Facet Joints: Gliding Your Way to Better Health
August 4, 2022 . POSTED AT 6:17 pm IN CHIROPRACTIC
Bottom Line:
If you’ve ever experienced intense back pain when moving or neck or back pain that you could pinpoint with your finger, one or more of your spine’s facet joints—often the lumbar facet joints—may be malfunctioning.
What exactly are facet joints then?
Consider these joints as the spine’s “knuckles,” which slip, glide, and support.
They both give your spine more flexibility, enabling you to bend and twist your back, and they also prevent you from “overdoing” any of those movements (i.e., hyperextending or hyper flexing).
Naturally, having healthy facet joints is essential to ensuring that you can move around easily. If you think you might require Austin, Texas facet joint pain treatment, you’ve come to the right place!
What you need to know is as follows.
Why it Matters:
Our facet joints—often our lumbar facet joints—take on the additional load as our spinal discs deteriorate with age.
Furthermore, as you would have anticipated, too much pressure and tension can wear them out.
This can result in the formation of adhesions, bone spurs, and discomfort, all of which can restrict our range of motion.
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.
Because of this, our Austin, Texas, team specializes in treating facet joint discomfort.
Here is a summary of what we do know:
- Your spine’s facet joints allow you to bend and twist your body by allowing for sliding and gliding motions.
- In our facet joints, adhesions can form with aging and limit how well we can move.
- Adjustments aid in releasing adhesions around the facets, allowing you to move more freely and comfortably.
Chiropractic Care for Lumbar Facet Joint Pain Treatment
Numerous studies have supported the efficacy of chiropractic care for the treatment of adhesions and pain affecting the lumbar facet joints, and being aware of the findings of these studies will help you choose whether Austin facet joint pain treatment is the best option for you.
For your reference, the following fundamental terms will come in handy when you review any such studies:
- Another name for the facet joints is “Z” (zygapophyseal) joints.
- SMT is another name for chiropractic treatment or adjustments (spinal manipulative therapy).
- The physical manipulation or mobilization of the joints is referred to as “gapping.”
In a recent study, the goal was to comprehend how adhesions and pain in the lower back can be affected by spinal manipulative therapy, specifically gapping of the “Z” joints.
In order to assess the effectiveness of chiropractic care as a facet joint pain treatment option, they sought to understand the effects chiropractic adjustments can have on adhesions surrounding the lumbar facet joints and any associated low back pain.
And as it turns out, they did in fact notice that after receiving chiropractic care, study participants reported experiencing less discomfort and less limited movement.
The same has been seen in individuals who are having therapy for facet joint discomfort at our facility in Austin, Texas.
Such outcomes highlight the rationale behind the first-line recommendation for conservative therapies, such as chiropractic, to address low back and facet joint pain.
Next Steps:
Your spine’s facet joints, whether they be in the cervical or lumbar regions, are insatiably restless.
Movement is, after all, medicine!
Exercise maintains the health of the facet joints and may possibly lessen the consequences of aging.
Spinal adjustments have been shown to reduce adhesions in these joints and other joints, allowing you to move more freely and comfortably.
When you move better, you feel better, and we’re proud to be a part of the healthcare team that helps you stay active.
Therefore, if you’ve been dealing with back pain and you live nearby, know that our caring staff is available to deliver the best facet joint pain therapy in Austin, Texas.
Science Source:
