Sacroiliitis
Sacroiliitis is the medical term for the inflammation of just one or both sacroiliac joints. The sacroiliac joints are those joints that connect the lower spine and pelvis. This condition is marked by the pain in the lower back which, in severe cases, may spread down one or both legs. Due to sitting for a long time or stair climbing, the pain which occurs with sacroiliitis usually becomes worse. Sacrolitiitis is associated with spondyloarthropathies, which is a class of diseases that affect the spine, causing inflammatory arthritis.
In the majority of cases, sacroiliitis is misdiagnosed because it has the same symptoms as many other diseases, such as the pain in the lower back. However, once it is diagnosed, the doctors usually prescribe medications and recommend a lot of rest and physical therapy. Sacroiliitis may vary in severity. People with this condition usually have difficulties while sitting, standing or walking. Furthermore, if one suffers from this disease, even sleeping and bending may cause a great pain. Moreover, sacroiliitis may accompany ankylosing spondylitis, which is the medical term for the condition of an inflammatory arthritis. The people with ankylosing spondylitis may experience difficulty breathing, lung infection, deformities of spine, and heart problems.
Causes sacroiliitis
The causes for the occurrence of sacroiliitis are numerous. Dysfunction of sacroiliac joints may be caused by some traumatic injury, such as, for example, a sudden fall or a car or motor vehicle accident. Furthermore, osteoarthritis or commonly known wear-and-tear arthritis, which appears in sacroiliac joints, as well as ankylosing spondylitis, may lead to the incidence of this disease. The women in pregnancy are at great risk to develop sacroiliitis because the sacroiliac joints have to loosen and straight to accommodate delivery. Moreover, changed gait and added weight make pressure on the joints and may cause abnormal wear. Rarely, sacroiliitis is caused by an infection of sacroiliac joints.
Diagnosing sacroiliitis
When the symptoms are noticed, the doctor orders several tests to be done in order to diagnose the existence of this condition, and these tests include imaging test, lab tests and anesthetic injections. The most common imaging tests are x-rays, corporatized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Lab tests are needed when there are indications that sacroiliac joint is infected and for lab tests, the fluid from this joint is taken with a needle to be studied. Anesthetic injections are usually administered in sacroiliac joint. If the pain stops, the doctor is sure that the lower back pain is caused by the presence of sacroiliitis and not some other condition. Which test will be done depends on the symptoms that are present in the person.
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