Once other options and causes have been ruled out, surgery may be recommended to treat sacroiliac joint pain when non-surgical treatments are ineffective. When the pain becomes too much to handle, eliminating the SI joint’s motion by fusing the two bones with metal hardware may become a more viable solution. Your surgical team will continue working with you after the fusion to see if you need to continue any treatments to help the bones heal together after surgery.
Because SI joint issues can be challenging to diagnose, the amount of pain relief you feel after a sacroiliac joint injection will be our first step. That injects an anesthetic into the joint and will help diagnose whether the sacroiliac joint is responsible for the pain you feel. We will then determine if an SI joint fusion is your best option.