Thigh Thrust Test | SIJ Pain Provocation | SIJ assessment

The Thigh Thrust Test is a provocation test for the sacroiliac joint and is also included in the Cluster of van der Wurff and the Cluster of Laslett.

As reported by Laslett et al. (2005), the sacroiliac compression test has a sensitivity of 88% and a specificity of 69%, which gives it a moderate clinical value and it’s advised to do this test in a cluster.

To conduct the test, the patient is going to lie in supine position and you’re gonna stand on their asymptomatic side.

Flex the leg on the symptomatic side to 90° of hip flexion and place your hand over the patient’s sacrum.

Then apply longitudinal pressure through the patient’s femur, which will create a shearing force at the SI joint

Apply 3-6 higher velocity thrusts with gradually increasing pressure.

A positive test will result in the reproduction of the patient’s familiar pain.

Other common orthopedic tests that aim to provoke the sacroiliac joint are:

• Distraction Test
• Sacral Thrust Test
• Gaenslen’s Test
• Sacroiliac Compression Test
• Cluster of Laslett
• Cluster of van der Wurff

Laslett M, Aprill CN, McDonald B, Young SB. Diagnosis of sacroiliac joint pain: validity of individual provocation tests and composites of tests. Manual therapy. 2005 Aug 1;10(3):207-18.