It is important to know as much as possible about our spine and the different problems that we can suffer from it., and in this case we are going to explain howé consists the facet osteoarthritis. Spaghettiéno call facet joint overload, It is a problem that represents until the 40% of cases of pain occurring in the lumbar back, so its incidence is más que notable.
This pathologyía takes place for a cart wearílago that is produced in the jointón what forms the látwo v minesévertebrae, that is to say, the jointón interapophyseal or facetary. thenóWe do not explain its causes, sísymptoms and treatments.
Index
Causes of lumbar facet osteoarthritis
El proceso de degenerationón that is experienced in the spine is physiolólogical and usually begins to occur on the second dayéloss of life in the intervertebral disc, which causes protrusions and herniations that cause the intervertebral disc to decrease. This causes an increase in pressureón on articular facets, and this causes greater wear on your cartílago. In this way, synovitis occurs in the joint.ón así like irritationón in the cápsula, what gives rise to facet pain.
The deterioration of the cardíjoint lakeón facet causes the laxity and subluxationón articular, a hypermobility that causes the appearanceón osteophytes and joint sclerosis, giving rise to facet hypertrophy. In this way, there is an instability that goes más allá of the límites fisiológicos and the pain originates.
The postures that are forced so much in flexión as in hypertensionón, especially those that have to do with gaining weight, significantly increase the load to be borne by the facet joints, and this can cause the appearance to be accelerated.ón of the lumbar facet osteoarthritis.
The so-called sílumbar facet syndrome may be the origin of facet osteoarthritis, inflammationón and back pain. In order to understand the process of osteoarthritis in the facets of the spine, It is important that minor nerve branches integrated into different spinal nerves be mentioned.ídeos of each of the vertebral segments, in the posterior ramus and the sinuvertebral nerve of Luschka.
It's transmissionóNo pain picked up from the posterior ramus can be felt locally, like low back pain, and/or referred pain. The inflammationólack of wear and tear on the articular facets activates the nerves that transmit theíthighs to jointón and can cause the appearanceóno discomfort.
Sísymptoms of lumbar facet osteoarthritis
Once the causes that can lead to the appearance ofón of the lumbar facet osteoarthritis, it is necessary to identify theíSymptoms that can warn us that we are suffering from this health problem. to get started, the main sísymptom that is suffered when suffering from a facet osteoarthritis is low back painónico.
in the great majoríOn many occasions we find that it is a deep pain, that it occurs constantly and that it is diffíeasy to locate within the regionón lumbar, pain that can spread to other parts of the body, like the hips, the buttocks, to the kingsón inguinal, and even that it can affect the lower extremities.
The discomfort suffered by the person suffering from facet osteoarthritis increase when walking or whená sitting for a long time. Sometimes you can get the feelingón that you cannot find an adequate posture to be able to mitigate the pain and get away from it; and episodes of discomfort are usually exacerbated, at the same time that there is a reductionóno lumbar mobility, which affects especially the extensionón and rotationón lumbar.
Facet osteoarthritis can cause the existence of a spinal canal stenosis due to deformationón of the jointón and hypertrophy of facets. If the stenosis compresses a nervous structure or méspinal game, the pain radiates down the legs, suffering péloss of strength, paresthesias and limitationón. In this type of case, you need to stop to be able to feel sensationóno relief.
Treatment of lumbar facet osteoarthritis
The diagnosisóstic of lumbar pain crósingle facet is performed throughés of an explorationón clínica accompaniesñada of the corresponding imaging studies and the response to facet block.
The facet block or lumbar facet block using anestélocal psycho is an injectionón that is directed by fluoroscopy that fails to offer a diagnosisódefinitive stic. In the event that you find a positive response resorting to the use of this tétechnique, I know how to getá that the pain ceases completely or at least reduces itégoing halfway, which significantly improves the quality of life of the person affected by this problem. Nevertheless, You don't always get the desired response, sometimes, su prápractice does little or no relief to the patient.
The facet osteoarthritis treatment should start with analgéphysical or anti-inflammatory, that can be accompaniedñmuscle relaxants. La rehabilitationón física must go withñada of reeducationón the back throughés of the exercise, lowering body weight and correcting bad hápostural bits.
The infiltrationón lumbar facet con anestéphysical and corticosteroid can have a calming effect with which to relieve the sísymptoms and help in the pronóstico to be able to reach the ésuccess in carrying out a técnica wantúradiofrequency rgic or rizólysis.
The rizólysis it's a técnica míwhich is extremely invasiveá designed to treat symptomsátically low back pain crósingle facet origin, a microsurgeryíto which it occursñin a controlled way the nerve fibers that transmit theímules by point heat. As it is a surgeryíto of column, it must be a traumaólogo specialist in the spine who must carry out this interventionón wantúrgica. Analgesic efficacyéphysics of the procedure can be reducedégoing with the passing of the months, but it is always less than the level of pain prior to the interventionón. Además, can be repeated as many times as necessary.
