Does the sacroiliac joint injection help everyone?
No. It is very difficult to predict if the injection will help or not. Usually, the patients who have recent onset of pain tend to do better than the ones with long standing pain. What are the risks and side effects? The procedure is safe. But, with any procedure there are risks, side effects, and possibility of complications. The most common side effect is pain- which is temporary. The other risks involve infection, bleeding, worsening of symptoms, spinal block, epidural block etc. The other risks are related to the side effects of cortisone: these include weight gain, increase in blood sugar (mainly in diabetics), water retention, suppression of the body s own natural production of cortisone etc. Fortunately, the serious side effects and complications are rare. Who should not have this injection? If you are allergic to any of the medications to be injected, if you are on a blood thinning medication (i.e. Coumadin, Plavix, aspirin or aspirin containing medications, or of you have an a
