Sacroiliac Joint Steroid Injection Specialist Pain Doctors NYC
Once a diagnosis is confirmed by your pain management doctor at Manhattan Pain and Sports Associates we can relieve your pain with sacroillac joint steroid injections. A sacroiliac joint steroid injection is a non-invasive technique for putting medicine right where it’s needed to ease your pain. It’s an outpatient procedure performed by the specialists that takes about a half hour followed by a short observation period, after which you can return home to rest. You’ll need someone to accompany you.
Sacroiliac Joint Steroid Injection
The sacroiliac joint is located right in the middle of your pelvis. The joint is where your sacrum, at the base of your spine, connects to your hip bones. The two huge saucer-shaped bones that make up your pelvis are called the iliac bones. The joint where they meet is the sacroiliac.
Because the vertebrae of your spine are fused together at this point — providing a strong foundation and stability to your body — the sacroiliac joint doesn’t really move. It’s called a joint only because that’s the point where the skeletal structure connects. But you can still feel pain from the joint.
Sacroiliac Joint Pain
When you feel pain from the middle of your pelvis, it may be sacroiliac joint pain. There are a number of causes for this pain, including:
- Osteoarthritis
- Pregnancy, which stretches the pelvic ligaments
- Blunt force trauma from getting hit or falling hard on the joint
- Tight pelvic muscles from not warming up properly
- Wear and tear on the protective cartilage
- Legs that are different lengths
Most sacroiliac pain comes from issues that have built up over time. If you’re experiencing any hip pain, lower back pain, leg pain or pain in your groin, visit your NYC pain management specialist. He can diagnose the cause of your pain and treat it appropriately.
Pain Relief at Manhattan Pain and Sports Associates
During the procedure, you lie face down on an X-ray table. Your doctor uses X-ray or fluoroscopic images to help him find the exact spot to insert the needle. Your skin is treated with a local anesthetic so you don’t feel the injection, but you can get a sedative if you desire to help you relax while you’re on the table.
The injection contains another local anesthetic that kills your pain quickly, by the time you’re ready to get up. The steroid medication reduces the swelling to promote healing and deliver long-term pain relief. It may take up to four days for the steroid to work. In the meantime, your pain may return. But if you felt pain relief from the local anesthetic, chances are good that the steroid will work too.
Pain Relief for Months
You can receive one or two more sacroiliac joint steroid injections over the next six months, and you may not need more. The pain relief from each can last several months.
The trigger point pain injections do nothing for the underlying health issues on their own, but by decreasing the inflammation and easing your pain, you give your body the time it needs to heal itself. Since continual steroid injections over a long period of time is not beneficial, you may have to consider other treatments to resolve the sacroiliac joint problem if your pain keeps returning.
Manhattan Pain and Sports Associates
51 East 25th St, 4th Floor, Ste B
New York, NY 10010
(212) 533-3954
