Effectiveness and safety of tendon-bone-setting in postpartum women with sacroiliac joint pain: A retrospective multicenter study

Sacroiliac joint (SIJ) pain leads to abnormal joint loading, and is a key risk factor for joint degeneration. This study aimed to determine the effect of tendon-bone-setting on postpartum women with SIJ pain. Multicenter retrospective review of medical records and electroencephalography reports in 10 academic medical centers. 328 postpartum women with sacroiliac joint pain were divided into 2 groups according to the methods of therapy. Group (A) (n = 203) received acupuncture combined with tendon-bone-setting for twenty days, whereas group (B) (n = 125) received only the same acupuncture for twenty days. The outcome measures were the mean values of numeric pain rating scale (NPRS), present pain intensity (PPI) scale, visual analog scale (VAS) and Japanese orthopedic association (JOA) score to evaluate pain intensity, oswestry disability index (ODI), quebec back pain disability scale (QBPDS), active straight leg raise (ASLR) and back pain function scale (BPFS) to evaluate the functional disability, pressure pain thresholds (PPT) at 5 chosen points in the sacroiliac joint region to assess pain sensitivity. All of them were evaluated before and after treatment. The effectiveness from short to long term, as well as safety was assessed in this study. A comparison of the 2 groups after treatment showed statistically significant increases in the mean values of BPFS, JOA and PPT at the 5 chosen points (P < .05), as well as significant reductions in the scores of QBPDS, ODI, ASLR, NPRS, VAS and PPI (P < .05) in favor of group (B). In addition, after treatment for 2 weeks, the considered effective rate in the group (A) was significantly higher than that in the group (B) (P < .05). Also, the cumulative incidence of pain relief at 24 months in the group (A) was greater compared with the group (B) as determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis (P < .05). Interestingly, none serious adverse event for the participants was reported. Tendon-Bone-Setting is effective and safe in treating sacroiliac joint pain for the postpartum women patients in the short and long terms through decreasing pain sensitivity and intensity, as well as improving functional ability.