5 Ways to Treat Your Facet Joint Syndrome

Facet joint syndrome, also commonly referred to as Osteoarthritis (OA), is a degenerative joint condition that affects as many as 27 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Are you a victim of unshakeable, chronic pain from your neck to your lower back? Do you have difficulty, or an inability to bend and twist? Don’t rule out facet joint syndrome as the cause of your persistent pain.  Learn 5 ways to treat your facet joint pain without resorting to surgery or pharmaceuticals.

What is Facet Joint Syndrome?

Simply put, facet joint syndrome is hallmarked by pain at the joint between two vertebrae in your spine.  Pain in your facet joints is problematic because these are the joints that make your back flexible and allow you to bend at your waist and to twist. When pain is located in these junctures it can greatly impact your daily activities. Several nerves exit your spinal cord through these facet joints impacting other parts of your body.  Normal facet joints, with the help of synovial fluid and cartilage,  allow your vertebrae to slide easily against each other without painful friction. When cartilage breaks down, or a joint lacks the necessary synovial fluid, you begin to have osteoarthritic symptoms from inflammation and swelling.

What Are the Causes of Facet Joint Syndrome?

While facet joint syndrome can stem from multiple things going on in your spine and joints, it is usually a result of injury, pressure overload, and/or aging. Degeneration of your intervertebral discs in your spine causes them to erode and lose their former stability.  The space between each vertebra begins to collapse causing misalignment of your facet joints. Misalignments direct excessive pressure on the articular cartilage surface of your facet joints causing the cartilage to break down and the articular surface to sustain damage. Severe facet joint syndrome will leave bone rubbing on bone and can lead to painful bone spurs around your facet joints. Bone spurs can cause compression problems on your nerves and impede back function even more than before.  Severe cases lead to a narrowing of your spinal canal (spinal stenosis).

Diagnosing Facet Joint Syndrome

In order to confirm that your symptoms are, in fact, facet joint syndrome, our providers at Texas Spine & Sports Therapy Center will take time to gather your complete history and conduct a thorough physical exam. More extensive diagnostic exams (x-rays, bone scan or CT) may be necessary to pinpoint the exact condition of your spine.  Having accurate information to go on will allow us to treat you effectively and restore your functionality more quickly.

5 Treatment Options for Your Face Joint Syndrome

Facet joint syndrome triggers chronic pain and dysfunction that interrupts your daily life.  Getting to the root cause of your pain and eliminating it is our goal at Texas Spine & Sports Therapy Center.  The following treatments that we offer help you rehabilitate and manage your pain:  

• Facet joint injections –  Steroid medication and local anesthetic is injected into the facet joint to relieve pain and allow recovery of movement, so you can transition smoothly with physical rehabilitation.
• Epidural steroid injections – This treatment is commonly prescribed for relieving neck pain, back pain, arm, and leg pain caused by irritated or injured spinal nerves. Pain relief is achieved by injecting a corticosteroid into the epidural space of your spine, quickly reducing nerve inflammation at the source.
• Physical therapy – Targets improving mobility and strength while relieving pain.  Physical therapy helps get to the cause of your symptoms so you can find long-term relief.
• Cold therapy –  Cold therapy slows metabolic activity, numbs nerve endings, constricts capillaries which helps to minimize and control inflammation symptoms. It has the power to numb painfully inflamed tissues offering you some relief.  Cold therapy helps decrease blood flow to the affected area and reduce swelling and pain.
• Electrostimulation – When electrical currents are applied to tissue, they create thermal, physiologic, and chemical responses. These currents also change the pain impulses. Electrostimulation helps increase blood flow to muscles, enhances your range of motion, improves muscle strength and muscle endurance, calms irritated and inflamed nerves and is effective for treating muscle spasms.
• Massage therapy –  Helps with joint mobility, and flexibility, proper blood flow and pain management. Massage therapy helps increase blood flow which can help send vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants to damaged areas.

Call for a Facet Joint Syndrome Consultation

Selecting a state-of-the-art facility to treat your facet joint syndrome symptoms and pain can help guarantee your success.  After a thorough evaluation in our clinic, we can determine which treatment options, or which combination of treatment options, will work best for your symptoms.  Texas Spine & Sports Therapy Center provides you with the team approach you need to get to your desired goals safely and efficiently.  Conveniently Located Near Seton Hospital on 38th Street in Austin, Texas, our team of multidisciplinary providers are trained and skilled at providing you the pain relief you seek. Call us at (512) 806-0015 today to make an appointment.