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All Posts Tagged: Facet Block Injection treatment

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What Is A Facet Block Injection? The Procedure and Purpose of Facet Block Injection

This is a treatment that gives brief relief from back pain, just as a test to see if facet joints are the source of a patient’s back pain. In this case, the injection is inserted into the facet joints, which are situated on each side of the vertebra and associate the vertebra of the back together. The injection works in a way to diminish inflammation in the tissue of the facet joint.

The facet block injection is performed with requiring the patient lying on the abdomen. Preceding the injection, the site of the injection is cleaned and numbed with local anesthetic. The medication is inserted with the help of X-Ray guidance.

Prior to the Facet Block Injection

The patient will be asked to provide information in regards to the ongoing issues, past medical history, and medications. The patient will be guided with complete guidelines on the best way to plan for the coming procedure. It is advisable to carry a recent MRI with you. The patient will likewise be asked to hold any blood thinning medications, for example, Coumadin, Plavix, Aspirin, and any NSAIDS.

After The Facet Block Injection

After the procedure, you may have brief numbness or faintness of your extremities enduring up to 6 hours. In some cases, it might be problematic to walk because of an absence of sensation in your foot. As this decreases, a few patients report expanded inconvenience. This can be linked with disturbance from the steroid and will resolve. You should start to observe relief from pain after 3-7 days of the procedure. However, there is no certainty how much relief from pain you will get. Fruitful outcomes rely upon your diagnosis.

What Purposes Does A Facet Block Injection Serve?

This treatment serves two needs: diagnosis and treatment. On the off chance that the patient gets 50% or more noteworthy relief from pain like 2 hours after the procedure, it can be anticipated the facet joint is a source of the pain in this case, as may occur with joint pain or injury. Once the diagnosis is confirmed with repeat injections, the facet block is then used to diminish pain using corticosteroids.

How Soon Can You Resume Everyday Activities After The Procedure Of Facet Block Injection?

When allowed to go home, you will be advised to rest for 24 hours and avoid driving or operating machinery for 24 hours. A sum of three injections inside a six-month timespan can be performed. In this case, injections must be spaced at least two weeks apart and you should contact the doctor in the middle of injections to get a new prescription for each.

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Significant pain reduction with Facet Block Injections

The new talk of the physicians: they are prescribing Facet joint injections for either therapeutic or diagnostic rationales. Besides this, it is also identified as a facet blocks which are highly accurate outpatient procedures. This can provide instant response to the physician which helps in the confirmation of that specific facet joint which is responsible for causing pain in patient’s neck or back. Furthermore, a facet block promises to provide noteworthy pain diminution with no to minimum risks and downtime typically associated with spine surgery.

Facet joint condition is an arthritis-like circumstance that can be a source of severe pain in the back of the spine and neck. It is caused by degenerative changes to the joints between the spine bones. The cartilage inside the facet joint can shatter down and become inflamed, triggering painful sensation in nearby nerve endings. Medication, physical therapy, joint injections, nerve blocks, and nerve ablations may be used to administer symptoms. Chronic symptoms may require surgery to fuse the joint.

A diagnostic facet joint injection is frequently carried out to substantiate the root cause of the pain. When carrying out a facet block, the general practitioner introduces a small needle into a facet joint that is assumed to be damaged or inflamed. Occasionally, fluoroscopic (X-ray) supervision is used for improved precision. The physician then injects a mixture of a local anesthetic and time-release steroid medication to numb the joint, reduce inflammation and block pain.

Facet joint injections usually involve the following steps:

  1. The patient lies face down on a procedure table in a physician’s office or fluoroscopy suite.
  2. The skin at the injection site is carefully cleansed.
  3. The physician applies a numbing agent to the injection site.
  4. The physician guides a small needle into the targeted facet joint.
  5. The physician injects a small amount of contrast dye to confirm that the needle is correctly positioned and the medication is contained within the joint.
  6. Following this confirmation, the physician slowly injects a mixture of anesthetic and anti-inflammatory medications.

If you have neck or back pain and would like to learn more about facet joint injections, you are encouraged to explore your treatment options with the expert physician, Dr. Zaki Anwar. . He is a world renowned Pain Medicine Physician. Dr Zaki has been practicing ways to cure pain leading to serious problems for the past several years and has achieved remarkable results. Feel free to call our office at 815-464-7212.

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