I have also had si joint pain...I had an si joint injection with steroids that helped alot....But was very painful. I have been doing pt and with that am getting alot better..My doctor has never mentioned a chiropractor and i'm not sure that I would do that because you have to keep going back for adjustments...The pt is working for me

I have had same prob off and on for about 41/2 years. I work in health care and lift and turn patients alot, not sure what to do either...

Hi!
I am 34 years old male from finland. I have had low pack pain as long as I can remember. When I was young, they told me it is normal growing pain. Some doctors diagnosed leg length disparency, scoliosis and bad posture. It was common problem with people, they said.

I do a lot of sports, always have. 15 years ago my pack pain got worse. It was difficult to sit. Then from time to time my legs lost their strength. It lasted usually from 1-5 months. Then I was ok for 2-4 months until the problems came back. I had headache, migrens, stiff neck/shoulder area. Pain in top of my back and low back. Also ischias.

During these years I visited about 10 doctors, 3 physiatrists, ortopedian, neurologian, chiropracticians, naprapaths, acupunction, omt-therapeutist, massagers... And some others too. Countless amount of tests, pictures, examinations, tests, pills, pills, pills... Doctors had no idea at all what is the reason for my pains, and that manipulation treatment helped me only a little, for a while.

I already gave up my search for reason to my pains... Then I went to local hospital and asked if there are any physiatrians and that was the lucky day of my life! This 4th physiatrian diagnosed me a si joint dysfunction and pushed my si back to its place. My pain was gone and my legs got their strength back in the next hours... I was in extacy! This was the solution! And he told me he is the only doctor in finland who knows this technique.

But that happiness lasted only 3 weeks and the pain came back and the strength left from my legs. I went to see this physiatrian again. He didn't believe me first when I told him my si is probably again in dysfunction. And he totally called me a dreamer when I told him that after last treatment all my pain went away and my legs got their strength back immediately. He just didn't believe in me. Then he examined me and saw my si was dislocated, in dysfunction, again and put it back.

After this I again got a great feeling: no pain and full of strength! But it lasted only 3 days and again si dislocated. It didn't hold! And unfortunately this doctor was on a long summer holiday. Then at work one man told, that his mother had similar problems and she got help from a self educated healer. I called to this healer and went to see him and he put my si back. But this time this healer explained what moves I must avoid and what moves I must do as an exercise. And he understood what this sijd is capable of causing.

I saw this healer twice again before my si hold. It has been now 5 months in it's place and I have done more sports during that time than during last 10 years before this. And of course a lot of my relatives and friends have got a relief to their pains after me from this same healer. Including two fibromyalgia patients, one patient with paralyzed legs... And I have heard hundreds of others too.

Last months I have been spending all my free time to look for evidence of what was done to me. What is this si-joint dysfunction and why don't the doctors know about it!! I have been collecting links to my web pages. Lot of them talk about pelvic rotation that may cause a lot of problems and pains.

And this syndrome or dysfunction of si and pelvis is not easy to diagnose. Very few doctors know how to do it. Most of the doctors don't even believe on it!!! That is what I am about to change here in finland in future!

You can start from here:
http://www.Healing.Org/only-3.Html
http://www.Spine-health.Com/topics/anat/a0 6.Html
http://www.Kalindra.Com/faq.Htm
http://www.Sidysfunction.Com/anatomy.Htm
http://www.Qabodyworks.Com/connectivew.Htm
and after those, use google...
I hope someone on some day can heal you all, like I was!
Best of life
toni
ex-long time pain patient

http://personal.Inet.Fi/koti/faro/selkasiv ut/selka.Html

I had back problems for a year and a half. A chiropractor cured it in one weak. Sometimes they are necesary. They don't make you worse unless you have a medical problem to begin with.

With all sacroiliac problems, find a chiropractor who understands how your gait affects the way you walk. Sacroiliac issues are because of gait patterns. Chiropractic adjustments can help, but find a practitioner who performs muscle work such as art, graston or other forms of myofascial release treatment. Also, look for someone who will give you exercises as well. Manipulation alone is a temporary fix. Orthotics will probably enhance the effectiveness as well
check us out at backfixer1.Com

Expatient, besides the location of your worst symptoms, you just summed up my story exactly.

