Facet joint injection of pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory drugs into your facet joints reduces pain. Small joints, called facet joints, connect the backbone vertebrae. Joint discomfort can result from years of use or trauma. After an injection, many feel better for months. The minimally invasive treatment has few risks. Find out what these injections cure, their adverse effects, and their cost.
Lumbar facet injections alleviate neck and back pain from facet joints. Up to 67% of people with neck pain experience spinal pain due to facet joint pain, according to 2021 research:
48 percent of people experience upper back discomfort
Lower back pain affects 45% of people.
Injections of steroids alleviate inflammation in the facet joints. They contain lidocaine or other painkillers. If physical therapy or activity modification fail to relieve your discomfort for at least three months, your pain doctor in Dallas may offer facet injections in the back.
Possible facet joint discomfort causes:
Osteoarthritis
joint instability & trauma
Excessive joint pressure
joint lining irritation
Patients undergo observation for up to an hour after the 15–30-minute injection before returning home. We avoid sedation because it interferes with measuring facet injections spine pain alleviation. Some patients receive anxiety medication on surgery day 1. Patients who get sedation or medication must arrange for a friend or family member to transport them home.
According to pain management in Dallas, a typical facet joint injection method involves the following steps:
Prepare and place: To straighten out the spine, give lumbar (low back) shots while lying on your stomach with a small pillow under your stomach. For cervical (neck) injections, the person lies on their back or side. We set up an IV line for the anxiety medicine.
Having numb skin: An under-the-skin local anesthetic numbs the facet joint after cleaning.
The needle's location: They use an x-ray or ultrasound to guide a thin needle into the right facet joint to make sure the implant is in the right place.It is important to check the placement of the needle. A little contrast color is put into the joint to make sure the needle is in the right place and to keep the drugs from getting into the bloodstream.
Giving out medications: The medicine is injected into the joint, and then the needle is taken out. After the surgery, the patient is watched for 30–60 minutes and asked to move to measure pain alleviation.
Facet syndrome is both diagnostic (pain alleviation after a local anesthetic injection) and therapeutic for chronic low back or neck discomfort.
Low back ache +/- sciatica with normal imaging
Post-surgical syndrome
There are no absolute contraindications for facet injections in neck, but two relative ones:
Systemic or cutaneous injection site infection, coagulopathy, contrast response, or drug allergies.
Injections of steroids in the same or different joints during pregnancy or youth.
assess the pain score immediately and 15-20 minutes later; monitor for immediate problems for 20 minutes.
The facet joint injection site may be uncomfortable for a few days, so avoid heavy exercise and driving for 24 hours. The next day, most of the time, you can get back to your daily schedule. Some medicines provided at Dallas Pain Clinic may make you hurt for a few days after they are given to you before they start to work.
Back pain treatment with facet shots for back pain is non-surgical and low-risk.
For many, facet joint injections relieve pain. A typical process takes less than an hour, and the injection takes minutes.
Same-day return home after injection. On the day of your injection, avoid strenuous activities, but you can resume regular activity
the next day.
Besides local numbing, facet joint injections require no anesthesia. Most significantly, they alleviate back discomfort for better health and mobility. Alternative treatments like chiropractic and physical therapy can be used with facet injections.
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