What is Facet Joint Injection?

The facet joints are bony, cartilage-lined structures that are present in the spine where one vertebra coincides with the adjacent one above and the one that is below. The facet joints are responsible for flexibility and controlling the bending range of our spine. To deal with facet joint pain, a mildly invasive therapy is administered that is aimed to diagnose as well as relieve the patient of the pain caused by the injured facet joint. Patients who suffer from worn-out or damaged facet joints due to injuries, or conditions like spinal arthritis or facet joint syndrome, come under the ambit of this therapy.

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The Procedure at Dunes Pain

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Our physician will first clean and disinfect the skin, then local anesthesia (e.g. lidocaine) is applied to the area to make it numb. However, your Dunes Pain physician might give IV sedatives if you are particularly anxious.

 

As soon as the anesthetic effect takes place, the facet joint injection containing the steroid medication is administered in the injured joint. All of this is done utilizing X-Ray fluoroscopy imaging so as to achieve high precision. In some cases, if the pain does not subside, then a further dosage of medication is injected by the doctor. Immediately after the treatment, the needles are removed and the procedure site is bandaged. The patient is guided towards the recovery room for monitoring of any adverse effects and is made to do movements that can trigger the pain.

 

This entire process consumes around 30 minutes.

 

After Care

In the case of intravenous or IV sedation, the vitals of the patient is carefully observed before his or her discharge from the clinic. The patient may need to be driven home by family members or a caretaker. It should be noted that immediate relief in pain can be felt due to the anesthetic but it wears off in a few hours. At this stage, the steroid effect takes place which provides long-lasting relief after one or two days.

 

The physician might recommend avoiding physical exertion, driving, and taking pain-relieving medicine (for a few hours) after the procedure. All instructions will be imparted in a crystal clear manner by our experts.

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There are no serious side-effects of this therapy, however, some patients might feel numbness and a “weird” feeling in their neck or back. Sometimes, there can be infections, allergies, or bleeding. Call Dunes Pain Specialists without delay in case of any aggravating reactions or pain.