I was hit by a car in November 2005, and have now suffered much pain for 2 years in my hip joint and knee. My lower femur what broken as a result of the accident and a pin was inserted to make the bones heal correctly. About 2 months after my cast came off, I developped moderate to high levels of pain in my left knee and hip. Little did I know I would still be searching for a cause 2 years after, I had a CT Scan, 2 MRIs, about 5 billion x-rays, a bone scan, many pills, and a chortisone injection to my hip. There were no abnormalities on the tests (besides one growth plate being active which may give me problems in the future - which they failed to inform me) and no drugs or treatments helped at all. I had went through 3 orthopaedic surgeons, 2 adolesent doctors (because the orthopaedic people thought I was crazy, and that my pain was in my head), a rhumotoidologist (sp?), a neurologist, a neurosurgeon, and my own family doctor. Each ordered there seperate test, each failed to find out what was happening.

After I literally exhausted every resource in my province of Canada (Newfoundland) my next step was to be referred to an out-of-province doctor. This, being quite expensive, I decided to try some alternatives first. My family doctor referred me to an acupuncturist (who also happened to be an MD) whom I saw just a week ago. This brilliant doctor who I owe so much to now, diagnosed me of the displacement in my SI after looking at my posture and analyzing my symptoms for just a few minutes. My family doctor, though I had a "short leg" becuase she took measurements and my right (painless, and the one that was NOT effected by my accident, whos growth plate was still active) leg was half an inch shorter! But it turns out my SI is displaced which causes my pelvis to hike up on the right, sending the left part to rub against my hip causing plainful irratation!

So, I am seeing my acupuncturist two days from now for a session, then I am seeing a chiropracter in the same building to pop me back into place, and I am expected to make a 100% recovery.

The moral of the story is, don't give up and try every single thing. AND be persistant. If you are still in pain, make sure your doctors don't forget it, or else they will forget about finding a cure!

Some patients are having some luck with a treatment called SINERGY, that is a radiofrequency neurotomy of the nerves going to the SI joint.

My lower back and the same hip started to hurt me after I missed a few steps. Then my thigh started to hurt. I went to my dr. and she told me I pulled my grion. She handed me a script for muscel relaxers and 800mg. of ibprofin and said call in a week if it is not better. Well I didn't really feel that it was my groin and went to my chriopractor. It has been 3 visits and I am still in pain. I would say that I am in Moderate to Low pain but it is still there. I did the injury I think on March 30 and it is now May 7. I have been stretching. I at least cut my ibprofin down to about 400mg. a day insted of 800mg 3 times a day. Any sugestions to getting completely pain free.

Can take many months to heal. You may want to try a Sacroiliac injection to calm down the inflammation...

Hello,

I am an active 24 year old who sustained lower right back pain about a year and a half ago during a basketball game. It started out as a sharp stab in my calf and progressed into a non specific numbness from my back (deep under the dimples on the right side) down to my calf. I knew something wasn't right when it progressively stopped me being able to run and then limiting any long distance walking. Everytime a doctor or physio started telling me it was my disc herniation I knew deep down that I was going in the wrong direction. But hey, they've studied in this profession and know more then me right?? I took their advice and got CAT scans and MRIs but all the reports said was "Healthy case study - no abnormalities". Blood work returned nothing and my deposition was getting to a stage where it was effecting my mental health.

The physio pointed out I have weak core muscles and a forward tipped pelvis which is causing the pain. I worked on my core exercises to a stage where I could hold the plank for 2 minutes without breaking a sweat - big deal, the pain never subsided. I stretched hip flexors, strengthened my hamstrings, loosened my erector spinae muscles but nothing ever caused the pain to subside.

I got to a stage where I could "search for the pain" and deliberately pop the sacroiliac joint (shooting pain for a couple of seconds). I did this one day to relieve the pain and found I could not move and was stuck on the floor in the worst pain imaginable with no-one to help me. This scared the heck out of me and I left my job for a couple of weeks in search of any specialist to help.

Luckily, I attended an osteopathic practice whereby she diagnosed mechanical pain as SIJ pain and not a herniated disc. I was told that all my core exercises were good to do as long as they are built on a "strong foundation". I had jammed my SIJ so bad and aggravated it for so long that I was getting it into worse shape with each passing day. My determination to lose the pain was counter productive to my healing.

