Facet Joint Injection

Back pain and neck pain are some of the most common issues adults face. There are a large number of reasons you may be experiencing back or neck pain, one of them being facet joint syndrome. Facet joint syndrome can make it painful to bend, twist, or move your head and torso. Fortunately, treatments such as facet joint injections can help diagnose facet joint complications and treat pain symptoms.

If you have been suffering from facet joint syndrome, back pain, or neck pain, you may be a candidate for a facet joint injection. Speak with a Florida neurosurgeon today about potential treatments for your pain.

What is a Facet Joint?

Facet JointsBetween each pair of vertebrae, there are two facet joints. These joints are crucial for you to twist from side to side and bend forward. The joints are covered by cartilage which allows the bones to move smoothly on one another. Over time, the cartilage starts to deteriorate and causes the bones to rub on one another causing pain leading to facet joint syndrome.

Facet Joint Injections

A facet joint injection, also known as a facet joint blocker, is a procedure used to deliver a pain-relieving combination of local anesthetic and corticosteroid to the spine. Like other nerve block injections, this procedure can be used to either diagnose problems in the facet joints or to provide therapeutic pain treatment to the joints.

Facet joint injections are similar to sacroiliac joint injections and epidural steroid injections with the difference being the injection site used. A neurosurgeon will inject a facet joint blocker into the facet joint itself or into a medial nerve branch that routes nerve signals from a particular facet joint.

Your doctor may use facet joint injections to treat or diagnose:

  • A form of chronic inflammation called facet joint syndrome
  • Arthritis of the facet joints
  • Neck pain
  • Back pain
  • Pain and other neurological symptoms in an arm or leg

How Does A Facet Joint Injection Work?

Facet Joint PainThe facet joints, found on both sides of the back of the spine, can become painfully irritated or inflamed. A facet joint injection may help diagnose the source of a patient’s pain. It can also relieve pain and inflammation.

Skin Numbed

In preparation for the procedure, the physician numbs the skin and tissue above the facet joint with an injection of local anesthetic.

Placement Confirmed

With the aid of an x-ray device called a fluoroscope, the physician guides a needle through the numbed tissue and into the facet joint. Contrast dye is injected into the joint to confirm the needle’s placement.

Medication Injected

Facet Joint Pain

Once the needle is positioned, the physician injects a soothing mixture of numbing anesthetic and an anti-inflammatory steroid medication. One or more facet joints may be treated. If this causes the pain to subside, it suggests that the facet joint (or joints) injected were the cause of pain.

End of Procedure

Back or neck pain may disappear immediately after a successful injection because of the anesthetic that is administered. As this anesthetic wears off, pain may return. The steroid will begin to take effect in the days after the injection. The steroid will reduce inflammation and pain. The injection can provide relief for a span ranging from several days to several months. Up to three injections may be given per year.

How Often Is A Facet Joint Injection Performed?

Patients looking to achieve pain relief through facet joint injection must realize that these injections do not provide permanent pain relief and will require additional treatment.

One or two repeat injections are typically given over a six-month period. However, receiving more than three injections over a six-month period is not recommended.

Is A Facet Joint Injection Right For You?

It is always important to discuss any potential medical procedure with your doctor beforehand to ensure that you are an appropriate candidate and the procedure can help you.

Facet joint injections will only be effective in providing pain relief for individuals who are suffering from pain in one or more facet joints due to injury, inflammation, or irritated nerves within the joint. A diagnostic injection can be used to determine whether or not the pain is stemming from an issue with a facet joint.

Initially, your doctor will administer a series of physical diagnostic tests that stress the facet joint or joints. If these diagnostic tests cause you to experience the same pain symptoms you have been suffering from, a diagnostic facet joint injection will be ordered.

A diagnostic injection is performed with the help of a fluoroscope to guide the injection. Unlike a therapeutic facet joint injection, a diagnostic injection only employs a diagnostic dye and local anesthetic without a steroidal medication. A therapeutic facet joint injection may be ordered if you experience significant pain relief from your diagnostic injection.

What Risks Does This Type Of Interventional Procedure Pose?

Any interventional procedure, such as a facet joint injection, does carry some potential for side effects and risk of complications. Fortunately, facet joint injection side effects and risks associated with injections are low, and serious complications rarely arise.

