Many patients suffer from non-specific and specific back or hip pain with various symptoms of sciatica, herniated spinal discs, referred pain, hip arthritis, coccyx pain, etc. Often, specialists fail to diagnose the cause of these symptoms. Even when these patients are sent for imaging, it’s common that nothing remarkable shows up, and the patient is left to deal with the pain since there is no obvious cause. This is especially true for patients who have not suffered any memorable-traumatic injury. 

While these scenarios make resolving back and hip pain seem hopeless, there is an oft-overlooked diagnosis. Symptoms of hip and back pain, in the absence of traumatic injury or abnormal imaging, can actually be the result of an instability and laxity of the sacroiliac joint and the supporting ligaments. 

Instability of the sacroiliac ligaments is difficult to diagnose. Since it’s an instability and not a tear, it does not show up on imaging. Instead, physicians have to undergo specific training to understand how to orthopedically assess and feel for this instability. I have had the honor of learning this protocol from one of the innovators advancing the field of regenerative medicine, Thomas Ravin, MD,  founder of the American Association of Musculoskeletal Medicine. Treating sacroiliac instability is a niche condition, so there are few practitioners who have had this training. Physical therapy, massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, pilates, yoga are wonderful modalities that can palliate the symptoms of sacroiliac instability but they cannot restore the ligament injury/laxity of sacroiliac instability. 

For this, prolotherapy with pumice injections is one of the best treatments to restore sacroiliac function. Pumice is innate, microscopic glass that triggers specific cells in the body, called fibroblasts, which are responsible for making collagen. Collagen is needed to tighten and restore the ligaments surrounding the sacroiliac joint, thus stabilizing the joint and alleviating back/hip pain. 

In order to live back/hip pain-free, It’s crucial for sacroiliac stability. The majority of the symptoms discussed above do not have to be a life sentence and can resolve once the ligaments of the sacroiliac joint are stabilized.

If a cause of your long standing back/hip pain has not been provided by your physician or you’re concerned you may have a sacroiliac instability, take the first step toward a pain-free life and schedule an appointment with Dr. Dobbs today!