As many of you hear me saying in the office when discussing your back pain, the facets are often either contributing to the back pain, or they are the sole source of the pain.

In 1911, Goldthwait discovered that lumbar facet joints were a possible source of back pain and showed several examples of low back pain coming from them. Over twenty years later, Ghormley came up with the term “facet syndrome”, and defined it as “low back pain without sciatica”, often occurring suddenly after a severe rotatory or twisting strain of the low back region. In 1941, Badgley then added to the research, noting that the facet joints themselves can be can be a primary source of back pain, separate from spinal nerve compression. He made a plea to continue focus on facet joints to help the masses of people whose back pain is bad, but not due to disk issues.

Please ask me more about this issue, as well as median branch blocks and radiofrequency ablations when we speak in the office. – RP

Here is another good link to check out for further information