Back pain affects millions of people worldwide, and it can become a chronic pain condition. Back pain has many potential causes, from nerve compression and spinal degeneration to arthritis and soft tissue injuries. One of the conservative treatments for back pain is a steroid injection, which can relieve inflammation and pain. Facet joint injections are an effective treatment for certain types of back pain – could they be right for you?
What Is a Facet Joint Injection?
Facet joints are the connections between the vertebrae in the spine. Like all joints in the body, facet joints allow movement between connecting bones. Cartilage covers the spinal bones, and small ligaments connect the vertebrae, allowing the spine to bend as needed. If there is inflammation in the joints, it can put pressure on surrounding nerves, causing pain. Facet joint injections are used to deliver medication directly to the inflamed facet joint to relieve inflammation and pain.
Most facet joint injections contain lidocaine or another local anesthetic and a steroid. When the injection is given, the local anesthetic can provide immediate pain relief. If back pain is relieved from the injection, doctors know they have targeted the right facet joint. The local anesthetic does wear off in a few hours, but the steroid begins working to relieve inflammation. Most patients begin experiencing pain relief from the steroid injection within a few days after their procedure.
What Types of Back Pain are Treated with Facet Joint Injections?
Many different types of spinal injections are used to combat back pain. Facet joint injections target pain that is occurring due to inflammation in the small spinal joints. Some of the spine conditions that are diagnosed and treated with facet joint injections include:
- Spinal arthritis
- Facet syndrome
- Spinal injuries or trauma
- Herniated discs
- Spinal stenosis
- Degenerative spine diseases
Anything that causes inflammation within the facet joints can cause pain and restrict spine movement. Facet injections are a minimally-invasive and interventional treatment that can deliver steroid medication directly to the source of back or neck pain.
How Are Facet Joint Injections Performed?
To ensure the needle is placed in the right facet joint in the spine, imaging is used to guide the injection. Patients lie face down on a medical table, and a topical anesthetic is applied to the skin before a local anesthetic injection is performed. Once the area is numb, the facet joint injection is given, guided by X-ray imaging. The entire procedure takes less than a half hour in most cases.
If you have back or neck pain, it may be due to facet joint inflammation. For diagnosis or treatment of your back pain condition, contact our team at Trinity Surgical Care. We offer facet joint injections at our San Jose, CA medical facility – call today to schedule your back pain consultation.
