Spine Service

A liquid anesthetic (lidocaine) is administered at the same time for immediate pain relief and diagnostic evaluation. There are two facet joints at each vertebral level and allow for bending and twisting: they become arthritic with age, other traumatic injuries and inflammatory arthropathies such as rheumatoid arthritis. This is a common pain injection procedure and is used for focal neck, midback or low back pain felt to be directly related to a degenerated facet joint.