The spine has about 50 pain generating joints that need to have a precise gap within the joint. There are specialised nerves that register the gap of the joint and inform postural muscles on how / when to contract or to relax. Therefore the gap of the joint is important for normal muscle function. These nerves are known as type I and they reduce what they do as the joint surfaces approximate (1). Meaning reduced muscle strength as the joint gap narrows. Type I nerves could also cause muscular spasm when a joint space is too wide (because an associated joint’s surfaces are too close together).

Facet Syndrome (2) covers both muscular spasm and joint instability, terms used in Primary Care settings. Pain experiences vary depending upon the joint and or muscle that are overloaded the most. The idea in Chiropractic is to seek body balance and reset postural control through chiropractic adjustments (1)

Lower Back Facet Syndrome includes pains along the spine, on one side or on both, called paraspinal pain (2). Discomfort over the sacrum and even into the buttock and down the leg toward the knee. Because facet syndrome is associated with sacroiliac syndrome pain on the lateral calf as well as pain down to the heel are also pain pattern variants of Facet Syndrome (3).

Lower Back Facet Syndrome can affect torso rotation and is associated with increased pressure to the spinal discs and therefore can cause severe symptoms (7+/10). As the body is rebalanced and facet gapping is optimised, so too are the loads within the lower back, making loads on the discs improve too. This is why those with symptomatic intervertebral discs can be helped with spinal manipulation (4).

The longer you have your back pain the more you learn to have a dysfunctional spine as normal and thus the time to make a full recovery is dependant upon how long it has taken you to seek help. Don’t put it off over and over, get yourself adjusted for an acute episode and regularly adjusted for chronic back pain.

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References:

1. Davies N and Van Poecke A (2010) The Neuropathological Basis of the Subluxation, in Chiropractic Pediatrics (2^nd Ed, Churchill Livingstone) 266-7
2. Hourigan CL and Bassett JM (1989) Facet Syndrome. JMPT 12 4 293
3. Cassidy JD (1992) The Pathoanatomy and Clinical Significance of the Sacroiliac Joints JMPT 15 1 41
4. Burton AK, Tillotson KM and Cleary J. Single Blind Randomised Controlled Trial of ‘Chemonucelolysis’ and (spinal) Manipulation in the Treatment of Symptomatic Lumbar Disc Herniation. Eur J Spine J2000;9 202