Facet Joints: Gliding Your Way to Better Health

August 29th, 2022

Bottom Line:

If you've had neck or back pain that you could pinpoint with your finger or felt a sharp pain in your back when moving, the cause may have been some sort of dysfunction with one or more of the facet joints (often the lumbar facet joints) of your spine.

So, what are the facet joints? Think of these joints as the “knuckles” of your spine that glide, slide, and stabilize. They both add flexibility to your spine so you’re able to bend and twist your back and also help to keep you from “overdoing” any of those motions (i.e., hyperextending or hyper flexing). Needless to say, ensuring your facet joints are functioning at their best is important to make sure you're able to move freely, and if you think you might need facet joint pain treatment in Parsippany, NJ, you've come to the right place! Here’s what you should know.

Why it Matters:

As we age, our spinal discs also age, and it’s our facet joints - often our lumbar facet joints - that take on the extra load. And, as you may have guessed, this excess stress and pressure can wear them down. This can lead to the development of adhesions, bone spurs, and pain that can all limit our ability to move freely. The good news? Targeted spinal adjustments can help break up adhesions in and around your lumbar facet joints, cervical facet joints, and the other joints in your spine to help reduce pain and restore proper motion. That's why our team specializes in facet joint pain treatment in Parsippany, NJ.

To recap, here’s what we know…

The facet joints of your spine slide and glide to allow you to bend and twist your body
As we age, adhesions can develop in our facet joints that restrict how well we move
Adjustments help break up adhesions surrounding the facets so you can once again move freely and with less pain

Chiropractic Care for Lumbar Facet Joint Pain Treatment

There’s a wide range of research supporting the use of chiropractic care for the management of adhesions and pain related to the lumbar facet joints and understanding the results of those studies can help you decide if facet joint pain treatment in Parsippany, NJ may be right for you.

For your reference, here’s some basic terminology you’ll find helpful when reviewing any such studies:

The facet joints are also referred to as “Z” (zygapophyseal) joints
Chiropractic care/adjustments is also referred to as SMT (spinal manipulative therapy)
The term “gapping” refers to the physical manipulation or mobilization of the joints

In one recent study, researchers set out to understand the effects spinal manipulative therapy and specifically gapping of the “Z” joints can have on the adhesions and pain in the lower back. In other words, they wanted to understand the effects chiropractic adjustments can have on adhesions surrounding the lumbar facet joints and any related low back pain to help evaluate its effectiveness as a facet joint pain treatment option. And as it turns out, they did in fact observe that study participants reported both a reduction in pain and a reduction in restricted movement after receiving chiropractic care.

We've observed the same in those patients receiving facet joint pain treatment in Parsippany, NJ at our clinic.

Such results demonstrate why conservative care like chiropractic is recommended as first-line therapy to treat low back and pain related to the facet joints.

Next Steps:

The facet joints of your spine - whether we’re talking about the cervical facet joints or lumbar facet joints - crave movement. Movement is medicine, after all!

Movement helps the facet joints stay healthy and may even help slow down the effects of aging. Spinal adjustments have been shown to reduce adhesions in these joints and others so you can move more freely and with less pain. When you move better, you feel better, and we're proud to be a part of the healthcare team that helps you stay active.

So, if you’ve been living with back pain and you're nearby, know we're here to provide the best facet joint pain treatment in Parsippany, NJ, and our compassionate team is just a phone call away.