Sacroiliac Injection for sacroiliac joint pain treatment

An SI joint injection treats inflammation in the sacroiliac joint. It can be used therapeutically to treat pain or to diagnose your pain.

If you have pain from the sacroiliac joint pain with inflammation, SI joint injection can help relieve your pain. Your insurance company will allow two injections per year. If you have great temporary relief but it does not last long, then you may be a candidate for SI joint fusion procedure. 

Your doctor and staff will explain what to expect before, during, and after the treatment. If you want sedation for your procedure, your doctor will advise you to avoid eating or drinking anything for eight hours before the procedure and to have a responsible adult drive you home. You are welcome to do the procedure awake, under local anesthesia if you would prefer. You may need to stop taking certain medicines (blood thinners) several days before your procedure.

All our injections are performed at our Duluth clinic in the sterile procedure room using image guidance. You will first be comfortably positioned and monitors to check your vital signs will be placed. Oxygen will be given to you if you get sedation. After a sterile cleaning of the site to be injected, sedation will be given if desired. Then local anesthesia will be used to numb the skin. The needle will be placed using image guidance and confirmed with contrast dye. Medication will then be administered and needles removed. Bandages will be placed and you will be taken to the recovery room until you are ready for discharge home.

Typically patients experience pain relief within three to seven days although in some cases it can be up to 14 days. An SI joint injection reduces inflammation in the sacroiliac joint pain and that may take time to resolve. The amount of relief is dependent upon the amount of inflammation and duration, sometimes it can be complete relief, sometimes a subsequent injection is necessary to achieve more complete relief. The duration of relief depends on multiple factors and varies from person to person. If the sacroiliac joint continues to be painful, there are minimally invasive surgery called SI joint Fusion to correct the problem.