How Facet Joint Injections Could Relieve Your Neck and Back Pain

The potential causes of neck and back pain are many and varied. A common cause, especially in older people, is a condition known as facet joint syndrome. It can cause pain in both the lower and upper back. Pain can also be felt in the neck, hips, and buttocks. Facet joint injections are one option for treating the pain.

Back and neck pain can be tricky to treat because so many different things can be at its core. When the issue is facet joint syndrome, you are actually dealing with damaged joints that are essentially arthritic. Facet joint injections do not repair or reverse the damage. But they do alleviate pain by soothing irritated nerves.

The Condition in a Nutshell

The spine is made up of a number of vertebrae (bones) connected by joints along its length. Like all the other joints in the human body, there is cushioning tissue between each bone. Whether through age, injury or disease, the joints between the bones can degrade. When they do, the bones grind on one another and irritate neighboring nerves. This is facet joint syndrome.

Facet joint syndrome can begin as little more than a minor inconvenience. A person might feel pain from the condition, mild pain that resolves on its own in a couple of days. Yet more advanced cases of the condition can result in chronic pain. The most serious cases can be debilitating.

Alleviating the pain via injection therapy is based on a dual strategy: reducing inflammation and interrupting pain signals so that they never reach the brain. The pain medicine doctors at Texas-based Lone Star Pain Medicine say patients experience relief from facet joint injections with varying rates of success.

Most patients begin experiencing relief within 24-48 hours. As for how long it lasts, some patients report several weeks of relief while others enjoy relief for several months. Lone Star doctors say that up to three facet joint injections can be performed per year.

A Simple, Outpatient Procedure

Facet joint injections are provided through a simple, outpatient procedure. Doctor and patient consult before the procedure is recommended. In some cases, a doctor might recommend the injections to confirm his diagnosis.

When it is time to perform the procedure, the patient lies on an exam table face down. The skin is numbed with a local anesthetic while the doctor prepares a medication solution containing both anesthetic and anti-inflammatory medications. A needle is inserted into the back and guided with a fluoroscope.

Once the needle is in position, the doctor injects the medications. The needle is removed, the site is bandaged, and the patient is given time to recover. In nearly every case, the patient is discharged within 30 minutes or so.

What Patients Can Expect

Patients can expect to feel pain at the injection site for 24-36 hours. That pain will gradually subside. Relief from the injection itself should be immediate, at least until the anesthetic wears off. Long term relief begins within a day or two.

Facet joint injections are considered a safe and minimally invasive procedure. The risk of complications or serious side effects is extremely low. The most concerning risk is the risk of infection, but it’s no higher than the infection risk for any other injection.

If you are experiencing neck or back pain you think might be associated with facet joint syndrome, you might want to see a pain management specialist for confirmation. A facet joint syndrome diagnosis would make you a prime candidate for injection therapy. Facet joint injections could be the answer you have been looking for.