SI Joint Pain

[BTMachine]

This is my first post but I have been following this site since last year. I chose my doctor from all the posts and advice from this site. I do want to thank all of you for your stories and information. I'm very please with my new hip and recovery has gone well.

To shorten my story I'm a 48 year old that has played sports all my life. My first recognition of arthritis in the hip was when I was 40 years old. Slowly but surely all sports activity was stripped away until 2007. I was training for a 1/2 Iron Man. I had participated in an Olympic distance Tri in April 2007 and my next event was 1/2 marathon to build up to the 1/2 IM. Just following the 1/2 M, I experienced a severe pain in the lower back/buttox that took me down for weeks. I was diagnosed with a torn glute tendon. I recovered and that fall was lifting a box (of wine) and re-injured what I thought was my back/glute tendon. I spent months rehabbing and was not diagnosed as a SI joint until I got to Arkansas. Sorry this would make my story even longer.

I finally decided to get my BHR from Gross in December of 2008. It was my Xmas present sort of speak. My recovery has gone very well. I'm 8 months post op and have worked my way to biking (4) days per week and lifting/stretching (2) days per week. The other weekend I aggravated my SI joint while doing some work around the house. I was under the impression that once I got my hip ROM working again that my SI Joint issue would go away. I'm curious if anyone else is experiencing the same issues?

I treat the pain with Celebrex. It appears to last for a couple of weeks and than I am able to start up activity again. It is a slow process and you feel like you are starting all over again. The SI joint issue has been a flier for me. I was told because of the lack of motion in my hip the SI joint had been flexing to compensate for the lack of movement. By the way my last problem with the SI Joint was back in Feb 09 during recovery. Since then I have been pain free. Does anyone have any experience with this?

[fedup]

I developed back pain during my PT post op resurfacing and went to a PT that specialized in spinal manipulation. Along with an exercise program to strengthen my core muscles eventually the SI joint became more stable, but any heavy lifting brings it on. If the SI joint pain continues make sure an xray/MRI of the SI joint doesn't show any evidence of inflammation as it may be a sign of an inflammatory arthritis (spondyloarthropathy) which also causes hip arthritis. Pilates (1:1 with a very good physio) became very helpful for my low back pain as well.

[BTMachine]

Thanks for the input. Not many folks deal with SI pain and even doctors are confused with the diagnosis. When I aggravate the SI it takes weeks for it to settle down. My SI pain started preop but I was told it was brought on by the hip. I'll give Pilates a try. Thanks again.

[mpschrader]

can you elaborate on the pre-surgery pain.  I have lower back pain (severe at times) that I assume is caused by my limping and hip dysfunction.  My Dr. said that I could get an injection if necessary but he didn't seem concerned.