3 Common Causes to Sacrum Pain

Do you have Sacrum pain? Your sacrum is located at the bottom of your spine and it is what many people refer to as your tail bone. A lot of muscle attach into your sacrum including your Gluteus Maximus (your buttocks) and many smaller and deeper internal rotator muscles such as your Piriformis. Plus, your pelvis also attaches to abdominal muscles and leg muscles as well. There is a lot going on in that area of the body, but here I’m going to discuss some of the most common causes of Sacrum pain.

The first thing that could be going on is Piriformis syndrome. As mentioned before, your Piriformis muscle is a very deep rotator muscle. The Sciatic nerve happens to run directly under the Piriformis muscle and when that muscle becomes tense or spasms it can begin to crush the Sciatic nerve resulting in a condition called Sciatica.

This presents itself as a very sharp pain in your buttocks. The Piriformis can cause this pain either from overuse, such as if you are an athlete and you overtrain your legs, or from underuse, such as if you sit at a desk for 8 hours a day with little physical activity.

Another problem that could cause Sacrum pain is inflammation. Your body uses inflammation when it has been injured or exposed to some form of toxin as a way to prevent further damage to it. Unfortunately, the tissue swelling associated with inflammation can also put pressure on the nerves in the pelvis and sacrum area.

If you’ve been gotten some sort of injury lately, that would be an obvious source of inflammation. But there are also many kinds of food, which are common in western diets, that can cause inflammation. Many of the ingredients in fast foods and junk foods are actually a mild toxin in the body and can result in inflammation, so make the effort to eat a healthy diet.

A third possible cause of Sacrum pain is Sacroiliac joint problems. Your Sacroiliac joint (sometimes called the SI joint) is a joint that connects your sacrum to your hips. This joint does not have a very wide range of motion, and because of this many medical professionals believed for a long time that SI joint pain was actually indicative of other problems. However, times are changing and now many recognize that SI joint pain is in fact, very real.

Since this joint exists to help dissipate the stresses involved on balancing the body and the torsion of movement, pain in this area could be the result of overuse of the joint. Other potential causes are arthritis or inflammation. Without more information, it is difficult to determine the exact cause of SI joint pain.

Sacrum pain can have many different causes. The pelvis is a very complicated area of the body with many nerves and muscle groups linking together from the upper and lower body. To really understand what the cause of your sacrum pain is and the best treatment option, consult your doctor.