Why Facet Joint Pain Hurts So Bad 

its depressing as fuck

Jerry Smith.. I've had 9 different types of surgery. Worked heavy construction all my life, played ice hockey 30 years , most other sports. Lots of injuries.. now 66 years old, everything hurts😮😅. Docs want to do a spinal fusion I'm trying my best to avoid... But hey we had a he'll of a crazy time. I guess this is payment 😅

Who?

How do u cure it

@mmp5959 and everybody, this is what I'd do. The Free Facet Joint Program. tendonitisexpert.samcart.com/courses/course/free-facet-joint-program

Find a Dr the performs prolotherapy. Not surgery not manipulation. The ligaments are lose. They need to be tightened. Terrible pain. Thankful for prolotherapy. Hope your can find a good one. Look up a website www.caring medical in Illinois. Or Magaziner health center in Cherry Hill, NJ. Best to all who find this relief.

*NOTE: In some cases ligaments are loose. In most cases, they're not too loose, the joints are compressed. In a loose ligament scenario, prolotherapy could definitely be worth a shot, no pun intended.

Yep. Way back when I was down for 2 months with my ruptured disc thing, there was a day I screamed in pain until I passed out. Hopefully it was a once in a lifetime experience.

Yep. I thought I had kidney stones.

​@@TendonitisExperthow you fix this?

I suggest the free program that's in the video description.

@@ChrisEzio i had a ablation of the facet joint nerves .Simple procedure with great results

I’m looking into this too, I found a spot in Orange County California that does it… you say it’s permanent but the websites are saying it’s also temporary and the nerve grows back?

Nerve damage, or reverse the causes of the problem. Choose.

@@TendonitisExpert what?

RFA radio frequency ablation

Those are indeed things one can do. whether one should do them or not (surgery, injections) is another question entirely.

euthanasia

​@@danreyes736 😂😂😂

May I ask, did you confirm it was facet joint that is causing it? Im suffering the exact symptoms as yours.

Protip: The facet joint doesn't cause facet joint pain. Facet joint pain is a symptom of a larger problem. I just put this together for people with facet joint pain. It's free, please pass it around. tendonitisexpert.samcart.com/courses/course/free-facet-joint-program

Have you had back/facet joint pain your entire life? If not, when did it start?

@@TendonitisExpert Hi Joshua, sticking facet joints weren't diagnosed until I was in my late 30s, when I was playing field hockey, which I retired from at 50. My back has always been unpredictable, especially when exercising or playing sport. I initially noticed a problem when I was 12 when I was unable to run for a month or two, but kept it to myself to avoid my parents worrying. Now 70 I just play doubles tennis. I have 3 herniated discs that have welded over time but the facet joint issue is a perennial one.

Well, maybe you have 'undersized' facet joints. I don't know. But whether you do or you don't (let's say you do), you were born that way and in general should have been able to function. I mean, it's a long conversation/questioning process, which ultimately doesn't matter because....you have facet joint pain, which is a function of tightness/compression over time (It's obviously more complex than that, as far as what 'tightness' consists of.....). I said 'maybe' above because doctors say all sorts of things in way of explanation of why pain exists. When you asked 'what about undersized facet joints causes pain', what did they say?

@@TendonitisExpert Joshua, my osteopath noticed they were 'undersized' when I sent him MRI Scans of my spine 14 years ago, I think this was purely an observation not a reason for the facet joints sticking. Although neither of my parents had back issues, as a youngster, my dad noticed his father had recurring problems.

Ok good. Nothing wrong with observations. The human body has a large range of variability. Undersized or oversized facet joints doesn't mean anything in particular.

Agreed, hope you are feeling a little better by now...I did a self massager machine on my neck, way to soon after getting a bad strain. I was very close to going to the hospital that night. This is my 3rd strain over the years, going on 9 months at this point...things that will prolong the strain...any lifting (especially head leaning forward), hanging, prolonged head leaned backwards, any exercise where head is not straight up and down...meaning its forward (downward dog), or to the side (planks).

MtB ArN you need to come to America for pain management.

Well, any number of reasons, and realistically, several reasons. Birth trauma (like forceps used to extract the baby, ranks on the spine and ligaments which sets up damage and damage response [which is tightness]), trauma through any age of infancy (falling down stairs, falling off a horse, falling off bed/top of bunk beds, car crash, parents handling unsafely, etc etc), trauma through youth (football, rugby, falling down stairs, falling off a horse, wrestling, fighting, car crash, etc etc). Then there's stressful environments. Stressors of any kind mental/emotional/physical eats up magnesium, lack of magnesium equals muscle tightness, muscle tightness creates compression of the spine. Also Type A personalities (go go go!) have higher than normal magnesium requirements. So...type a or not, and stressful home situations would deplete a body of necessary nutrition and it's all downhill from there. And maybe your bloodline in particular has higher magnesium requirements than others.. Any number of reasons set you up for progressive tightness and compression.

