Interventional treatments for sacroiliac joint pain: a systematic review and network meta-analysis
Authors' conclusion
These findings support the overall effectiveness of RF techniques for SIJ pain
Study context
- Population
- Patients with sacroiliac joint (SIJ) pain (a frequent cause of chronic low back pain)
- Participants
- 1,075 patients · 18 trials
- Comparison
- Interventional treatments for SIJ pain: conventional, cooled and pulsed radiofrequency (RF) ablation, intra-articular steroid injections, prolotherapy, platelet-rich plasma, sham, conservative management
- Outcome
- Pain intensity and Oswestry Disability Index
- Follow-up
- 1, 3, and 6 months
Methodological detailsrandom-effects network meta-analysis, P-score ranking
- Random-effects network meta-analysis
- P-score ranking
Pooled result
As reported in the abstract
- RF-based interventions consistently outperformed steroid injections, sham and conservative care
- Pain relief: cooled RF ranked highest at 1 month, conventional RF at 3 months, pulsed RF at 6 months, significantly superior to most comparators
- Disability: pulsed RF greatest improvement at 1 and 3 months; CT-guided intra-articular steroid injection ranked highest at 6 months
- Certainty of evidence generally low to very low (imprecision, study limitations)
Original publication
Interventional treatments for sacroiliac joint pain: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Reg Anesth Pain Med. Published 30 March 2026. doi:10.
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