If you’re struggling with neck or back pain and are considering facet joint injection, it’s important that you know everything about the injection to make an informed decision.
Facet joint injections treat pain that originates from the facet joint of your neck or back. Typically, the pain results from segmental instability, trauma to the spine, inflammatory synovitis, osteoarthritis, and meniscoid impingement.
Let’s discuss a few questions you can ask your doctor about facet joint injection before going for it and where you can go to get one in Delaware.
What is Facet Joint Injection?
Facet joint injections involve administering medications, such as steroids (anti-inflammatory), lidocaine (anesthetic), and/or other pain relievers in your facet joint – a pair of small joints located at the back of your spine between each of your vertebrae.
Your pain management doctor may use CT (computerized tomography), ultrasound, or fluoroscopy (a form of real-time x-ray) to guide the placement of the needle into your facet joint.
Is Facet Joint Injection Painful?
Ideally, facet joint injection should not be painful as the injection site is numbed before the injection. However, when a local anesthetic is injected into your facet joint, you may feel a slight burning sensation and a little pinch. You may also feel some pressure around the site of injection.
Once the local anesthetic and pain reliever wears off, you may experience a little soreness around your injection site for a few days.
How Successful is Facet Joint Injection at Relieving Pain?
Most patients find facet joint injections highly successful at relieving their lower back, upper back, and or neck pain.
A study published in 2022 has also reported that facet joint injections are one of the most commonly performed procedures among all the spinal interventions that are aimed at relieving facet joint pain.
Are There Any Side Effects of Facet Joint Injection?
Generally, facet joint injections are safe. However, like all medical procedures, facet joint injection also comes with a few minor side effects. The most common side effects of facet joint injection are:
- Pain around the site of facet joint injection
- Increased back pain for a short period
- Swelling
Rarely, medication such as steroids used during the injection may also cause side effects such as warmth, fluid retention, anxiety, insomnia, mood swings, irritability, and weight gain.
For How Long Does the Effect of Facet Joint Injection Last?
A facet joint can relieve your pain for at least three months or longer. This means you may have to get the facet joint injection up to three times per year to relieve your pain.
Facet Joint Injection in Delaware
Looking for facet joint injections in Delaware? Visit us at Delaware Back Pain & Sports Rehabilitation Centers. Our team consists of highly skilled and trained interventional pain management providers who will not only treat your pain but also show you some ways to decrease the severity and frequency of your pain. In addition to facet joint injections, our providers also offer epidural injections, trigger point injections, selective nerve route blocks, and PRP injections, to name a few.
To know more, call us today at seven convenient locations or fill out our convenient appointment request form.
