Dr. Stefano Sinicropi, M.D.

Your spinal facet joints serve as the connection between the bones in your spine. These joints also make it easier for your spine to bend and twist, and key nerves pass through these joints as they run from the spinal cord to your extremities. If an issue develops with these facet joints, pain and mobility problems can follow, so it’s important to know how to protect against and treat one of the most common issues with your spinal facet joints, which is arthropathy. In today’s blog, we take a closer look at spinal facet joint arthropathy and how the condition is treated.

Diagnosing And Treating Facet Joint Arthropathy

If you are dealing with some of all of the above symptoms and have reason to believe that a spinal joint issue may be to blame, consider setting up an appointment with your primary care physician or a spine specialist. They’ll start off by reviewing your medical history, asking about your symptoms and conducting a brief physical exam. Your doctor will likely want to get a more comprehensive look at your spinal column with the help of a diagnostic imaging test. The most common test is an X-ray, but an MRI or CT scan could also be ordered depending on your specific needs.

If you are diagnosed with facet joint arthropathy, your doctor will walk you through your treatment options. Although movement can be uncomfortable, many of the proposed treatments will involve movement in order to make these actions more comfortable and help you maintain or improve flexibility in the area. Anti-inflammatory medications and posture improvements will help to limit potentially disruptive inflammation, but oftentimes the most helpful treatment techniques involve a combination of:

• Controlled exercise
• Gentle stretching techniques
• Weight loss/Dietary improvements
• Physical therapy

Oftentimes these techniques can help reduce or alleviate symptoms, although they will not help to regrow lost cartilage. If these techniques are unsuccessful at providing relief, or symptoms end up slowly getting worse, surgery may be in the cards. Surgery tends to involve a fusion of one or more of the spinal vertebrae, which limits mobility, but since mobility is oftentimes painful, will help to control symptoms. Surgery tends to be very successful at limiting symptoms, but many patients find that non-operative treatments prove successful, so most can avoid a corrective procedure.

For more information about spinal facet joint arthropathy, or to talk to a specialist about a different spinal issue, reach out to Dr. Sinicropi and the team at the Midwest Spine & Brain Institute today at (651) 430-3800.

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