Treatment With Facet Blocks For Low Back Pain From Facet Syndrome
Facet Injections as Pain Management Treatment for Back Pain from Facet Arthritis
Low Back Pain afflicts 90% of Americans at some point. Most of it, 90%, resolves with 6 to 12 weeks regardless of the treatment. What about the other ten percent?
If the back pain is being generated from facet arthritis, also called facet syndrome, the back pain can become chronic and be extremely disabling to patients.. It can wax and wane or remain present like a pebble in a person's shoe. The main issue with arthritis is there is no treatment available which can reverse it.. One can only hope to try and contain it with pain relief options that alleviate the symptoms, such as facet injections.
Facet joints connect the spinal bones, vertebrae, and also allow for movement of the spine.. The lumbar region of the spine contains five vertebrae and is located in the lower back.
Facet joints are found on both sides (bilateral) of the spine. Each is roughly the size of a thumbnail. Lumbar facet joints are named for the spinal vertebrae they connect and the side they are found on the spine. The Lumbar 4-5 facet joint on the right side, for example, joins the 4th and 5th right sided lumbar vertebrae..
Typically, pain being generated from the facet joints causes back pain and does not radiate into the legs.. Lumbar facet joint pain is a result of injury, either to the cartilage inside the joint or the connecting ligaments surrounding the joint. This can be a result of simply getting older (arthritis) or post traumatic injury. Facet joint pain may range from simple pain such as simple muscle tension to more severe disabling pain.. Depending on which of the facet joints is affected, back pain may radiate down to the one's buttocks from the affected joint..
Typical imaging tests like MRI's or x-rays may not always show if a facet joint is the reason for your pain.
One option for treating low back from facet joint arthritis is facet injections, also known as facet blocks. Pain doctors perform facet blocks commonly for back pain from facet syndrome. Pain relief may be obtained for weeks to months with facet injections, and are performed as an out patient pain management procedure..
Facet injections are done with appropriate numbing medication.. Facet injections can be both therapeutic and diagnostic for neck or back pain.. A facet block can help the pain doctor confirm whether the facet joints are in fact the source of pain and can help alleviate the pain and inflammation.
Fluoroscopy, a type of x-ray, is typically utilized to make sure the needle is properly placed into the facet joint and usually dye is placed to make sure the needle is in the appropriate joint.
Once the physician places the needle into the facet joint, numbing medicine along with corticosteroid is injected.. The numbing medicine wears off within a day, subsequently the corticosteroid anti-inflammatory medication will begin to work within a few days. Pain relief may sustain for days, weeks, or months, or it may not happen at all. Depending on the pain location, one or more facet injections may be administered. If the pain is relieved after the injection, this suggests that the facet joint (or joints) injected were the cause of pain.
The time needed for pain relief to occur with reduction of inflammation from the steroid medication injection can take from three to ten days. As many as three injections may be performed per year in each facet joint..

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