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Background

Brandy suffered with sacroiliac (SI) joint pain for 20 years. She became a gymnast at a young age and remembers many injuries and falls. She recalls a specific fall on the balance beam at the age of 17 that started her low back pain symptoms. After this, Brandy managed her pain for several years with rest and chiropractic treatment.

In 2003, Brandy recalls pulling out some rose bushes in her yard and then being unable to get out of bed the next day because her back pain was excruciating. She went to the emergency room and was given muscle relaxants, a prescription for physical therapy, and was told her pain was all muscle-related and to follow-up with her primary care physician. While her back pain became manageable, the baseline pain remained.

In 2008, Brandy became pregnant with her first child. Her low back pain worsened during pregnancy and was unbearable during the delivery. In 2010, Brandy became pregnant with her second child and had the same experience.

In 2012, Brandy was jumping on a trampoline with her family. She remembers going inside the house, taking a step, and falling to the ground. She was unable to get up and was taken to the emergency room by ambulance where she was given narcotic medication for the pain. More testing was done, including an MRI. She was told she had several bulging discs and this was the cause of her symptoms. She was prescribed a series of epidural steroid injections and physical therapy, neither of which helped.

Brandy found it difficult to sit, stand, or hold her children. She needed assistance getting out of bed and tying her shoes, and could no longer do laundry or yard work. Brandy decided to research her low back pain symptoms and found information about SI joint dysfunction, and wondered if this could be causing her pain. She asked four orthopedic surgeons if the pain could be coming from her SI joint and each said no, and that her pain was coming from her lumbar spine. One offered a two-level spinal fusion, the second offered a discectomy, and two offered narcotic pain medication and told her she would have to live with the pain. She then contacted a friend who had undergone minimally invasive SI joint fusion utilizing the iFuse Implant System® with good results and decided to make an appointment with the iFuse-trained surgeon. The surgeon reviewed her previous scans and history, performed a physical examination that included SI joint provocative testing and then scheduled a series of SI joint diagnostic injections and an arthrogram. “I was pain-free for five days following the injections!” The surgeon diagnosed her with SI joint disruption and said she was a candidate for the iFuse Procedure™.

Update

In July of 2015, Brandy had the iFuse Procedure to fuse her left SI joint, and in October 2015 had the right side fused. “I woke up in recovery crying because my pain was so much better.” Brandy used a walker at home for six weeks and then utilized a cane for three weeks. She attended physical therapy six weeks post-operatively which she felt was beneficial. Brandy can now home-school her children without interruption, ride her bike and travel. “My husband has to tell me to slow down these days.”