Facet Injury

The force from a motor vehicle collision can cause dislocation or fracture at a facet joint. The facet joints are the joint structures that connect the vertebrae, providing support, stability, and mobility. Like other joints in your body, cartilage lines the joint so bones can glide over one another, and a capsule surrounds the joint.

Recurrent painful episodes are frequent and unpredictable. Because facet damage causes symptoms that mimic a herniated disc, diagnosis can be delayed. Surgery may be necessary to restore the joint, and long-term pain and problems may continue.

With a lumbar facet joint injury, sitting and riding in a car are not recommended at the height of pain and disability. The muscle spasm can be so continual that it fatigues the muscles, repeating the cycle.

Symptoms:

• › Acute episodes of lumbar and cervical facet joint pain are typically intermittent, generally unpredictable, and occur a few times per month or per year.
• › Most patients will have persisting joint tenderness overlying the inflamed facet joints and some degree of loss in spinal muscle flexibility (called guarding).
• › Typically, there will be more discomfort while leaning backward than while leaning forward.
• › Low back pain from the facet joints often radiates down into the buttocks and down the back of the upper leg.
• › Cervical facet joint problems may radiate pain locally or into the shoulders or upper back.