Two treatments over the course of 3 days and the pain was reduced to about 50%. She could predict how much pain I would be in after her manipulation which goes a long way to trusting the person on their diagnosis. I could finally sleep and roll over with no issues - THAT NIGHT. It is still not completely gone but I think the fact that it was finally diagnosed gave me confidence to actively get me back on track (pardon the pun). Doctors and physios are human as well and can make mistakes concerning this joint which is not supposed to move. I saw orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, chiropractors, accupuncturists and muscloskeletal specialists and not one of them ever mentioned the joint being the cause of my pain.

Please be consistent with getting an answer because if you don't have your health what do you have? I learnt through this ordeal that finding the root cause of the problem is key instead of addressing the symptons. I really hope everyone resolves their problems because no one should have to endure such debilitating pain their whole lives. All the best

Alkemis24

The last six months I have had more pain than my entire life in my way lower back. I have found a great surgen and thrpst. I had two injections two weeks ago. One in SI and one in the L5. Did not last long. My left leg keeps getting a little longer than the right one ! My bottom left side is sending me into a state of pain that is crazy. Some days good, other really bad. I had one more injection in the SI joint this morning. Hopefully that holds. As I am told the joint keep popping or something. My thrpst shakes my left leg, bends my leg up and pushes it down. Seems to help, BUT. When I get on my side and he pulls my arm under and pushes on hip for five mins. It stretches my mussels in my back and sends me back to the pain level. Looking for any tips that anyone might have about how you can tell if your joint is out of place. Can you fix it yourself at home for relief? I am going to ask my thrpst this Monday. I NEED TO GET THIS FIXED SO I CAN AT LEAST SMILE! I have two daughters 3 and 6. I am 32 and a drummer and run a kitchen as the master chef. I feel like I am on my way to being in a wheelchair in months. Hope anyone reading this is doing better than I, if not. I feel for you and hold in there.

Deme

Sorry to hear of your problems Demetrios. I am assuming your therapist is a physical therapist, you ask how can you tell if your joint (SI?) is out of place, and you also state that your left leg gets a little longer than the right, this type of condition is said to be very common amongst people who suffer from back pain with various branches of medicine having different ideas on what it is, and how to treat it. Some deny that it exists at all, or believe that it cannot cause pain. It has different names depending on the way you look at it, some call it "acquired leg length discrepancy", or "sacral torsion", or "sacral imbalance", or "pelvic tilting" or, "pelvic unleveling".


As you probably know you have two sacroiliac joints on either side of your pelvis close to the bottom of your spine, these joints move slightly back, and forth when we walk, until recently many doctors believed that no motion was possible at these joints. Many believe particularly chiros, and osteos that one SI joint will rotate forward, while the SI joint on the other side will rotate backwards, this will have the effect of pushing one leg down, while pulling the other leg up, this could be the cause of your unequal leg lengths (you probably know that your bones have not changed lengths its just that one hip is sitting higher than the other) this also has the effect of unleveling the base of the sacrum which is the bone that the bottom vertebra sits on, it is believed that this causes the spine to bend to the side so that the trunk remains directly centered over the pelvis.

It may not be that the SI joints have actually been damaged, or injured just that they are stuck in the wrong position, and are dysfunctional causing problems in both the spine, and legs its also possible that the initial problem was in the spine or legs, and this could be the causation of many SI joint problems.

Although these things are visible on plain X rays radiologists rarely comment on them, and doctors rarely take any notice of them, it is theorised that these problems are the cause of a large percentage of back pain problems. The dysfunction is thought to lead to excessive loads and forces at certain places in the spine and in the disks this over a long period of time is thought to cause arthritis and degenerative changes such as bone spurs and bulging and ruptured disks.

Anyone who has read a lot of my posts knows i occasionally advocate chiropractic therapy, if you present course of therapy proves fruitless one option i would recommend is chiropractic. Chiros have been studying and treating the SI joint for a long time some doctors are recommending them these days although there is still a lot of hostility between the two groups because doctors are reluctant to accept new ideas, and would only like to see themselves as healers, also many chiropractors overstate the benefit of chiropractic, and want to treat nearly every single health care complaint with a chiropractic adjustment. So be careful if you do consider chiro be careful find a good one who concentrates on musculoskeletal conditions.

good luck.

