What are the cervical facet joints, and why are facet joint injections helpful?
Cervical facet joints are pairs of small joints that are about the size of a thumbnail in between the vertebrae and the back of the neck. These joints allow your neck to twist and bend with ease. You may experience pain in your neck, shoulder, arm, or head if these joints become painful.
There are various reasons for a facet joint injection. Numbing medicine will be injected into the joint to test and see if that is the source of your pain. If you experience pain relief immediately, this confirms the cause of your pain. Also, the brief pain relief from the numbing medicine will allow a physical therapist or chiropractor to treat the joint better. To further assist treatment from a physical therapist or chiropractor, time-release cortisone will act to reduce any expected inflammation within the joint. It should be noted that relief is possible from the facet joint injection alone, without the need for chiropractic care or physical therapy.
What will happen to me during the procedure?
The physician will ask you to lie down on an x-ray table so that they may proceed to clean the skin over the back/side of your neck. Although it may sting for a little, the physician will then numb the same area of your skin. Through the use of fluoroscopic (x-ray) guidance, the physician will then maneuver a tiny needle into the facet joint. He will then may inject a contrast dye to affirm that the medicine has entered the joint. Lastly, a small compound of anti-inflammatory cortisone and numbing medicine (anesthetic) will be injected.
What should I do after the procedure?
Once the procedure is complete, you will try to spend the next 20-30 minutes provoking the pain you felt before. Our physicians, Leovigildo Reyes, MD, Lawrence Eppelbaum, MD and Hamid Tehrani, MD in Atlanta, Georgia will be available to answer your questions or symptoms by the phone. Yoy can be seen by our physicians within a week, when you will be able to report the percentage of pain relief you believe to have received. For at least eight hours after the procedure has been completed, try not to operate any heavy machinery. For a few hours after the procedure, you may notice a temporary numbness or weakness in your arm. While the cortisone and numbing medicine is in effect , you may be referred by us to a physical therapist or chiropractor treatment.
General Pre/Post Instructions
Two hours before the procedure, try to eat a light meal. Do not alter your regular food intake if you happen to be an insulin dependent diabetic. Proceed with taking your daily routine medications such as diabetes medications and high blood pressure medications. One day before the procedure, do not take aspirin and any anti-inflammatory drugs (E.G., Motrin/Ibuprofen, Relafen, Daypro, Aleve). You may continue taking these medications 24 hours after your procedure. If you are prescribed pain medicine, you may take it as needed before/after the procedure. Contact our clinic ahead of time if you are taking herapin, Xeralto, Plavix, Ticlid, Coumadin, lovenox or other blood thinning medications so that we may inform you of the timing of stopping these medications. We will not proceed with the procedure if you have a fever or an active infection. Contact someone reliable who may be able to drive you, though in majority of cases patients can drive car themself after 30 minutes after procedure. 24 hours after the procedure you may once again continue with your normal daily activates, including going to work.