Feb 21

Help For Sacroiliac Joint Pain

The great sacroiliac joint debate: does it cause pain or not? We won’t get deep into that, but our back and leg pain sufferers may experience pain in the sacroiliac joint. Some medical approaches today fuse the sacroiliac joints, inject them, etc. (1,2,3) In the conservative realm, a review of how manual therapy might reduce and/or relieve sacroiliac pain revealed that manual therapy – though just which technique of manual therapy is best was not well defined in all the studies they reviewed – statistically significantly improved disability due to sacroiliac joint dysfunction syndrome. (4) There is always room for more research! Another study contrasted the effect of manual therapy, exercise, and a combination of those two on sacroiliac pain dysfunction. All three groups were shown to have experienced a significant reduction in sacroiliac-associated pain. The researchers concluded that manual therapy was effective in the long term for sacroiliac joint pain reduction and that adding specific exercise to the sacroiliac joint manipulation treatment elevated the effectiveness. (5) If we find sacroiliac pain to be of consequence in your back pain condition, let’s consider non-surgical manual therapy and maybe a little exercise to address it!

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Michael McMurray on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson about use of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Managementthat incorporates exercise.

TIP OF THE MONTH: Exercise – Good for Heart and Low Back Muscle

Exercise is praised for its benefit for heart health, benefit which appears after some time of exercise say after weeks or months. Researchers are sharing that even single or short-term exercise sessions offer benefit! They tested this and found that short-term exercise-induced protection offered immediate cardiac protection (like reducing the magnitude of cardiac/vascular damage due to long-term ischemia) at low cost and in a simple way. (6) We know that our exercise-adverse patients will like this! Just one exercise session may offer benefit. That’s a first step! And more bonuses of exercise for low back pain sufferers are documented. A rehab exercise program for normal and overweight patients showed improvement in total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein as well as improvement in cardiovascular risk and lumbar muscle. (7) Time to add exercise?

In this month of hearts (Happy belated Valentine’s Day!), we’ll be happy to take care of your spine and heart! 

Make your appointment soon!

References for HEALTHY NEWS – February 2024

  1. Dalili D, Isaac A, Fritz J. MRI-guided sacroiliac joint injections in children and adults: current practice and future developments. Skeletal Radiol. 2023 May;52(5):951-965. doi: 10.1007/s00256-022-04161-y. Epub 2022 Aug 25. PMID: 36006462.
  2. Bronsard N, Pelletier Y, Andréani O, de Peretti F, Trojani C. O-arm-guided sacroiliac joint injection: New techniques with reflux test. Orthop Traumatol Surg Res. 2020 Apr;106(2):281-283. doi: 10.1016/j.otsr.2019.09.031. Epub 2019 Nov 29. PMID: 31787556.
  3. Kasapovic A, Schwetje D, Ali T, Jaenisch M, Gathen M, Bornemann R, Abdallah H, Vieweg U. First clinical results of a novel minimally-invasive fusion system for the sacroiliac joint. Technol Health Care. 2022;30(5):1139-1145. doi: 10.3233/THC-213348. PMID: 35342065.
  4. Trager RJ, Baumann AN, Rogers H, Tidd J, Orellana K, Preston G, Baldwin K. Efficacy of manual therapy for sacroiliac joint pain syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Man Manip Ther. 2024 Feb 14:1-12. doi: 10.1080/10669817.2024.2316420. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38353102.
  5. Javadov A, Ketenci A, Aksoy C. The Efficiency of Manual Therapy and Sacroiliac and Lumbar Exercises in Patients with Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction Syndrome. Pain Physician. 2021 May;24(3):223-233. PMID: 33988941.
  6. Thijssen DHJ, Uthman L, Somani Y, van Royen N. Short-term exercise-induced protection of cardiovascular function and health: why and how fast does the heart benefit from exercise? J Physiol. 2022 Mar;600(6):1339-1355. doi: 10.1113/JP282000. Epub 2022 Mar 3. PMID: 35239189; PMCID: PMC9311195.
  7. Kim WM, Lee SA, Park YJ, Seo YG. Effects of Rehabilitation Exercise on Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Muscle Cross-Sectional Area in Overweight Patients with Low Back Pain. Healthcare (Basel). 2021 Jun 27;9(7):809. doi: 10.3390/healthcare9070809. PMID: 34199064; PMCID: PMC8305262.