Chronic neck pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal disorders in the US. Although biomechanical and clinical studies have implicated the facet joint as a primary source of neck pain, specific cellular mechanisms still remain speculative. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a mediator (activating transcription factor; 4ATF4) of the integrated stress response (ISR) is inv...

The prevalence of persistent low back pain secondary to involvement of lumbosacral facet joints has been described in controlled studies as varying from 15% to 52% based on types of population and settings studied. Previous studies have shown variances in elderly populations, and postlumbar laminectomy patients. But no variations were observed in obese patients or patients with somatization dis...

Objective: Recently few studies have described presence of cervical spine anomalies in obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) patients. It is also reported that some cases of cervical spine pathologies and osteophytes producing obstructive sleep apnea. We aim to investigate the prevalence of facet joint arthrosis and degenerative disc disease (DDD) in cervical spine using computed tomography ...

PURPOSE To study the relationship of lumbar facet joint tropism to degeneration of the cartilage and subcortical bone in the facet joints and the effect of tropism in intervertebral disk degeneration. METHODS The orientation of 104 cadaveric lumbar facet joints with respect to sagittal plane was measured on CT scans, and the joints were classified as having no tropism, mild tropism, or severe...

UNLABELLED The facet joint is a common source of pain, especially from mechanical injury. Although chronic pain is associated with altered spinal glial and neuronal responses, the contribution of specific spinal cells to joint pain is not understood. This study used the neurotoxin [Sar(9),Met(O2)(11)]-substance P-saporin (SSP-SAP) to selectively eliminate spinal cells expressing neurokinin-1 re...

Excessive stretch of the cervical facet capsular ligament induces persistent pain and spinal plasticity at later time points. Yet, it is not known when such spinal modifications are initiated following this painful injury. This study investigates the development of hyperalgesia and neuronal hyperexcitability in the spinal cord after a facet joint injury. Behavioral sensitivity was measured in a...

BACKGROUND Facet joint have been implicated as a source of chronic low back pain. Radiofrequency denervation has demonstrated the most solid evidence. To increase safety and efficacy of treatment, computed tomography (CT) guidance injection has been used in several disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of CT-guided radiofrequency rhizotomy in the treatment of facet joi...

Percutaneous and open pedicle screw placements have been widely used in lumbar fusion surgery. However, there are conflicting reports of cranial facet joint violation rate for the 2 techniques. To better determine the rate of cranial facet joint violation, a systematic review and meta-analysis was performed in the present study. We searched the established electronic literature databases includ...

Objective. To develop a novel animal model of persisting lumbar facet joint pain. Methods. Sprague Dawley rats were anaesthetized and the right lumbar (L5/L6) facet joint was exposed and compressed to ~1 mm with modified clamps applied for three minutes; sham-operated and naïve animals were used as control groups. After five days, animals were tested for hind-paw sensitivity using von Frey fila...

OBJECTIVE To derive a clinical decision guide (CDG) to identify patients best suited for cervical diagnostic facet joint blocks. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Pain management center. PARTICIPANTS Consecutive patients with neck pain (N=125) referred to an interventional pain management center were approached to participate. INTERVENTIONS Subjects underwent a standardized testi...