How is a facet syndrome treated?
As a frequently affected area, the lumbar spine is an important trigger of the lumbar spine syndrome, which affects many people. It is a common factor for occupational disability and affects especially physically hard working people, but also people with long sedentary jobs. The therapy is extremely important to maintain the quality of life.
In the case of signs of wear and tear such as facet syndrome, many of the joint structures are often already damaged at the time of diagnosis. The aim of therapy is to halt the progress of the disease, relieve the nerves, maintain movement in the spine and reduce the pain and symptoms. In most cases, a combination of symptomatic pain therapy and causal physiotherapy and movement therapy is used to achieve this.
For mild pain, painkillers from the NSAID group are prescribed first. The most important representatives are ibuprofen and diclofenac.If the pain is more difficult to bear, opiates can be used in the form of a pain patch, for example. Newer methods of pain therapy also include heat therapies, ultrasound treatments or current therapies.
A disciplined movement therapy is essential for the causal therapy of the facet syndrome of the lumbar spine. To achieve this, the back muscles must be intensively strengthened. Under the guidance of physiotherapists, various exercises can also be performed to maintain mobility in the joint.
If pain is resistant to therapy, symptomatic long-term therapy options can be considered. For this purpose, the sensitive nerves in the affected joint can be treated with anesthetics and coagulation therapies. The latter therapy involves heat sclerotherapy of the nerves.
The aim is to destroy the sensitive nerves in order to suppress the pain in the long term. The facet syndrome is much less common in the cervical spine than in the lumbar vertebrae. However, due to the many movement possibilities in the neck, it represents a much greater restriction in everyday life in the event of pain.
The pain sometimes extends from the neck to the head. In order to stop the progress of the disease and maintain mobility in the neck, careful movement therapy with symptomatic pain treatment is also important in the cervical spine. Exercise therapy in the cervical spine must be carried out with care, since the joint and muscle structures are much more sensitive here than in the lumbar spine, and many structures essential for survival are located in the cervical area.
Pain therapy consists of several stages, depending on the intensity of the pain and resistance to treatment. Medications such as ibuprofen and diclofenac are initially prescribed. For mild pain, natural remedies can also be used.
Opiates can be used for unbearable complaints. Ultrasound and heat therapies can also be used for facet syndrome of the cervical spine. For causal therapy it is also important to determine the trigger of the pain syndrome.
This can be a faulty, stooped posture, but also stress in sports and everyday life. In addition, the muscles must be strengthened and the posture optimized. Special back schools can provide appropriate therapies and instruct exercises for the neck.
A hyaluron injection can support the regeneration of the articular cartilage of the small vertebral joints (facet joints). This is hoped to reduce pain in the long term. In the case of nerve sclerotherapy, the pain-bearing nerves in the area of the small vertebral body joints (facet joints), for example, are switched off in a small procedure using heat or cold.
This causes the pain to subside. An infiltration with a local anesthetic is often carried out beforehand to check whether the pain subsides. In back school and physiotherapy, certain exercises can be learned to treat the facet syndrome. The main purpose of these exercises is to promote the stability of the spine and to strengthen the muscle power in the back. In addition to strength training for the long extensor muscles of the spine, the back school also includes exercises for self-awareness of the body, promotion of one’s own everyday activity, posture training and measures for pain management.
