I am going to paste an article from a
website called: spine-health.Com. It is a
direct copy from their doctors, I will
also paste the link but this site is
horrible about pasting links and having
them work.
Here is the article:
facet rhizotomy injection
in some low back pain programs, if three
facet block injections provide good but
temporary relief of the patient’s pain,
a facet rhizotomy injection may be
recommended. The purpose of a facet
rhizotomy injection is to provide lasting
low back pain relief by disabling the
sensory nerve that goes to the facet
joint.
In this injection procedure a needle with
a probe is inserted just outside the
joint. The probe is then heated with
radio waves and applied to the sensory
nerve to the joint in order to disable the
nerve.Theoretically, by deadening the
sensory nerve to the facet joint, a facet
rhizotomy effectively prevents the pain
signals from getting to the brain.
A facet rhizotomy injection is successful
in providing lasting pain relief for
approximately 50% of patients.
Sacroiliac joint block injection
sacroiliac (si) joint blocks are
injections that are primarily used for
diagnosing and treating the low back pain
associated with sacroiliac joint
dysfunction. The si joint lies next to
the spine and connects the sacrum (bottom
of the spine) with the pelvis (hip).
In an si joint block injection approach, a
physician uses fluoroscopic guidance (live
x-ray) and inserts a needle into the
sacroiliac joint to inject lidocaine (a
numbing agent) and a steroid (an
anti-inflammatory medication). It takes a
highly skilled and experienced physician
to be able to insert a needle into the
sacroiliac joint.
An si joint block injection may be
repeated up to three times per year. For
the treatment to be successful, the
injection should be followed by physical
therapy and/or chiropractic manipulations
to provide mobilization and range of
motion exercises.
End:
http://www.Spine-health.Com/topics/cons
erv/overview/inj/inj04.Html
hopefuly this is helpful.
Brian
