Sacroiliac or SIJ bread?

Low back pain is a common condition, and affects a large perecntage of the population. A sub portion of low back pain is thought to come from the Sacroilliac joint (SIJ). A pain that has no specific reason for onset, and appears to come out of nowhere, will be the focus of this article (not traumatic falls or car accident, etc).

A traditional way to view why these people have begun to have pain is that there is some type of dysfunction (assymetry, stiffness, structural weakness, instability, etc) that needs to be fixed. You will hear clinicians say that there is too little or too much movement happening at this joint or that this joint is unstable. Often times tests are done to determine if this area is painful, but if it is it doesnt tell us why this area is painful. All they can actually determine from these tests, is that that area is sensitive.

These results are then interpreted to have some type of dysfunction that needs to be fixed instead of a sensitivity that can be addressed through activity modification and exercises. This structure is actually incredibly stable and very little movements occurs, to the point that a clinician would be unable to detect this movement.

Avoiding creating these false beliefs about your condition and body, and focusing more on the things that can be done to desensitize that area and get back doing your actitivies. The spine is a very strong structure, that does not slip in and out of place.

For an evaluation of your specific condition and advice related to your case, please book an appointment.

Do good things,

Physio Summum Brossard

Reference:

Palsson, T. S., Gibson, W., Darlow, B., Bunzli, S., Lehman, G., Rabey, M., ... Travers, M. (2019). Changing the narrative in diagnosis and management of pain in the sacroiliac joint area. Physical Therapy, 99(11), 1511-1519. https://doi. org/10.1093/ptj/pzz108