In facet syndrome, the protective sliding cartilage covering the joint is damaged and worn. This is often a symptom of old age, which is related to a reduction in the height of the intervertebral discs and thus causes a loss of space between the vertebrae.
Physiotherapeutic intervention
In the physiotherapeutic treatment of the facet syndrome, it is first of all important to inform the patient about the clinical picture at hand, to create an understanding of the importance of active cooperation, and to jointly agree on a therapy plan and goals that are realistically achievable and maintain motivation. The A and O in therapy is to become active. Cartilage is only nourished and kept alive through movement.
Since it is not supplied with blood, it cannot heal on its own. However, progress can be prevented or slowed down by a healthy lifestyle, exercise and back-friendly everyday behaviour, tensions can be relieved, mobility can be increased again and pain can be alleviated. There are various measures, concepts and approaches for the treatment of a facet syndrome.
In manual therapy, the individual segments of the spine are moved slightly against each other by means of learned hand movements. Passive measures such as these are initially applied in the acute phase, the phase of greatest pain. The small, repeated movements not only promote the gliding synovial fluid, but also loosen surrounding tissue through the movement stimuli.
The muscles can be loosened by measures that are pleasant for the patient – massages, warmth, fango packs, deep fascia techniques, etc. Stretching is also suitable for releasing muscle tension and increasing mobility. In order to achieve long-term success, it is necessary to become active.
Through various exercises, the spine, its joints and surrounding structures are actively moved to maintain functions. Protective and supporting muscles of the entire trunk are strengthened and a physiological posture is trained. As important as movement is, it is also important to avoid stress.
Lifting heavy loads, staying in one position for a long time, or back training with weights would further damage the joint cartilage. For this purpose, a back-friendly behavior for everyday life is learned and optionally participation in a back school is prescribed. Some of the active exercise options are described below.
Effective exercises for strengthening the back can also be found in our article Back school. Active exercises for the treatment of the facet syndrome in the thoracic spine should be as simple as possible in order to allow easy practice and execution at home. Some examples of through movement, strengthening and loosening of the back are presented here.
1) For the movement through the entire length of the spine and all its individual segments, the alternation of the cat’s hump and pot-bellied pig in the four-footed position. Walk with your breathing, rolling up and down vertebra by vertebra slowly. This trains mobility in extension and flexion.
2) Another important component is rotation. Sit on a chair, legs parallel and hip-wide, hands lying, arms crossed, on your own shoulders. Now bend the upper body slowly forward sideways down, so that the right shoulder direction left knee is guided, slowly straightened and untwisted again and the same to the other side.
This and the cat hump can be practiced daily with about 10 repetitions per side. 3) For strengthening, stability exercises are suitable as: 4) For loosening, lie on your back, knees and hips bent at right angles, so that the shins are lifted parallel to the ceiling. Now slowly lower your knees alternately from side to side.
5) From a standing position, simply bend your upper body, arms and head forward under slightly bent knees and let them hang to release all tension. Hold this for a while, straighten vertebrae one by one and repeat the relaxation exercise several times. For more exercises that you can do for a facet syndrome, see our article Exercises for a facet syndrome. General exercises for the thoracic spine can also be found in our article Exercises for the thoracic spine.
- Forearm support,
- Push-up,
- Balance exercises on a petsiball and also
- Abdominal exercises to include both sides of the trunk.
