Published June 25th, 2007
in Pain Management.
What are the cervical facet joints, and why are facet joint injections helpful?
Cervical facet joints are small joints located in pairs on the back/side of your neck whereas thoracic facet joints are in your mid-back and the lumbar facet joints in your lower back. These joints provide mobility and guide motion in your spine. If the joints become painful due to arthritis, injury or mechanical stress they can cause pain in various areas. The cervical facet joints cause pain in your head, neck, shoulder or arm whereas the thoracic facet joints can cause pain in your mid-back, chest and on rare occasion your arm. The lumbar facet joints can cause pain in your lower back, hip, buttock or leg.
A facet joint injection serves several purposes. First, by placing numbing medicine into the joint, the amount of immediate pain relief you experience will help confirm or deny the joint as the source of your pain. That is, if you obtain complete relief of your main pain while some of your facet joints are numb, it means these joints are more likely than not your pain source. Furthermore, time-release cortisone will be injected into these joints to reduce any presumed inflammation which can, on many occasions, provide long term pain relief.
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