Research Day
IS IT REALLY SCIATICA?: WHAT PRIMARY CARE PROVIDERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SI JOINT PAIN
Document Type
Abstract
Date
2021
Abstract
Chronic back pain and overuse of narcotics have become a growing concern for primary care providers and their patients. This is due to complications linked to increased length of treatments, and inadequate relief of symptoms. The study suggests up to 80% of the population in the United States will experience low back pain or lower extremity pain at least once in their lifetime4. Low-back pain has a major impact on healthcare costs to Americans, which exceeds $50 billion11. However, when factors such as loss of wages and productivity come into play this figure will exceed $100 billion5. A thorough physical exam by primary care physicians (PCPs),an accurate diagnosis, and appropriate follow-ups remain the critical factors for reduced costs, decreased morbidity, and possible mortality relating to back pain diagnosis and treatment. Many studies blame sciatica as the most common cause of back pain, however, in clinical practice, the vast majority of our patients experienced significant relief with physical therapy and injections targeted for sacroiliac (SI) joint symptoms, despite some literature citing only 10-25% of back pain below L5 is due to SI joint pain. This retrospective observational QI/QA project will analyze the proportions of patients diagnosed with sciatica or radiculopathy. Then we will determine which percentage of them were adequately treated with SI join interventions; thereby confirming the diagnosis of SI joint pain, in comparison to sciatica or radiculopathy.