Most health care providers usually consider SI joint surgery when your SI joint pain is unresponsive to various conservative treatments available. When you start experiencing SI joint pain, your healthcare providers usually recommend you try conservative treatments like pain medications, rest, physical therapy, corticosteroids, and contemporary treatments. Therefore, if your SI joint pain persists even after using these treatments, SI joint surgery is the best treatment option available. You can therefore undergo San Bernardino SI joint surgery, especially if you are experiencing persistent SI joint pain that is affecting your work performance and receive relief. Read on to learn important facts about SI joint surgery.
How to tell if you need SI joint surgery?
If you begin experiencing pain in your hip, lower back, leg, or groin, your care provider may recommend SI joint surgery to help ease the pain and help you resume your daily chores. In most cases, this type of pain is usually due to a problem at your sacroiliac joint caused by several concerns, such as inflammation of your Sin joint or sacroiliitis. Common causes of this pain include arthritis, trauma, infection, or pregnancy. You might also experience referred, which often occur following the tear and wear of weight-bearing joints like the SI joint.
What form of Si joint surgery is performed?
Usually, surgery is not always the first line of treatment when you are experiencing SI joint pain. Therefore, you will have tried other nonoperative treatment methods before trying SI joint surgery. Therefore, if your care provider rules out that the SI joint is causing your pain, he may recommend SI joint surgery to stop its movement. Two forms of treatment might be performed they include:
Open SI joint surgery
Healthcare providers usually do not recommend this type of surgery. It causes several complications, such as poor healing because it is quite challenging to immobilize, infections since the joint is near the rectum, and persistent pain. This surgery usually involves cutting through your skin, ligaments, and muscles to reach the joint and remove the damaged cartilage while fixing your joint.
Minimally invasive SI joint fusion surgery
It is a type of surgery in that surgeons often use x-ray guidance to send a tiny wire to help place bolts or screws into your SI joint to help immobilize the joint. There are also holes in the hardware to allow your care provider to add a bone to help maintain the stability of your SI joint. The surgery can either be performed overnight or as an outpatient procedure.
How much recovery time is required?
The average recovery time required after undergoing SI joint surgery is about three weeks, during which you use crutches while walking. Your post-operative pain usually goes away after several days or a week. However, complete fusion might take about six or more months.
Therefore, you can schedule your appointment at Sports and Spine Center today if you are interested in undergoing SI joint surgery, especially if you are experiencing continuous SI joint pain that is unresponsive to other nonsurgical treatment options. Even though you might take a while before completely recovering after surgery, it is worth waiting because it provides permanent SI joint pain relief. You can also call their offices and confirm whether you are a good candidate for SI joint surgery and in what ways you benefit from the procedure.