Sacral Pain Specialist

What is sacral pain?

The word “sacral” comes from the sacrum at the bottom of your spine. The sacrum bone’s five segments form a triangle. It connects to the iliac bones in your pelvis, creating the sacroiliac joints.

Sciatica is a common cause of sacral pain. It involves pinching or irritating the sciatic nerve as it passes through the sacrum and pelvis. The injury usually happens where the sacrum joins the lumbar (lower) spine. This area often suffers stress from twisting movements when playing sports or pressure from sitting for long periods.

Traumatic sacral fractures are uncommon in healthy people. But the sacrum can suffer stress fractures in patients with osteoporosis (which weakens the bones) or rheumatoid arthritis. The most common cause of sacral pain is sacroiliitis.

What is sacroiliitis?   

Sacroiliitis is inflammation in the sacroiliac joints, where your sacrum joins your pelvic bones. It often results from SI joint dysfunction, where there’s too little or too much movement in the SI joints. These joints don’t move very much, but anything that increases or decreases normal movement can cause sacral pain.

Conditions that can cause SI joint dysfunction and sacroiliitis include:

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis commonly causes joint pain after years of wear-and-tear.

Injury

Trauma from falls and car accidents can damage the SI joints.

Ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a form of inflammatory arthritis most often seen in young men. It can trigger new bone growth that fuses the spinal joints.

Pregnancy

During pregnancy, your body releases the relaxin hormone to make the SI joints more elastic. This enables your pelvis to open wider during delivery, but it makes the joints less stable.

It can be challenging to determine if someone’s pain is caused by a sacral condition or a problem like a herniated disc because the symptoms are similar. The Cleaver Medical Group Interventional Pain team has considerable experience in diagnosing sacral pain, so you can be sure of an accurate diagnosis.

How is sacral pain treated?

You might find rest, anti-inflammatory medication, and physical therapy are all you need to relieve sacral pain. But if your condition isn’t improving, Cleaver Medical Group Interventional Pain offers cutting-edge nonsurgical treatments, including:

• Sacroiliac joint injections
• Epidural steroid injections
• Medial branch blocks
• Ganglion impar blocks
• Radiofrequency ablation
• Peripheral nerve stimulation
• Spinal cord stimulation

These treatments reduce inflammation in the sacroiliac joints and interfere with transmitting pain signals to your brain.

Call Cleaver Medical Group Interventional Pain today or book an appointment online for targeted relief of sacral pain.