What is Facet Joint Syndrome?

How is a Facet Joint Syndrome Diagnosed?

Accurate and thorough diagnosis is key to selecting the best treatment options. The following is part of a comprehensive diagnostic workup:

• Medical History Assessment of symptoms, previous treatments and care.
• Physical Examination A careful examination by a spine specialist for limitations of movement, problems with balance, and pain. The examination should also cover loss of reflexes in your extremities, muscle weakness, loss of sensation or signs of spinal cord damage.
• Diagnostic Tests Generally, plain x-ray films are taken which allows the physician to rule out other problems such as infections. CT scans and MRIs are often used to give them a three-dimensional view of the lumbar spine and can help detect herniated discs.

Non-Operative Treatment

A number of non-surgical and conservative treatment options can be done to improve chronic facet syndrome or axial back pain. Many of these treatments can bring temporary relief and in some patients significant relief.

• Modifying daily activities to reduce stress on the back muscles
• Pain Medications Anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxers and on rare occasions narcotic painkillers
• Alternating Heat/cold Therapy during the first 24-48 hours
• Physical Therapy exercises to include stretching, massage strengthening
• Medial branch or facet joint epidural steroid injections are used two-fold, first, to relieve inflammation of the affected spinal nerve and secondly, diagnostically to confirm the correct affected level at which the pain originates from.

Least Invasive Procedures

When conservative care is not enough and the symptoms become chronic and exist for more than 6 months, then interventional and diagnostic injections and procedures may help.

In patients suffering from facet mediated back or neck pain a physician will diagnose the patient with this condition through a physical examination, radiographic studies and a confirmatory facet medial branch block injection. If the patient has a greater than 50% pain relief, they typically are a good candidate for a traditional percutaneous radiofrequency rhizotomy.

• Radiofrequency Ablation  During a percutaneous radiofrequency medial branch nerve ablation or RFA, a needle probe is inserted through the skin under X-ray guided image allowing for indirect visualization to target the medical branch nerve. The patient can elect to have conscious sedation or numbing medication to the skin and affected area around the nerve based on their tolerance for procedures. The probe is then heated thus attempting to create a lesion on the small nerve and relieve pain. The clinical results for a percutaneous medial branch nerve ablation are: 70% of patients get relief from their back or neck pain for 3 months up to 1 year.
• Endoscopic Medial Branch Nerve Transection With conscious sedation, a 7mm metal tube is inserted under X-ray image to the facet and a working channel endoscope with HD camera is inserted into the metal tube and under direct visualization the physician ablates/severs the medial branch nerve with a radiofrequency probe. The results in clinical literature have suggested about 80% of patients have experienced 50% or more reductions in back pain relief for up to 5 years. Furthermore, the endoscopic approach affords clinically superior longevity when compared to published results of radiofrequency ablation. *
• * Reference - https://www.thespinejournalonline.com/article/S1529-9430(13)01175-3/abstract

How to Protect Yourself Safe From COVID-19?

Mauris dapibus elit at odio dapibus, ut finibus odio porta. Aliquam aliquam tortor eu orci condimentum egestas stibu lum ante nulla. 

• Aliquam aliquam tortor eu orci condimentum egestas stibu.
• Duis mattis felis augue, finibus dapibus tellus dapibus at.
• Fusce risus augue, condimentum et odio vitae, lobortis auctor.
• Praesent euismod posuere nunc, in pharetra quam.
• Morbi facilisis turpis a sapienelementum, sit amet convallis.
• Integer gravida nisi tincidunt lobortis interdum donec consequ.
• Ut congue tristique augue in euismod quisque sit amet magna.