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Treatment Options

Facet joint problems are usually treated with a combination of conservative methods, including pain medication, exercise and physical therapy, posture correction, activity modification, and steroid injections.

Patients who do not respond to conservative treatment or whose pain doesn’t improve, may be helped by radiofrequency ablation. This highly effective treatment, also called radiofrequency lesioning, involves applying heat to certain nerve pathways to “shut off” the transmission of pain signals to the brain. This approach completes the continuum of care for back pain sufferers who want a minimally invasive alternative to surgery.[1]

Benefits of radiofrequency ablation include:

  • Pain relief for up to 2 years[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
  • Significant and longer lasting pain relief compared to steroid injections[6]
  • Low complication and morbidity rates[2][5][6][7][8]
  • Appreciable pain relief compared to surgery: Nearly half of back pain sufferers are not helped by surgery[9]
  • Greater range of motion[2][5][8]
  • Lower use of analgesics[2][5]
  • Improved quality of life[2]
  • Short recovery time

Multiple clinical studies show that radiofrequency neurotomy significantly reduces pain severity and frequency for 1 to 2 years in the majority of patients.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]

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