Spine Health & Spinal Hygiene

Introduction

Many people around the globe experience lower back pain for various reasons, such as lifting or carrying heavy objects, sedentary jobs, or traumatic events that can cause spinal injuries. The spine has a crucial role in providing mobility and flexibility without discomfort. The facet joints and spinal discs work together to generate healthy movement and stability within each segment. However, when the muscles, ligaments, and tissues surrounding the spinal disc are overstretched or compressed due to normal or traumatic factors, it can aggravate the nerve roots and cause discomfort. As we age or carry excess weight, our spinal discs can experience wear and tear, leading to facet joint syndrome. This syndrome is often associated with lower back pain caused by injured facet joints. This article will explore how facet joint syndrome is linked to lower back pain and how non-surgical treatments can help alleviate it. We work with certified medical providers who use our patients’ valuable information to treat individuals suffering from facet joint syndrome affecting spine mobility and causes low back pain. We also inform them about non-surgical treatments to regain spinal mobility and reduce pain-like symptoms that correlate with this spinal condition. We encourage patients to ask essential questions and seek education from our associated medical providers about their situation. Dr. Jimenez, D.C., provides this information as an educational service. Disclaimer

Facet Joint Syndrome

Are you experiencing pain that radiates down to your legs, especially when standing? Do you constantly hunch over, affecting your posture during everyday activities? Have you noticed numbness or loss of sensation in your feet or buttocks? As we age or experience traumatic injuries, the facet joints on either side of our spine can become damaged, resulting in a condition called facet joint syndrome. Research indicates that environmental conditions can cause joint degeneration, leading to symptoms similar to other spinal conditions. Cartilage erosion and inflammation on the spine are common signs of facet joint syndrome, often associated with musculoskeletal disorders like low back pain.

Low Back Pain Associated With Facet Syndrome

Research studies musculoskeletal disorders like low back pain are associated with facet syndrome. When the facet joints start to degenerate from repetitive overuse motions caused by everyday activities, it can cause micro instabilities to the facet joints while compressing the surrounding nerve roots. When this happens, many individuals will experience low back pain and sciatic nerve pain conditions that cause them to be unstable while walking. Additional research studies stated that low back pain associated with facet syndrome can cause symptoms of restricted movement, reduce the quality of life and greatly impact the entire lumbar vertebral structure. Since low back pain is a common problem many individuals have, the combination with facet syndrome can trigger reactive muscle spasms, a protective mechanism in the spine to cause the individual to have difficulty moving comfortably and experience severe sudden pain. To that point, low back pain associated with facet syndrome causes the person to be dealing with constant ongoing pain, making a normal lifestyle almost difficult.

General Disclaimer *

The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional, licensed physician, and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified health care professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from a wide array of disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and support, directly or indirectly, our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request. We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900.

Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN*

email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com

Licensed in: Texas & New Mexico*

Introduction

The spine’s primary function is to make sure that the body is moving, twisting, turning, and bending at any angle without any pain. When the spine gets injured in an accident or a back muscle is pulled, it can cause the spinal discs in the spine to become herniated or develop degenerative disorders like DDD (degenerative disc disease) that can cause a person to be in pain. Other back pain issues that can cause a person to be in pain include sciatica, chronic back pain, leg pain, and the inability to move or stand for long periods. When many individuals suffer from back pain, it can cause them to lose their quality of life and make them feel miserable. Luckily there are ways to treat back pain, and that is through non-surgical decompression therapy. In this article, we will be looking at facet syndrome and its symptoms and how decompression can alleviate pain associated facet syndrome. By referring patients to qualified and skilled providers specializing in spinal decompression therapy. To that end, and when appropriate, we advise our patients to refer to our associated medical providers based on their examination. We find that education is the key to asking valuable questions to our providers. Dr. Alex Jimenez DC provides this information as an educational service only. Disclaimer

Can my insurance cover it? Yes, it may. If you are uncertain, here is the link to all the insurance providers we cover. If you have any questions, please call Dr. Jimenez at 915-850-0900.

What Is Facet Syndrome?

As previous articles mentioned, many individuals have back pain is common worldwide and is one of the most expensive conditions to be treated for. This is due to many individuals straining their back by lifting heavy objects, or their spinal disc is deteriorating due to aging naturally. When the spinal disc starts to lose its function naturally, the outer barrier of the spinal disc begins to become hard. It becomes compressed, losing its soft sponge-like texture, causing the inner walls of the spinal disc to push through the compressed outer layers and become herniated. Facet syndrome is another back pain issue that many individuals tend to suffer due to natural aging. Research studies have stated that facet syndrome is a condition where the spine’s joints start to degenerate and become a source of pain. Facet syndrome can be caused when the joints from the spine begin to get inflamed and degenerate, causing many other back pain disorders to rise like spondylosis, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis all over the body.

Other research studies have shown that facet syndrome is the source of chronic spinal pain that can be unilateral or bilateral back pain radiating from one or both buttocks, the sides of the groin, and the thighs, and just stopping at the knees. Facet syndrome can also mimic any excruciating pain that is caused by herniated discs or compressed nerve roots on the spine. 

Facet Syndrome Symptoms

Since facet syndrome is the most common cause of low back pain, research studies have shown that local aches often characterize facet syndrome to some degree of stiffness on the spinal joints. The pain from facet syndrome usually ranges from a dull ache to sharp shooting pain that causes the person to be unable to function. Some of the signs and symptoms caused by facet syndrome are similar to other back pains. They occur together and cause overlap, making the diagnosis challenging for health practitioners. The signs and symptoms of facet syndrome usually depend on the severity and involvement of a nearby nerve root which can cause:

• Low back pain
• Facet arthritis
• Sciatica
• Tenderness on palpation
• Causing painful effects on posture and activity
• Stiffness
• Crepitus

General Disclaimer *

The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional, licensed physician, and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified health care professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from a wide array of disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and support, directly or indirectly, our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request.

We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900.

Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN*

email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com

Licensed in: Texas & New Mexico*