Sacroiliac Joint Pain

Sacroiliac Joint Pain can be a real ‘pain in the bum’!

Sacroiliac joints connect the sacrum (the wedge-shaped bone at the bottom of the spine) to the iliac bones (the two bones that make up the pelvis). When it comes to suffering from sacroiliac joint pain, this type of injury tends to effect women more than men, especially women that have had children. In fact, we often treat women during or after pregnancy with this pain due to the changes that occur during pregnancy. We also see a lot of patients with sacroiliac joint pain after a trauma that caused a torsion to the pelvis – such as landing heavily on one buttock or one foot. It’s the shearing force across this joint which can strain the ligaments and give you pain. The other things to watch out for are one-sided postural habits such as always leaning to one side or a leg length discrepancy.

For our physios here at The Back and Body Clinic, this is one of the most interesting areas to treat. There are lots of moving parts, and lots of parts that should be nice and stable as we walk and move around. And as for getting better, well, there is often a three phased approach; firstly, we need to make sure everything is lined up nicely, secondly, we need to make sure everything is moving as it should and thirdly, we need to make sure the right muscles are firing in at the right time to create stability as we weight bare.

Sounds complex? Not for us… this is a great injury to get to the ‘bottom of’!