Potential risks and complications from facet joint injections include:

  • Allergic Reactions: Severe or rare allergic complications are rare and are usually reactions to the diagnostic dye or steroid used rather than the anesthetic. Be sure to discuss any allergies with your doctor prior to your procedure.
  • Bleeding: Excessive bleeding around the injection site is rare and usually occurs in patients with underlying bleeding disorders or patients using blood thinners.
  • Infection: Minor infections around the injection site are rare, occurring in only 1%-2% of all injections. Severe infections occur in 0.1%-0.01% of all injections.
  • Worsening Pain Around the Injection Site: Some patients may develop pain around the injection site. Pain should go away within a few days. Contact your doctor immediately if pain does not go away or worsens several days after the procedure.
  • Spinal Cord Damage: Damage to the spinal cord or spinal nerves is extremely rare and usually due to an improper injection where the needle causes trauma to the spinal cord. The spinal cord could also be damaged if infection sets in.

How Should You Prepare For A Facet Joint Injection?

Any patient looking to undergo a facet joint blocker for pain treatment should speak with their doctor about the procedure beforehand. Be sure to discuss any medications you are taking with your doctor. You may need to stop taking certain medications, such as blood thinners, a few days or more before your procedure. Any allergies should also be discussed prior to your procedure.

You will also be asked to not eat or drink any food or beverages after midnight the night before your injection. Any medications that have been approved by your doctor for the day of the procedure can be taken with a small amount of water. Diabetics should avoid taking their diabetes medication until after the procedure is completed and your doctor has given approval.

Facet joint injections are non-invasive and non-surgical procedures performed in an outpatient center. You will be released the same day as your injection. However, you should have a friend or family member prepared to drive you to and pick you up from the clinic due to the local anesthetic used during the procedure.

Be sure not to drive or operate machinery until the day after the procedure.

Schedule A Consultation Today

If bending, twisting, or moving your torso or head has been causing you discomfort and interrupting your quality of life, but you do not know what is causing that pain, it may be time to check for problems with your facet joint.

At Florida Surgery Consultants, our highly trained and experienced team is prepared to help diagnose the cause of your pain, set a treatment plan, and help you begin your recovery. Contact us today at (888) 411-6824 or use the form on this page to schedule a consultation with one of our board-certified surgeons.

Schedule a Consultation Today

What Types of Non-Surgical Procedures Do Our Spine Specialists Perform?

What Surgical Procedures do our Board Certified Spine Surgeons Perform?

Removes a herniated disc in the neck to relieve neck pain

Titanium implant to keep spine stabilized after a decompression surgery (removal of a disc herniation)

Device that gets implanted to replicate the function of a normal disc which replaces a damaged disc.

Removal of the lamina to relieve compression on the spinal cord.

Inject bone cement into the vertebrae to fix a compression fracture.

Surgeon goes in through the waist to relieve nerves that are pinched by removing damaged disc material.

Stabilizes the spinal vertebrae by going in through the back of the patient by creating a fusion with two or more vertebrae.

Removal of a herniated disc or parts of the disc to relieve spinal cord pressure

Removes damaged disc material and fuses the vertebrae together

Removal of a disc herniation using a needle

Reduces a disc herniation with laser technology

Fuses Sacrum and Ilium to create one immobile joint which helps with back pain

Our Neurosurgical Spine Surgery Team

Currently on staff, we have three Neurosurgeons that specialize in spine surgery. Our Spine Surgeons see patients in all five of our office locations in Florida. To find out more on why patients should choose a neurosurgeon for spine surgery rather than an orthopedic spine surgeon click here. If you want to see their credentials click their profiles. 

Neurosurgeons close to me

Dr. Jonathan Hall, MD

Board Certified Neurosurgeon - Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

Florida Surgery Consultants New Neurosurgeon Dr. Donna Saatman

Dr. Donna Saatman, MD

Board Certified Neurosurgeon - Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

What type of conditions do our Board Certified Spine Surgeons Treat?

A tear in the ligament that connects your vertebrae to your disc

Loss of disc cushioning due to the aging process

The jelly like substance in between your vertebrae pushes through the annulus and touches the spinal cord.

A tear in the ligament that connects your vertebrae to your disc

Loss of disc cushioning due to the aging process

The jelly like substance in between your vertebrae pushes through the annulus and touches the spinal cord.

The narrowing of the spinal canal, can pinch your spinal cord and the nerves around it

Inflammation of the facet joints in the spine

 Degeneration or Inflammation of the Facet Joints

A disc that has lost most of its height which can cause disc pain

often called osteophytes, they are bony growths that can form where the bones meet one another.

Normal wear and tear due to the aging process, can also be called Degenerative Disc Disease