over. Too many physical therapists are happy to put you back in position, but don’t fully understand this complex joint, so the problem resurfaces. And too often, massage just gives temporary relief.
If you want a comprehensive approach to finally and truly ridding yourself of sacroiliac pain, call us now.
Marc Heller, DC and Matt Terreri, DC of Southern Oregon Sports and Spine
541-482-0625
P.S. If you want more details, I have added links to my nationally published articles on the sacroiliac below.
Here are the links to the articles that speak to the Sacro-Iliac.
First two are probably ideal for the patient. The others are a little more technical, more telling practitioners how to correct specific issues.
**** Sacro-Iliac Instability: An Overview**
Still relevant years after its publication, this article offers an overview of the correctable factors that contribute to chronic SI pain. Looks at ligamentous laxity, how to correct hypermobility, how to use IASTM of pelvic ligaments and tendons, and why to use low force manipulation.
****Sacro-Iliac Revisited, the Importance of Ligamentous Integrity**
Looks at the ligaments of the sacro-iliac and the utility of instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization (Graston technique) in correcting long standing SI hypermobility problems.
How Piriformis Weakness Contributes to Sacroiliac Pain, Sciatica and Hip Dysfunction
A different way of looking at the piriformis muscle and its relation to lower back pain and sciatica
Sacroiliac Joint Correction: A Different Model
Presents the Richard Don Tigny PT model of correction for the SI joint.
Ilio-Sacral Diagnosis and Treatment: Part 1 – Shears
Looks at the SI joint from the muscle energy perspective, starting with the non–weight-bearing side—the ilio-sacral joints. Covers shears: Upslips and Downslips.
Ilio-Sacral Diagnosis and Treatment: Part 2
Covers more ilio-sacral patterns, including flares (internal and external rotation), ilio-sacral separation, and sagittal rotation patterns.
Ilio-Sacral Diagnosis, Gluteus Medius and Piriformis, and Pubic Symphysis
Explores the muscular components that affect SI function.
Still More on the Sacroiliac: Basic Principles and Two More Sacral Lesions
The Sacral Side of the SI Joint: Correcting Anterior and Posterior Torsions
Covers the most common patterns on the sacral side of the SI joint.
Thoracolumbar Junction or Superior Cluneal Nerve Entrapment Syndrome: A Hidden Source of Low Back & Pelvic Pain