Facet Joint Injections in Manhattan, NY

A facet joint injection is a diagnostic procedure that targets pain caused by arthritis and degeneration in your facet joints. Facet blocks can be performed in your cervical spine, thoracic spine, or lumbar spine. Facet joints in the spine are crucial components that allow the spine to move and bend, but these joints can be impacted by wear, tear and inflammation. These irritated joints can result in localized pain along your spine.

Facet joint injections performed at Ospina Medical are valuable tools that can help pinpoint the source of your pain and enable further treatments. Benefits of this treatment at our Manhattan, NY facility may include:

• Recognizing exactly where your pain is coming from
• Verifying that you are a candidate for radiofrequency ablation
• Only local anesthesia is required
• Can be performed in multiple areas of the spine
• Injections last approximately half an hour and are minimally invasive

Patients that have a history of localized pain in their neck, mid-back, or low back that haven't responded to conservative treatments may be a candidate for facet joint injections. Facet joint injections are done as a diagnostic procedure to determine if your facet joints are the source of your pain and to determine if you would be a good candidate for a radiofrequency ablation. During your first consultation your physician will take a detailed history, perform a physical exam, and review any diagnostic imaging to determine if you would benefit from this procedure.

All facet joint injections can be performed in our in-office procedure suite and can be offered with conscious sedation. During the procedure your physician will use fluoroscopic (X-Ray) guidance to target the specific facet joints in your back that correspond to where you have pain. A needle is then placed near these facet joints and once placement is confirmed with x-ray, a mixture of fast acting and long acting local anesthetics are injected in the joint. The fast acting local anesthetic, lidocaine, is used to provide immediate pain relief and makes the procedure more comfortable. The long acting local anesthetic, bupivacaine, is used to provide several hours of pain relief. These procedures are used to determine if you are a candidate for a radiofrequency ablation, so the relief is only meant to be temporary. Often, for insurance purposes, this procedure is repeated a second time to confirm the correct spinal levels and that the patient experiences relief in their pain before proceeding with the radiofrequency ablation.The procedure takes around 30 minutes and has no downtime. Patients who receive sedation for their procedure will need to recover in our recovery room for 20-30 minutes before being discharged.

If you are experiencing localized pain in your spine and want to explore facet joint injections as a treatment option, please contact our office located in midtown Manhattan to book your consultation today!