LinQ: Innovative Treatment for SI Joint Dysfunction During Pain Awareness Month

History of Pain Awareness Month

The first Pain Awareness Month was in 2001, organized by the American Chronic Pain Association (ACPA). They were able to recruit other healthcare and pain management organizations that supported the effort.

There are several ways you can show your support for Pain Awareness Month. The key is to get involved. You may want to participate in a walk or run for the cause, donate money, volunteer at an event, or share information related to the cause on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

The purpose behind forming Pain Awareness Month was to raise awareness of chronic pain so that it may be more readily recognized, better understood without the traditional stigma attached and to increase research for new treatments.

Ineffective Treatments for Chronic SI Joint Pain

One of the most widely misunderstood and under-diagnosed chronic pain conditions is SI joint dysfunction. SI joint pain is often misdiagnosed because pain can be felt in the back, buttocks, hips or legs, and it has symptoms that mimic other pain conditions related to the spine. In reality, SI joint dysfunction is not a spinal condition at all, yet therapies often center around treating the spine.

Physical therapy, chiropractic care, medication and steroid injections are all examples of treatments that may not provide long-term benefits. These treatments may mask the pain, but they do not address the source of it, leaving many patients dealing with their chronic SI joint pain for years.

Intervention Meets Innovation: LinQ for Low Back Pan

One way that PainTEQ helps people with chronic pain is with LinQ. The LinQ SI Joint Stabilization System is a minimally invasive implant that offers relief for people with chronic pain. The minimally invasive procedure allows physicians to insert the small LinQ allograft into the patient’s SI joint. LinQ helps patients regain joint stability. Due to the size of LinQ’s large graft window, it provides the opportunity for long-term stabilization.

LinQ provides long-term pain relief compared to the pain-masking effects provided by pain medications or pain injections while helping to eliminate chronic back pain related to sacroiliac (SI) joint dysfunction.

Is It Back Pain, or Is it SI Joint Dysfunction?

If your low back pain does not respond to traditional therapies, then it may be due to your SI joint. According to research, the SI joint is the source of pain for up to 30 percent of people with chronic low back pain. It takes a skilled clinician to tell the difference between back pain and SI joint pain. PainTEQ’s partnering interventional pain physicians are experts at differentiating between these two conditions.

If you would like to know more about pain management in general, follow #PainAwarenessMonth on social media for updates throughout September. To learn more about the LinQ SI Joint Stabilization System or how it can help with chronic back pain related to SI joint dysfunction, contact PainTEQ today.