Facet Joint Arthropathy

SYMPTOMS

• Do you feel that your pain is worse as the day progresses?
• Standing up straight makes it worse?
• Do you feel like you want to bend over to get relief, and when you’re in bed you actually feel
  better sleeping in the fetal position?

This could be a form of axial spine pain from degeneration
of your facet joints.

Our facet joints are the joints that stabilize our spine and don’t allow us to overextend backward. Even wonder why we can bend over all the way to the floor but not do the same backwards? The facet joints are responsible for this, and every time we actually bend backwards, we hit them over and over, eventually causing an arthritic reaction and chronic pain in the lower back.

TREATMENT

Medial Branch Nerve Blocks and/or Radiofrequency Ablation: These are the nerves that innervate the facets; by doing a series of blocks, both for diagnostic and treatment purposes, eventually they can be denervated by radiofrequency ablation, creating a longer-lasting relief of that aching back pain you have suffered for so long.