The Three Causes Of Facet Joint Syndrome 

How you doing now and for how long it helped?

"my lower back isn't tight" I guess that's possible, but I doubt it. But let's say it's not tight. Why would facet issues happen/develop/exist?

Predictable. Everything (in the area, at least) is stuck too tight. So you tell muscles to contract (therapeutic exercise, because.....making structures that can't exercise exercise is a therapy?) compresses nerve and facet joint (which sends pain signal, which causes more tightness, etc).

That's in the free program.

That just means subluxation. "Segmental joint dysfunction is an extremely common diagnosis in the office and is a component of almost all mechanical lower back pain" I suspect you have more of a question to ask.

Technically, it is crushing your low spine...because all the musculature (and then, connective tissue) is contracted tight so it's compressing everything and not providing 'up' support. In general yes it can be corrected. The ruptured disc is a result of too tight muscle/connective tissue compressing everything. You're stuck tight. Surgery won't do anything about that (other than, generally), making that tightness worse. It may help (reduce pain) for some period of time, of course. The only 'fix' is reversing the tightness which relieves the compression (and other good things).

@@TendonitisExpert thank you for your reply. I’ll look at your program. I’d much rather heal through movement, nutrition, and therapies vs surgery with a metal cage that may or may not help only part of the issue. I was run over by a truck at age three from left hip to right shoulder so my entire fascia system is contracted and tight. Has progressively gotten worse. The degeneration got bad enough four years ago that it allowed (or set me up for) injuring my disk just rolling out of bed. It’s been 4 years of excruciating pain and no help from doctors. What you’re explaining and teaching makes so much sense. Thanks again!

Link to the free facet joint program is in the video description.

Of course you can. Surgeons will do all sorts of cutting/severing/removal. Will that make your facet joints worse? Technically yes the facet joints will be worse, as they are getting cut into pieces and removed, while all the reasons that they are hurting in the first place get completely ignored. The facet joints are symptoms, not the cause. Doesn't make sense to me to partially/completely remove them, other than the doctors have no clue how to fix the problem and surgery is the only tool they have that might stop the immediate pain for some period of time.

@@TendonitisExpert Thanks for answering. If they remove the herniation my spine is not gonna be so stable and if my facets are problematic they arent gonna stabilize my spine right? Or is that a myth?

Well......I don't know, but: the facets aren't problematic. The facets (joints) are constantly compressed and acutely irritated due to chronic tightness (which causes the compression. The herniation is a result of a TOO stable spine. Musculature is clamping down. It's stable. But it's crushing the spinal structures because of that constant contraction/tightness. Reversing the tightness is far more valuable to do in the short and long run. Surgery will leave you with tightness and more tightness. Might help you be pain for a while or even a long time, but...the actual problem will still be in place.

@@TendonitisExpertyou have no idea wtf you’re talking about lol. Facet joints don’t get cut during a microdisectomy

I didn't say they did. So....looks like you don't know what you're talking about. Funny how that works.

Well....if you have symptoms/pain from that, then your musculature is too tight, so it can't absorb load like it should, so it's predictable that your existing lack of function will result in more symptoms if you load up a bunch of weight regularly.

@@TendonitisExpert thansk for the reply, how can i pursue body buiding with this condition then? much love from australia

Well, I'd imagine that you'd need to fix the condition, which is a diminished ability to function properly.

As a general response, that's probably because one side is tighter than the other, so as everything bends forwards (for instance) one side moves or moves very little, and the other side moves too much, and one or both sides most likely has some side shear pressure, so something 'pops' through/over/'out' the joint (meaning, it doesn't flow smoothly through it's articulation, it grinds to one side, basically).

@@TendonitisExpert thanks for your response! Actually both sides do it and my spine feels great, I’m 53 and been doing yoga for decades. Noises from the body can be disconcerting but I don’t think there is any harm being done… I hope you would agree with that, although you would likely say that BOTH sides move “too much” on me. On the other hand, this syndrome you’re talking about is something to look out for in the yoga students, whose connective tissues are sometimes very rigid, and who often start the practice with a lot of asymmetry :)

Yoga does tend to attract a hyperflexible (lax joints compared to the rest of the population) demographic...but decades of regular stretching also does great things for length/flexibility (and some possible downsides.) I'm not saying what you describe is a problem, but since I'm here I'll point out a possibility since it's on topic: It's also possible that , for instance, vertebrae above or below are 'too tight', so when you bend forward (for instance), because they can't move enough, something else has to move to get the end result (touching the floor, for instance), So one possible scenario is that for years or decades, that one set of facet joints has been force to open too much. But you're not complaining, so it doesn't seem to be a problem. There's theory, and then there's reality, and we generally only care about (a negative) reality when pain shows up. Yoga, especially done over time. My only complaint with yoga, and stretching in general, is when you stretch something (let's say, bending forward to touch the floor), everything that's mobile moves/lengthens, and everything that isn't mobile/able to lengthen, doesn't. It's very overall great, but stretching isn't 'targeted'. Having said al that, you've done good things for your body for decades, so sounds like you're winning overall. Winning is good.

@@TendonitisExpert thanks again for your reply! These are definitely things I think about as I age. I think it’s important in a forward bend (for example) to tune into the feedback from the body and try to distribute the feeling of “stretch” evenly through the whole back line from the heel to the base of the skull, so it doesn’t focus in one place like the hamstring attachment or lower back. It is also my observation that hypermobile joints require a lot of muscular strength to support them - the stability aspect is as important as mobility and I strive to make hypermobile students aware of this. Personally I hate the word stretching, it makes me think of people pulling on their muscles trying to make them longer and that isn’t really how it works :)

I'm going to say a general 'no', for reasons of anatomy and where things usually bulge, and if you are actually feeling bulged tissue (by touching your back)....that's bad news.

@@TendonitisExpert its more like a very small curve right in the lumbar area poking out...

Is it on one side of the center of the spine? For instance, if the vertebrae is stuck rotated such that the one side is 'sticking out'.

​@@TendonitisExpert yes exactly. It was kind of hard to explain lol

Certainly doesn't help. But again, it's more a function of chronic tightness and decreased ability of muscles to work properly.