Crohn’s disease and sacroiliac pain are commonly seen together, as Crohn’s tends to encourage many of the most damaging processes that typically affect the SIJ. While Crohn’s disease is most often associated with gastrointestinal inflammation and symptomology, it is actually a systemic autoimmune disease that can have wide-ranging consequences throughout the body and often attacks the joints.
What is Crohn’s disease? Why do patients who have been diagnosed with Crohn’s often suffer sacroiliac joint symptomology? Most importantly, how can these symptoms be treated when compared to non-disease related sacroiliac joint pain?
This focused essay provides a detailed look at the relationship between Crohn’s disease and sacroiliac joint pain. If you have Crohn’s or are suffering from suspected or known SIJ symptoms, then this article is a must read!
Crohn’s Disease and Sacroiliac Pain Definitions
Sacroiliac pain is the subject of this website and encompasses symptoms that exist within the joint itself, as well as symptoms which originate in the joint, yet are expressed elsewhere, like pseudo-sciatica. If you require more information on the general nature of sacroiliac joint pain, let us recommend reading our articles covering the causes of sacroiliac pain and our SIJ facts resource section.
Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory autoimmune disease that most often affects primarily the digestive tract and involves chronic symptomology. However, since Crohn’s is a systemic disease, it can actually produce symptoms throughout much of the body and some of its favorite targets are the bodily joints. Of all the joints, the sacroiliac is targeted more than most others.
Crohn’s disease has no known or proven causes or cure. Therapies for the disease are mostly subjective in their effectiveness and therapeutic results vary greatly from patient to patient and from therapy to therapy. There is a significant community of care providers who believe Crohn’s to be purely psychogenic. Of course this means that the cause resides in the mind, not in the body, but the symptoms are 100% real and indistinguishable from any symptoms caused by injury, actual disease or any other physical cause.
Crohn’s Disease and SIJ Pain Occurrence
Not all patients who experience Crohn’s disease will develop joint pain. However, since Crohn’s tend to encourage various other autoimmune disorders, such as exacerbated osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, many patients will develop pain in one or more of the major bodily joints, including the SIJ.
In fact, Crohn’s might be diagnosed in patients who suffer a preliminary manifestation in the sacroiliac or other major joint instead of in the gastrointestinal tract in some cases. Since the diagnosis and treatment of Crohn’s remains complete subjective, there is no actual way of verifying the condition as existing or being responsible for symptoms in any given patient. This is a problem commonly seen with virtually all autoimmune disorders, including the epidemic of fibromyalgia and various related soft tissue pain syndromes.
Crohn’s is a disease that tends to change in response to treatment. This once again mirrors other autoimmune diseases and lends tremendous credibility to the idea that the disorder is of psychoemotional origin. We observe similar evolution of many musculoskeletal pain syndromes in response to treatment in the back pain arena; enough to make the statement that the majority of chronic musculoskeletal pain is certainly of mindbody origin, rather than due to the commonly blamed degeneration and/or injury.
Crohn’s Disease and Sacroiliac Pain Solutions
In cases where sacroiliac joint symptoms and inflammation is the direct result of any autoimmune disease, such as Crohn’s, treatment must focus on the underlying source or be far less effectual. Instances where usual symptomatic or curative care is applied directly to the joint will typically produce poor therapeutic outcomes, as there remains an underlying process driving the pain and joint damage. Therefore, most patients are prioritized for therapy geared towards limiting the effects of Crohn’s systemically, since no cure for the disorder has been found.
Crohn’s disease is usually treated with a cocktail of powerful drugs which also have serious side effects. Physical therapy, diet therapy and some types of complementary care might also be employed as support practices to the pharmacological treatment.
Crohn’s is largely unpredictable in its progression, as well as in its response to treatment. There is no typical case and patients really have no idea how the disease will progress in their specific case. Since there is ample evidence supporting a psychological contribution, if not direct cause of Crohn’s, we certainly recommend adding knowledge therapy to the therapeutic mix, if not prioritize it as a main treatment option. We have seen excellent results using this purely psychoemotional therapy and since there are no negative effects; have no problem recommending it as an addendum for all diagnosed patients.
Sacroiliac Joint Pain > Causes of Sacroiliac Pain > Crohn’s Disease and Sacroiliac Pain
