About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffImaging tests
- X-rays. Plain X-rays can reveal signs of damage to the sacroiliac joint.
- Computerized tomography (CT scan). CT scans combine X-ray images taken from many different angles to create cross-sectional images of internal structures.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Using radio waves and a strong magnetic field, MRI machines produce very detailed cross-sectional images of both bone and soft tissues.
Lab tests
If your doctor suspects that you have an infection in your sacroiliac joint, he or she may want to run tests on a sample of fluid from within that joint. The sample is obtained with a needle. Because the sacroiliac joint is located so deep within the body, the doctor may use ultrasound or another imaging technique to ensure that the needle is placed correctly.
Anesthetic injections
Because low back pain can be caused by so many different types of problems, your doctor may suggest using injections of anesthesia to help pinpoint the diagnosis. For example, if an injection of numbing medicine into your sacroiliac joint stops your pain, it's likely that the problem is in your sacroiliac joint. However, the numbing medicine can leak into nearby structures, and that can reduce the reliability of this test.
- Isaac Z, et al. Sacroiliac joint dysfunction. In: Frontera WR, et al. Essentials of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/199872655-3/994114554/1678/50.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-4007-1..50049-3_767. Accessed May 6, 2010.
- Williams KD, et al. Injection studies. In: Canale ST, et al. Campbell's Operative Orthopaedics. 11th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/199872655-4/0/1584/296.html?tocnode=55688040&fromURL=296.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-03329-9..50042-8--cesec38_1984. Accessed May 6, 2010.
- van der Linden, et al. Ankylosing spondylitis: Pathology. In: Firestein GS, et al. Kelley's Textbook of Rheumatology. 8th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: W.B. Saunders Co.; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/199988049-3/994442372/1807/513.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-3285-4..10070-1--s0200_2539. Accessed May 7, 2010.
- Anderson BC. Evaluation of the adult with hip pain. http://www.uptodate.com. Accessed May 7, 2010.
- Inman RD. The spondyloarthropathies. In: Goldman L, et al. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/199988049-4/994442372/1492/1025.html#4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2805-5..50291-3--cesec7_12895. Accessed May 7, 2010.
- Chang-Miller A (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. May 17, 2010.
- Cohen SP, et al. Randomized placebo-controlled study evaluating lateral branch radiofrequency denervation for sacroiliac joint pain. Anesthesiology. 2008;109:279.
Find Mayo Clinic on