Facet joint syndrome is arthritis-like degeneration, inflammation, or injury of the small joints connecting neighboring vertebrae, and lumbar facet joints account for about 15% to 45% of chronic low back pain cases. These joints also contribute substantially to chronic neck pain, but no single symptom, examination maneuver, or scan can prove that a facet joint … Read more
A neck nerve block can sound like a straightforward answer after months of pain. Yet “nerve block” describes several different procedures, and the right choice depends on whether pain comes from a facet joint, an irritated nerve root, the occipital nerves, or a sympathetic pain pathway. For an adult in New Jersey or Staten Island … Read more
A patient may arrive at a pain clinic after months of neck or low back pain, normal-looking days interrupted by sharp flares, and little improvement from exercise, medication, or other conservative care. Imaging may show several age-related changes, but it often can't identify which finding is generating the pain. That uncertainty is where a medial … Read more
A person can spend weeks doing physical therapy, changing pillows, taking medication, and trying to work around persistent neck pain, only to hear that an MRI looks “normal for age.” That experience is frustrating, but it doesn't mean the pain is imaginary or untreatable. A cervical facet joint can generate substantial pain even when imaging … Read more
You wake up with the same ache in your lower back or neck that has already outlasted the stretches, the pills, and maybe even physical therapy. The pain is still there when you stand at the sink, turn to back out of the driveway, or try to sleep through the night, and now someone has … Read more