Lumbar zygapophysial joint arthropathy is a challenging condition affecting up to 15% of patients with chronic low back pain. The onset of lumbar facet joint pain is usually insidious, with predisposing factors including spondylolisthesis, degenerative disc pathology, and old age. Despite previous reports of a "facet syndrome," the existing literature does not support the use of historic or phy...

STUDY DESIGN A retrospective review. OBJECTIVES Evaluation of the prevalence of facet or zygapophysial joint pain in chronic spinal pain of cervical, thoracic, and lumbar origin by using controlled, comparative local anesthetic blocks and evaluation of false-positive rates of single blocks in the diagnosis of chronic spinal pain of facet joint origin. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Facet or zyg...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of chronic, recurrent neck pain is approximately 15% of the adult general population. Controlled studies have supported the existence of cervical facet or zygapophysial joint pain in 36% to 67% of these patients, when disc herniation, radiculitis, and discogenic are not pathognomic. However, these studies also have shown false-positive results in 27% to 63% of the pati...

Studies implicate the cervical facet joint and its capsule as a primary anatomical site of injury during whiplash exposures to the neck. Although the facet joint is known to undergo stretch as the superior vertebra is retracted relative to the inferior vertebra during the whiplash kinematic, the response of the facet capsular ligament and its microstructure during failure in joint retraction is...

Although considerable biomechanical investigations have been conducted to understand the response of the cervical spine under whiplash (rear impact-induced postero-anterior loading to the thorax), studies delineating the effects of initial spinal curvature are limited. This study advanced the hypothesis that abnormal curvatures (straight or kyphotic) of the cervical column affect spinal kinemat...

BACKGROUND Chronic spinal pain is common along with numerous modalities of diagnostic and therapeutic interventions utilized, creating a health care crisis. Facet joint injections and epidural injections are the 2 most commonly utilized interventions in managing chronic spinal pain. While the literature addressing the effectiveness of facet joint nerve blocks is variable and emerging, there is ...