I am a nurse at a huge hospital chain in PA!!! I love my job and it is a hard job- It doesn't matter - at our hospital- if you're an RN-LPN-CNA- you do all the care on your patients- RN's do what LPN's do- just more money- On June 3- i was repositioning a large lady to her r side for comfort and felt horrific pain and a pop in my back- left arm and left leg numb- and horrible spasms- grabbed an ice pack- to motrin- called the supervisor and went back to work- i had 6 pts!!! no aide on the floor- how could i leave- by 730 am the next morning- i was crawling to the er- nothing broke- gave me some toradol- valium and dilaudid and sent me home to follow up with pcp asap~! well- 2.5months - lab work- several pain pills- mri- ct scan- p.t- chirpracter later- still off of work!!! 2 herniated discs - slipped rib syndrome and horrible pain to my SIJ, finally going for injection on my birthday! the 22nd- i hope this works- my pts need me!!!

Take it easy after your injections. Hope they help. Demetrios

I have been in pain for over a year now. My left side of the pelvis is rotated back and I also have rotation in my lumbar and thoracic. I have SIJ dysfunction (left).I have a loss of curvature of my cervical, it's flat. I have gotten arthritis on my spine and I'm only 22. The rotation of my pelvis has cause my scoliosis. I never had scoliosis before. I have rotation and tilt of my pelvis (my left leg is shorter than right due to the pelvic tilt). I've had over over 8 xrays, 3 MRI's (Lumbar, and Sacrum) and seen chiropracters for 7 months, PT, and several doctors and no one could help me. I tried Bowen's Therapy and it made my pelvis rotate back more, and caused more shortening of my left leg and knees pain. I'm getting worse and worse as the time goes by. I'm having pain on my left pelvis, SI joint, middle back, right shoulder, and both knees. I feel like my whole spine is rotating. It hurts sooo much. I was in the nursing program, but I had to drop because it was too much for my body to handle. I am so miserable, depressed, and desperate for help. I'm in soooo much pain. It hurts for me to sit for long time, stand, or walk. Someone please help me! I have an appointment with a rheumatologist next week, do you think the doctor can help? Someone please respond. Any help will be appreciated. Do I need a SIJ fusion? Will that fix the problem?

in desperate help!!!!

did you have some kind of an accident that kick started all of this off are you sure that your leg length difference is totally due to pelvic tilt and there is no anatomical leg length difference if there is one it would need to be treated with a shoe lift to try and level your pelvis sorry i cant help more post again if you like it would be unwise of me to comment on a SIJ fusion

Hi Everyone,

Not too long ago I was writing on this forum to find more information on SI joint injury. I have been injured for 5 years. Like everyone else, I tried all kinds of treatments, went through all kinds of possible test.

I finally found a physiotherapist who understood exactly what is going on in my back and pelvis. I have an atrophied multifidus and tranverse abdominis causing a major muscular imbalance and creating my SI joint pains.

I have exercises to do in order for the pt manipulation to hold. I am having great success so far and I am so totally relieved to have finally found someone who knows about this kind problem.

So my advice is to find a physical therapist with advanced manual therapy qualifications (nothing less than advanced level !!!) The trick to SI joint pain is finding the cause and correcting the right way. Weak muscles must be brought back to normal strength in order for pt adjustment to hold.

SI joint pain comes from back and pelvis alignment, but the malalignment can be caused by different things: muscles, ligaments etc.

Arm yourself with a lot of patience and discipline!

Good luck you all.
Bikegirl

I did the Dontigny excercises myself at home and it fixed the pain within 3 days. I also followed his advice on how to sit at work which helped a lot. 6 weeks of pain fixed in 3 days! My mood has changed completely! It still feels fragile as the muscles and ligaments need to heal but it doesn't hurt any more. My chiro was speechless and embarassed. I would recommend everyone with lower back pain and SIJD to take a look, do the excercises and be patient.

There is a video on you tube which shows a guy demonstating 3 exercises to relieve SI Pain. They wont allow me to post a link here so the video is by a user called bigmikemo. check out both his videos in order. I did this yesterday and the pain i had reduced by 70% in the space of the time it took me to do them.. about a minute! I also woke up this morning without the usual deep intense pain and feel that im walking much more easier today.. try it!