What are lumbar facet joints, and why are the facet joint injections beneficial?
Located in pairs behind your spine, lumbar facet joints are tiny joints roughly the size of a thumbnail. They create stable motion in your mid-back. You may experience pain in your lower back 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 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 your back. Although it may sting for a little, the physician will then numb the same area of your skin. Through the use of fluoroscope (x-ray) guidance, the physician will then maneuver a tiny needle into the facet joint. He mayl then 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 Injection?
Once the procedure is complete, you will try to spend the next 30 minutes provoking the pain you felt before. Our physicians, Leovigildo Reyes, MD, Lawrence Eppelbaum, MD and Hamid Tehrani, MD practicing in Atlanta, Georgia will be available over the phone to answer your questions and you can 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 for the next two weeks, you may be referred by us to a physical therapist or chiropractor immediately.
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.