Moderate osteoarthritic sacroiliac?

[Jeaniem130]

I had back fusion surgery a year ago and just had an xray for a follow up before I see the surgeon. It stated the S1 joint arthritis ?

[piglette]

Apparently the SI joints are to blame for up to 30 percent of people with chronic lower back pain.

[Jeaniem130]

My back pain was spondlolthesis and pars defect. This mention of the osteoarthritc changes in SI joints is new.

[LesE62]

Hi, I had L4/L5 spinal fusion in Oct 2017 for a sequestered disc and spondylolisthesis. The outcome wasn't great and although the surgery I was told addressed the issues in the L4/L5 area, I was still in a lot of pain.

I followed all advice etc to recover but still suffered greatly. My surgeon then did xrays, scans etc which showed SI joint problems too. So it appears some of my issues have been the SI joint too.

He referred me to a colleague who specialises in SI joint and I have had a few steroid injections done over the past few years which helped for a short time. This new consultant has said that he can do a SI joint fusion when injects stop working and sadly the last round had no effect at all.

My back pain is really bad, mobility and activity severely affected and I speak to him in a few weeks. I really don't want to get fusion again but equally feel I want to be better than atm..... Rock and a hard place. Will see what he says in February.

[Jeaniem130 in reply to LesE62]

I am sorry to hear you are having issues as well. My physical therapist had mentioned that my right leg is shorter than my left, she did some sort of maneuver that supposedly helped? I read that that one leg being shorter can cause S1 problems.