Facet joint disease damage
Posted June, 2008
If you look at the illustration below, you'll see that this "simple" sliding joint really has to perform flawlessly in order to work "as designed." If the surface degrades and inflammation sets in, or if the soft tissue that surrounds it grows in a manner that presents it from moving cleanly and smoothly, the spine is no longer able to move normally.
Distortions to the function of the column can quickly develop, causing even more stress on nearby areas of the back or neck as the patient attempts to compensate for the dysfunctional area by bending or moving in abnormal, hurtful ways.
This process starts a vicious cycle and the patient soon loses more and more spinal functionality. The pain gets worse, causing the patient to become less active, which further aggravates the stiffness...and so forth.
If you've got significant localized (not "referred") pain when you twist your back or neck, you could have this syndrome.
But don't despair. There are well-proven methods for clearly diagnosing and then effectively treating this problem.
We at Robb Pain Management are well-equipped to help relieve the pain of FJD.
Click here to read about treatments we can offer to help relieve FJD pain.