Michael L. Murphy, MD, is a respected presence in the San Antonio, Texas pain medicine community who maintains a private practice and undertakes leading edge procedures such as spinal cord stimulation. Areas of focus for Dr. Michael Murphy extend to sacroiliac-joint steroid injections, which are employed to relieve specific issues related to lower-back pain.
The sacroiliac joints are those that connect the sacrum, or base of the spine, with the ilium bones in the pelvis. When sacroiliac-joint dysfunction occurs, one or both of these joints become inflamed, which results in pain extending to the lower back and buttocks. This becomes more severe when standing or engaging in motion-related activities such as running and walking. Causes include traumatic injury, osteoarthritis, and inflammatory joint disease, as well as pregnancy.
As a type of spinal block, sacroiliac-joint injections offer temporary pain relief and can be undertaken as often as three times annually. The injection is performed in tandem with a local anesthetic, and delivers a saline solution that contains steroid medication and anesthetic. The latter provides immediate pain relief, while the steroid medication takes effect within one to two days and works to reduce inflammation.
