Facet joints are a common cause of back pain and the most frequent cause of LBP syndrome.

If the pain is not caused by a slipped disc and is not radicular, if it spreads to hips, neck, causes headache and back stiffness in the morning, the most probable cause is inflammatory process in facet joints in the adjoining spinal area.

Patients who suffer from facet joint damage have problems with prolonged standing, often cannot turn their head to the side so instead they have to turn their whole body and have difficulty getting up from a chair.

Facet joints are in charge of all spine movements. The damage occurs due to arthritis when these joints get swollen and hurt.
These types of injections are used when there is certainty that facet joints are the cause of the pain syndrome.

In aseptic conditions, under the guidance of the RTG device a thin needle is inserted into the joint and local anesthetic and corticosteroid are administered. Immediately after the procedure is completed, the patients feel substantial improvement due to instant effect of the anesthetic.

In the next few days the pain can intensify but when the corticosteroid starts to work, you can expect a more permanent pain syndrome reduction. 

If the patient does not experience significant improvement in the next ten days, the treated facet joint was not the cause of the pain syndrome. Then the procedure needs to be repeated on the surrounding facet joints.

These injections are used for conventional method of treating ailments but also as a very good control of success for some more sophisticated and aggressive procedures aimed to achieve long-term relief of back pain, one of which is radiofrequency rizothomy.