Facet Injections

Facet Injections services offered in South Miami, FL

Facet joints in your spine can be key to resolving back and neck pain. Facet injections provide pain-relieving medication targeting these tiny spinal joints. Triple-board-certified neurologist Awss Zidan, MD, offers facet joint injections at Miami Headache & Pain Clinic. Call today or book online to schedule your appointment at our Miami, Florida, location.

What are facet injections?

Facet injections target facet joint pain. Your spine contains many small facet joints, which connect the small bones of your spine, known as vertebrae. Facet joints provide essential spinal flexibility, which is needed for bending and twisting motions.

Facet joints also connect several nerves. Spinal nerves branch off to pass through facet joints, and the medial branch nerves connect through the facet joints. If nerves are compressed due to spinal or facet joint damage, pain results. Facet joint pain contributes to neck, upper back, and lower back pain.

Who needs facet injections?

You may benefit from facet joint injections as a treatment or as part of a diagnostic process. Dr. Zidan suggests this approach if your pain is centered over or corresponds to a specific facet joint.

Before trying facet joint injections, Dr. Zidan recommends conservative treatments like medication management and physical therapy. If these approaches don’t relieve your back pain, neck pain, or associated limb symptoms enough or if your symptoms are more severe, facet joint injections may be right for you.

What happens during facet joint injections?

Facet joint injections take about 15-30 minutes to complete. In case of an adverse reaction, a 1-hour interval of monitoring is followed.

You lie on your stomach for a low back injection and on your stomach or your side for a neck injection. Numbing local anesthetic keeps discomfort from troubling you during the procedure.

Dr. Zidan uses a small needle guided by live X-ray imaging to pinpoint the facet joint to be treated. He then administers pain relieving corticosteroid and anesthetic medications directly into the painful joint, finally removing the needle.

Are facet joint injections effective for pain relief?

Your pain relief results should appear within a few hours of the injection treatment. When used diagnostically, facet joint injections check for effective pain relief. If you don’t experience some degree of relief, your facet joint may not be the source of your symptoms.

If therapeutic facet joint injections are effective for you, you may continue them for ongoing pain relief. After an injection, pain relief results typically last for at least 2-4 months.

Find out if facet injections could relieve your neck, upper back, or lower back pain. Schedule your initial consultation appointment with Dr. Zidan by calling Miami Headache & Pain Clinic today, or book online now.