Facet Joint Pain

Back pain relief: Torpedo blasts away your bad back by numbing nerves

Doctors are using sound waves to numb the nerves that trigger back pain.

The non-invasive technology generates heat which zaps tissue and deactivates nerves in the bones of the spine.

Lower back pain affects around 16 million people in the UK and costs the NHS around £500 million a year.

A significant cause of the condition is problems with the facet joints, small weight-bearing joints located in pairs along the back, from the neck to the tail bone.

These joints link the main bones of the spine, helping to stabilise and protect it from strain.

Each facet joint is surrounded by cartilage and enveloped by a capsule of ligaments, which shield it from wear and tear. 

However, even with this protection the joints are still prone to damage from everyday activities such as lifting and bending.

This age-related damage causes arthritis of the facet joints, and experts estimate that damaged facet joints are responsible for around 45 per cent of cases of lower back pain.

The pain is usually worse after resting, and aggravated by bending backwards or sideways.

Another treatment option involves doctors guiding a flexible probe under the skin to the facet joints and using high energy radio waves, delivered via the probe, to heat the small nerves around the joints that carry the pain signals to the brain.

This temperature is high enough to numb the nerve, but not great enough to damage surrounding tissue. Doctors say it is akin to focusing a beam of sunlight with a magnifying glass.

The new treatment uses the same principle, but does not involve any surgical procedures, and allows surgeons to heat the nerves from outside the body, without even breaking the skin.

The technology involves placing patients into a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner, which is commonly used in the NHS and resembles a torpedo tube.

This scanner allows the doctors to control and monitor the therapy, and observe whether the nerves are heating to the required temperature of 55C (normal body temperature is 37C).

A device that emits sound waves is placed beneath the platform the patient lies on in the scanner, positioned under their lower back.

Once in the scanner, this starts to deliver beams of ultrasound to the nerves of the facet joints.

I have cervical facet joint pain! What can I do to make it feel ...

I have a very frequent perception of stiffness and normally sense the urge to crack my neck and in some cases it\’s going to but oftentimes will never and just feels caught. I've been to orthopedists, bodily therapists and all solutions are actually short-term. i\’ve an appt. that has a discomfort management physician future week but what can I do from now till then?

Facet joint pain, existence, diagnosis, and treatment : a review of the literature

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