Dealing with chronic back pain is frustrating — especially when the discomfort persists despite rest, physical therapy, medications, and other common treatments. If you’ve exhausted all your treatment options, it’s time to learn more about facet joint injections.
Facet joints are small joints in your spine that can get inflamed or irritated, causing chronic discomfort. At Interventional Spine and Pain Institute, we offer facet joint injections in Palm Bay and Vero Beach, Florida, as a minimally invasive option to diagnose, treat, and ease persistent spinal pain. Here’s what you need to know.
Facet joints (also called zygapophyseal joints) are tiny paired joints located on the back of your vertebrae. There’s one facet joint on each side, and together, they help your spine twist, bend, and flex, while also providing stability.
But sometimes, these joints get inflamed or stiff due to aging, arthritis, overuse, or even injury. When that happens, pain can start in the joint itself and refer into nearby areas like your lower back, buttocks, hips, or neck.
Facet joints themselves are tiny, but each facet joint is connected to small nerves. That means irritation or inflammation in the joint can trigger significant, chronic pain that doesn't always respond to conservative treatments.
Facet injections can serve two important roles: diagnostic and therapeutic. If you experience significant pain relief immediately after the local anesthetic, it suggests that the facet joints are contributing to your pain.
After the local anesthetic fades, the steroid component helps reduce inflammation over time, which may lead to prolonged pain relief and better function. For many patients, these injections are a very effective way to target pain caused by facet joint irritation without resorting to invasive surgery.
A facet joint injection involves placing medication directly into or around the affected facet joint to reduce inflammation and relieve pain. Here’s a step-by-step look at how the process typically works:
You lie face-down on a procedure table. Your clinician sterilizes the area and administers a local anesthetic to keep you comfortable. Then, we use fluoroscopy (real-time X-ray) or another imaging technique to guide the needle into the precise joint.
Once the needle is in place, we inject a small amount of local anesthetic for immediate numbing along with a corticosteroid to reduce inflammation.
Sometimes, we administer the medication directly into the joint, and other times, we place the injection around the joint or near the nerves that supply it (called a medial branch block) for diagnostic or therapeutic benefit.
The procedure typically takes under 30 minutes, and you can go home the same day. You might feel some soreness at the injection site for a few days.
The anti-inflammatory effects of the steroid develop within days to weeks, lessening your pain. The relief can last for months, but the duration varies depending on the individual.
At Interventional Spine and Pain Institute, we have the experience and capabilities to tailor treatment to your specific diagnosis, pain pattern, and goals. Facet joint injections are a minimally invasive, effective option for many patients dealing with chronic spinal pain, especially when conservative treatments haven’t been sufficient.
Facet joint injections may be a good option for you if:
If the injection works well, we may recommend radiofrequency ablation of the medial branch nerves, which can provide longer-lasting relief. If the injection doesn’t help, you’re not out of options. We’ll work with you to re-evaluate and consider other sources of pain or alternative treatments.
Back or neck pain shouldn’t limit your daily life. And if conservative care hasn’t made a meaningful difference, you don’t have to jump straight to surgery. Contact us today to discuss whether facet joint injections could be part of your personalized pain management plan.
