Facet Joint Injections for Lower Back #pain

Facet Joint injections for lower back pain are given under xray in the outpatients department at hospital. It is an injection into the small linking joints of your spine, the facet joints.

It's not a cure for the cause of the pain but it is used to help reduce the level of your pain.

 The injection contains a mixture of local anaesthetic and steroid. It is thought to have the following beneficial effects:

• Local anaesthetics numb the nerves for a period of hours giving short-term relief.

• Local steroid has a long-term effect reducing inflammation in the joint and around the nerves.

There are only minimal effects on the rest of the body using local steroids by this route of administration. Any side effects, are more likely to occur if steroids are given orally over a short period of time, for example raised blood pressure and weight gain.Diabetics may experience short-term problems. Several joints may be injected in the same session.  If the Facet Joint injection is helpful it may be repeated at intervals of a minimum of four months. My first set of Facet Joint injections are booked for this Thursday after my MRI showed signs of arthritis in the facet joints. Hopefully this will help me cut down on my medication for a while.