Chronic exertional compartment syndrome is one of the most common causes of pain, numbness, and foot drop, most often seen in runners.
Sacroiliac joints connect your spine to your hip bone. They connect the bottom of the spine, called the sacrum to the ilium. You have two sacroiliac joints. One is found on each side of the sacrum.
Sacroiliac joints help the pelvis when you move. They help transfer forces from your lower body to your upper body. Each sacroiliac joint has several ligaments to help strengthen it.
What is Sacroiliac Joint Pain?
You may feel pain if the sacroiliac joint is injured. At times it may feel like simple muscle tension, but at other times the pain can be severe.
Sometimes the cartilage inside the joint is injured, but at other times only the ligaments around the joint are affected. You usually feel sacroiliac pain in an area from your low back down to your buttocks. But sometimes, if a joint is very inflamed, pain may even extend down to the back of the leg. The diagram to the right shows where the sacroiliac joint pain is usually felt.
How Do I Know if I Have Sacroiliac Joint Pain?
If you have pain in more than one of these areas you may have sacroiliac joint pain. Common tests such as x-rays or MRIs may not always show if a sacroiliac joint is causing pain. Your pain doctor can perform other tests to find out if you have sacroiliac joint pain.