Facet Joint Syndrome, A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

This book describes Facet Joint Syndrome, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases
Facet joint syndrome is pain produced at the joint between 2 vertebrae in the spine.
The facet joints are the joints in the spine that allow the back to be flexible and permit the patient to bend and twist.
Nerves pass out the spinal cord through these joints on their way to other parts of the body.
The healthy facet joints have cartilage, which allows the vertebrae to move smoothly against each other without grinding.
Each joint is lubricated with synovial fluid for extra defense against wear and tear.
The facet joints or joints with "small faces" are present at every spinal level (except at the top level) and supply about 20% of the torsional (twisting) stability in the neck and the low back.
The vertebrae of the chest area are normally far less mobile and permit a small quantity of forward/backward and some side bending, and very little twisting.
In the low back, forward-backward bending is restricted to about 12 degrees and lateral (to the side) bending to about 5 degrees.
Each facet joint is placed at each level to give the required limits to movement, particularly to rotation and to avoid forward slipping (spondylolisthesis) of that vertebra over the one below.
Each upper half of the paired facet joints are connected on both sides on the backside of each vertebra, near its side limits, and then expand downward.
These faces protrude forward or towards the side.
The other halves of the joints arising on the vertebra below then project upwards, facing backward or towards the midline to connect the downward faces of the upper facet halves.
The facet joints do glide on each other and both sliding surfaces are normally coated by a very low friction, moist cartilage.
A small sack or capsule encloses each facet joint and supplies a sticky lubricant for the joint.
Each sack has a rich supply of tiny nerve fibers that give a warning when irritated.
When the facet joints become swollen and painful due to osteoarthritis, it is termed facet joint syndrome.
Causes
Facet joint syndrome can be caused by a combination of aging, the pressure overload of the facet joints, and injury.
Pressure overload on the facet joints is probably caused by degeneration of the inter-vertebral discs in the spine.
As the discs degenerate, they become worn down and start to collapse.
This causes narrowing of the space between each vertebra.
When bone spurs form, they can take up space in the foramen (the opening between vertebrae where nerve roots pass out of the spine) and press into nerve roots.
As the bone spurs start to grow larger, they can ultimately extend into the spinal canal itself.
This causes narrowing of the spinal canal, termed spinal stenosis.
Symptoms
Patients with facet joint syndrome have pain and difficulty twisting and bending their spine.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis of facet joint syndrome normally starts with a total history and physical exam.
A bone scan can be helpful in detecting whether the facet joints are inflamed
The most authoritative diagnosis of facet joint pain can be provided by a facet joint injection (or facet joint block), which injects the suspicious facet joints with a small amount of a combined X-ray contrast material, local anesthetic, and cortisone.
Treatment
A well-rounded rehabilitation regime assist in calming pain and inflammation, increasing the mobility and strength, and helping the patient do the daily activities with higher ease and ability
The spinal injection normally gives temporary relief for several weeks or months
Surgery may become a method if all other methods of treatment fail
Surgery on the facet joint normally comprises joint fusion
TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Facet Joint Syndrome
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter 3 Symptoms
Chapter 4 Diagnosis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: Sep 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463313268

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

Facet Joint Syndrome,

A

Simple

Guide

To

The Condition,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2019 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes Facet Joint Syndrome, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases which is seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

(What You Need to Treat Facet Joint Syndrome)

This e-Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog: http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Disorder) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiography account of my journey as a medical student to family doctor on my other blog: http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiography account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 800 eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical disorders.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring the patient the latest information about a disorder or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

Facet Joint Syndrome

What is Facet joint syndrome?

Facet joint syndrome is pain produced at the joint between 2 vertebrae in the spine.

The facet joints are the joints in the spine that allow the back to be flexible and permit the patient to bend and twist.

Nerves pass out the spinal cord through these joints on their way to other parts of the body.

The healthy facet joints have cartilage, which allows the vertebrae to move smoothly against each other without grinding.

Each joint is lubricated with synovial fluid for extra defense against wear and tear.

Facet Joints and Flexibility

To avoid excess movement, over-twisting, or toppling over, the segments of the spine are stabilized by a number of structures that will conserve the flexibility required to turn, look around and get around.

The facet joints or joints with small faces are present at every spinal level (except at the top level) and supply about 20% of the torsional (twisting) stability in the neck and the low back.

The vertebrae of the chest area are normally far less mobile and permit a small quantity of forward/backward and some side bending, and very little twisting.

In the low back, forward-backward bending is restricted to about 12 degrees and lateral (to the side) bending to about 5 degrees.

Low back rotation is restricted to only about 2 degrees per segment, since excess rotation could cause spinal cord or nerve damage.

At each given spinal level the angle of the facets differs from more parallel to more perpendicular, relative to a plane passing through the body from front to back.

Each facet joint is placed at each level to give the required limits to movement, particularly to rotation and to avoid forward slipping (spondylolisthesis) of that vertebra over the one below.

Each upper half of the paired facet joints are connected on both sides on the backside of each vertebra, near its side limits, and then expand downward.

These faces protrude forward or towards the side.

The other halves of the joints arising on the vertebra below then project upwards, facing backward or towards the midline to connect the downward faces of the upper facet halves.

The facet joints do glide on each other and