Procedure
You will be taken to the pre op area where trained nursing staff will get you ready for the procedure by taking vitals and reviewing your medications. Your blood sugar and coagulation status may also be checked if needed. Then you will enter the procedure room where you will lie, usually face down, on a table. The injection site is cleansed and injection of a local numbing agent is given in the area so that you won’t feel pain during the procedure. A thin hollow needle is then inserted through the skin and muscles to the nerves in the facet joint. The doctor is guided by fluoroscopic X-ray to place the needle in the correct position. This system gives real time X-ray images of the position of the needle in the spine on a monitor for the surgeon to view.
A contrast material is then injected through the properly placed hollow needle to confirm that the drug flows to the affected nerve when injected. When the doctor is satisfied with the position of the needle, the anaesthetic drug and corticosteroid are injected through the same needle inserted in the spine. You may feel some pressure during the injection but mostly the procedure is not painful. The needle is removed and the injection site is covered with a dry, sterile bandage. One or more facet joints’ may be injected depending on the location of the pain. The time for the procedure will thus depend on the number of facet joint injections required to relieve pain.