Sacroiliac Joint Pain

Ronald Wasserman, M.D.
Chief, Division of Pain Medicine
Director, Back and Pain Center

Chad M. Brummett, M.D.
Director, Adult Pain Research
Division of Pain Medicine

Department of Anesthesiology
Division of Pain Medicine
University of Michigan Health System
Ann Arbor, MI

Acknowledgements:  The authors would like to thank Dr. Kevin K. Tremper, Ph.D., M.D. (Professor and Chairman, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI) for guidance and support.  We also thank Steven P. Cohen, M.D. (Associate Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, Baltimore, MD) for assistance.

Introduction - TOP

Sacroiliac joint (SIJ) syndrome is defined as pain originating from the SIJ due to degeneration or altered joint mobility. The degree to which low back pain is caused by pathologic conditions or dysfunction of the SIJ has been discussed for many decades.  The SIJ is one of the many potential differential diagnoses in patients presenting with low back, buttocks and/or leg pain.  A recent analysis of the growth in interventional pain procedures in the Medicare population showed that sacroiliac joint injection is the fourth most common intervention, representing 4.5% of all studied interventional procedures.1  This chapter will describe the epidemiology, anatomy, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of SIJ syndrome.

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