Hi, I have just been diagnosed with arthritis in my sacro-illiac joint and also in my symphis pubis. Anyone else got this or even heard of it and can offer advice. Even GP admits she has not dealt with it before in this area!:

Hi Nicki,

I have severe osteoarthritis in my spine and milder in other joints. It causes alot of stiffness and sometimes gets very painful. OA can pretty much occur in any joint of the body. I know that area is located in the pelvic region connected to the tailbone on either side (near the hip region)

I recently had an MRI of the sacro-iliac region because my rheumatologist wanted to check if I had Ankylosing Spondilytis, which many times affects the spine and sacro-illiac region. But from what I was told this condition also usually will cause the bones to fuse together and luckily I did not end up having AS. But I do have OA in my entire spine.

How did your GP diagnose you? Did you have X-rays or MRI's? Do you get pain in sitting positions or standing for too long?

Also, usually for arthritis it is best to be treated by a rheumatologist (a specialist in arthritis). If your GP doesnt know anything about it, I am surprised if he/she didnt recommend you to a rheumy. There are many options/treatments to try to reduce pain/symtoms. You might want to ask your doc about that....

Hi,
I was diagnosed with x-rays, have not had an MRI. I have a lot of pain when sitting and getting sleep at night is a bit of a problem. As far as pain relief goes I have been told to experiment myself with combinations of paracetamol or co-codamol and brufen. If that does not work to go back to my GP. I have been told about the injections but we have to ask the health trust if they will pay for the treatment and apparently they are not being to helpful at the moment. I have also been told that with any luck the joints will fuse themselves and therefore stop the pain otherwise in the future I may be able to have surgery to fuse the joints. All seems to be a lot of ifs and maybes and no real answeres at the moment. There has certainly been no mention of being referred to rheumatologist.

It's True OA can happen in every joint.
Mine started with knee joints and then the Pelvic area.

It's been 7 years since the "beginning" pelvic arthritis showed up on my xrays & MRI. As time passes, it shows up in other areas.. for me the entire spine is now suffering from OA from my seat to my neck.
I've been to the PCP, Orthapedic Dr, and PT but never to a Rheumatologist.

There are many types of arthritis and so a Rheumatologist is a good Dr to see, certainly a necessity for Rhumatoid Arthritis (RA), but actually they can't do much of anything for OA so my PCP has never referred me to one.

Knowing the specific medical name of the joint it's in is fine but after you have it enough places the terms get more general. There are 30 joints in the spinal column.. I'll refer to it as the spine rather than each joint since the OA is now in every joint.

For my knee OA cold packs (20 min) seem to work best. The cold reduces swelling of all the muscles that are sore and swollen around the knee from trying to support the bad joint.

For my lower back it's heat to relax the sore muscles that are stressed from trying to hold up the damaged spinal joints.

I LOVE the overnight Thermacare heat back wraps.

For the center of my back & shoulders it's the massager.

For my neck it's Thermacare wraps heat wraps again.

As far as creams go ...Aspercream works best for me.

As far as pills go ...I take tylenol for Arthritis once in a while but I am the type that avoids pills in genreal. Also I can't take the prescribed OA meds due to my allergies.

A very important thing I need to mention for releif of bad pelvic/lower back pain is a knee pillow. Sleep on one side with a pillow placed between your knees.. (I use a special knee contour pillow which stays in place well) just barely above the knees and another just barely below the knees. After about 3 nights you will be happily surprised to find the morning back ache is long gone or at least much much less.
This is so simple it's often over looked but it keeps the entire skeleton in a proper non-stressed position while you sleep and so you wake to a lot less pain.

I've used the pillow every night for a yr and half now and I never intend to be without it again.

But there is no real cure for OA. Once you have it, learn to live with it.

Yes for some joint there is joint replacement surgery (knees and hips)
Knee or hip replacements are major surgery yet very common and do the fixing job for that joint quite well.

For some of the spine some people do a fusion surgery.
Lately they are rethinking such spinal fusion surgery for OA since it seems to cause as many problems as it fixes.
The OA just keeps marching along up the spine.

Lucky people find the body will do it's own natural fusion.
Since I have a multiptude of spurs I'm hopeing for a natural fusion.

When the body does a natural fusion any were on the spine you better hope it fuses in a bascally normal position rather then bent.
Once bent and fused, you can't unbend it.

So I have taken lots of Physical Therapy (PT) the past couple winters in hopes of lessoning the pain as well as keeping the spine as straight yet retain as much moveable/bendable range of motion as I can.
PT has been a big help but not nearly enough.

SO I am seeing a Chiropractor now. Been going 3 times a week for 2 months and now will slow down and just go 2 times a week. My chiro works on my spine, neck & shoulders but not my knees.

The chiropractor has really worked miricles with my spine (yes includeing pelvix) and neck pain as well as really enhancing my range of movement.
He has my lower spine in such better shape that the muscles originateing from my OA bending spine and pulling over my Greater Trocantic hip bone are now more relaxed , therefore no longer squishing and irritateing the Busa Sacs on my hip and my monster fierce Hip Bursitis is gone. :bouncing: Believe me that is a fantastic relief. Fantastic!

Cool part is that since I've been seeing the Chiro some mornings I wake up with the pillow out of place cuz I can now once again naturally moved around during my sleep.
You'd be shocked at how much natural movement you are slowly loosing to OA.
The Chiro has restored a huge amount of natural movement and painless range of motion for me.
I highly recommend a Chiropractor for OA anywhere along the spine and neck.

Hi,
Very interested to read that you have been helped by a chiropractor. I have been told that they wouldnt be much help to me because the OA is mainly in my pelvis but this is something that I might look a bit further into. Thanks

Trying to think back to when the OA was "just" Pelvic OA + knees.

At that point my best help was simple stretching excercise.. standing and reaching my arms straight upward and stretching and unstretching my body straight upward like washing windows, ceilings and walls. That helped my range of motion and cut the painful problems a lot.

Also stride. By stride I mean physically take giant steps rather than careful baby steps when ever possible. Physically stride with exagerated long steps through out your entire house a few times a day.

Avoid limping. Try to NOT favor one leg but keep an even balance when you walk.

Simple excercises, but it actually helps keep those muscles strong and limber rather than tightening up. They will NOT make your OA go a way but they will help you with pain control and range of motion.

Hi: I have OA also and you should really see a rheumatologist, they are the experts with this kind of disease. I have severe OA on my hands and on my left hip. My doctor recommended taking Glucosamine/Chondroitin with MSM, it has worked for me. I also take Vitamin c, and a prescription of Arthrotec.
The Glucosamine does not work for my hip but the Arthrotec does .Also stretching exercises . I also read that a chiropractor does help too but I have not gone to one. I also beleive that you have to be"moving" all the time so that your joints do not get stiff....
Hope you find a remedy for you, having OA is a pain in the butt! My Mom has RA ...and she really hurts but she does not want to take any meds anymore, she gave up on them already.