Spinal arthritis typically is the more commonly used name for facet joint syndrome. The facet joints in your spine allow you to bend and twist — all the things you take for granted — until pain gets in the way. Normally, facet joint syndrome comes from wear and tear of your cartilage, which damages your discs or impinges the nerves exiting your spinal cord. It’s the kind of pain that limits your movement, but you can get help at Pain Management in New York City. Call today for an appointment!
Inflammation in your spine or sacroiliac joints, located between your spine and pelvis, can cause spinal arthritis, also referred to as facet joint syndrome.The inflammation may be from wear-and-tear over time, an autoimmune disorder, an infection or some other condition. The most common type of spinal arthritis is osteoarthritis, which affects the cartilage of your lower spine.
Facet joint syndrome can hit any area of your spine, however. Most commonly, the pain associated with this condition appears in your lower back or your neck. Symptoms of facet joint syndrome include:
- General pain in the neck or upper back region
- Joint tenderness
- Pain after a trauma, such as a car accident or a hard fall
- Pain that worsens with poor posture
- Pain that increases at night
Causes and Risk Factors
The question of how to treat spinal arthritis begins with identifying its cause. If it’s not osteoarthritis, which is caused by wear and tear,you may have a genetic predisposition to spinal arthritis.Your pain doctor at pain management center NYC, therefore, asks you about the health of your parents, siblings and other close relatives.
Additionally, several risk factors increase your predisposition to facet joint syndrome. These factors include:
- Your age. Osteoarthritis tends to show up in your body after you turn 40. As you age, the discs that provide the cushiony support in your spine lose fluid. The vertebral discs begin to dry out, becoming more apt to rupture and press against the nerves of your spine.This condition is painful, but treatable.
- Being overweight or obese. Carrying extra weight adds stress to your spine. Many obese men and women carry this extra weight in the abdomen, which pulls your spine forward in the lower lumbar region.This causes an anterior pelvic tilt that pulls your spine out of alignment and dehydrates your discs.
- Herniated discs. Your spinal discs dry out over time as you age.In a herniation, the gel-like inner material of the disc escapes through a crack or break in the disc’s shell, where it presses on your spinal nerves, causing pain.
- Existing health conditions. If you have diabetes, gout, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Lyme disease, psoriasis or tuberculosis,you may experience nerve damage in your spine that results in diabetic neuropathy. IBS can cause certain types of arthritis known as enteropathic arthropathies. These inflammatory arthritic diseases, as well as reactive arthritis, result from infections in your digestive tract.
Treatment for Spinal Arthritis
At the top pain clinic in Manhattan, you’ll find several facet joint syndrome treatment options. The one best suited for you depends on a number of factors that your NYC pain management doctor considers.Invasive procedures are available, but you rarely need surgery. The best pain management doctors in New York always start with non-invasive procedures to treat your pain. These facet joint syndrome treatments include:
- Physical therapy. Physical therapy increases your strength, flexibility and endurance,as well as improving your balance. Best joint pain management specialist NYC help you overcome pain from facet joint syndrome by teaching you how to move and lift things without damaging your back.
- Opioids. These dangerously addictive drugs provide relief from pain, but can lead to worse problems. Prescription drugs like Oxycontin keep you out of pain if used with discretion.
- Spine facet injection. This corticosteroid injection alleviates some of the pain in your spine where nerves are being pinched. While it doesn’t correct the problem, it provides some temporary relief.
- Radio frequency ablation. This treatment uses heat from radio waves that blocks the nerves responsible for sending pain from your facet joints.
- Nerve blocks. A nerve block injection stops a pinched nerve from sending the pain signals to your brain. It’s also a temporary solution, but it lets you complete a physical therapy course of action without pain.
- Steroid joint injection. You can get a steroid injection in your neck or in your lower back to numb the nerve and put anti-inflammatory medicine right where it’s needed.
So contact Pain Management NYC for fast relief of your back or neck pain, as caused by facet joint syndrome. Visit the best back pain specialists in Manhattan.
Boleslav Kosharskyy, MD, is a top-rated, best-in-class interventional pain management doctor. He is board-certified in Anesthesiology, Interventional Pain Medicine, and Palliative Care.
Dr. Kosharskyy is an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Rehabilitation Medicine at Albert Einstein Medical College. He’s also the Associate Medical Director of Pain Medicine and Director of Anesthesia for the Joint Replacement Center at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein Medical College.
He is an active member of the American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA), the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ASRA), and the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists (NYSSA)