In my case it was my immune system. Knee problems at age 6 and now chronic back problems. As @TendonitisExpert stated ligament damage in any form can lead to a life of pain to say the least. My immune system attacked everything. Disks, bone, nerve and spine tissue, and Ligaments. Causing the thickening of those bones and ligaments. Among other things. My inflammatory markers have been off the charts all my life, even with treatment of crowns. You may look into this.

Is your pain in thorax, the ribcage or in other words: on the back of the ribcage in the spinalfacetjoints? Maybe I can help you understand how to hold the joint correctly together.

Hi Karen. Great questions. "What is there to do if anti inflammatory medicine doesn't help?" Ultimately, they're not going to fix anything because they ignore the cause of the inflammation. "... and switching that part with a better joint ..." Risky, indeed. And except in severe-extreme cases, more risk than benefit...if only because the joint is not the problem. The factors that cause the joint pain/inflammation/degradation are the problem. Replacing the joint ignores those causative factors. "I am wondering, what is there to do if local injections and radio frequency doesn't help with the pain? " If/when they don't help with the pain, it's because those two methods also ignore the causative factors. How can the pain go away of the forces causing the pain are ignored. In the scenario of facet joint pain, one of those factors is COMPRESSION of the joint. If somebody's standing on your skull, of course it's going to continue to hurt even if you take some tylenol, even if you take a lot of it. Until the guy steps off your head, nothing else is going to 'fix' the problem, much less help it. See: www.tendonitisexpert.com/pain-causing-dynamic.html

Nerve ablation brought my life back. Consider it. Best wishes

Me too! Going to pain management Dr. now! Went for massage and didn't do a thing, just like he said made it worse.

What exactly was the rf ablation targeting? But yes, it's super feasable and smart to try to lengthen the muscles that are too short and compressing the joints. See my comment to Sharr above.

Nadine Trahan, did the radio frequency ablation help you? Still pain free since the ablation? And what are you doing since the ablation in terms of icing, stretches, exercises to try to “improve the joints enough to not have to repeat the procedure every year or so”? Thanks in advance for a response. A fellow facet joint pain sufferer...

You're welcome! When there's facet joint pain, muscles are locked down tight because the nervous system, in this case, is a one trick pony. The only way it knows how to protect you from more pain/injury is to 'guard and protect' the area with more tightness. Which, unfortunately, creates more pain and more tightness. Not a very smart pony, bless it's heart. The danger of sudden/forced chiropractic 'adjustment' is that it's a sudden attack on the nervous system, pulling/wrenching structures apart quickly and violently (to a nervous system that is already on high high defensive alert). Which can/will very likely result in more pain and more tightness.

@@TendonitisExpert may I know what treatment you recommend to fix this issue?

@Ahmed I suggest the Free Facet Joint Program. tendonitisexpert.samcart.com/courses/course/free-facet-joint-program

Sorry, took me 2 years to sit down and put this together. The Free Facet Joint Program. tendonitisexpert.samcart.com/courses/course/free-facet-joint-program

Sure, but what factors cause it?

The body can only take so much abuse....and then it can't work optimally....and it's all downhill from there....unless one reverses the course.

Do the injections help?

So true I had mine done yday 😭

Oh no I have my first tomorrow 🥺

I did the same thing with out being put under..I won’t make that mistake again..I actually grabbed the doctors leg when he injected me..He yelled out “DONT GRAB MY LEG”

If one doesn't have "pain to touch" at the specific facet joint location, what does this mean? "upon touch, very tender tissue over the facet joint itself (muscle, etc)"

How exactly did you get that diagnosis? By which I mean, what exactly did the doctor do/see that had him come up with that diagnosis over any other diagnosis?

There's no rule that there has to be pain to touch at/on/near the facet joint. There is a rule that nothing works in isolation. So presuming your facet joints are problematically compressed, theyr'e sending pain/problem signal to the brain, which responds with more tightness, which causes more pain signal, repeat, repeat, repeat. If you've had head injuries, aside from neck problems, it makes sense that the bones of your skull, which should be 'floating', are stuck/compressed...and that can/does cause all sorts of pain and problem like you describe. Depending on where you live you may want to look around for a really good craniosacral therapist. That's the only thing that can get the 'float' back to different sections of the cranium (and should help with your neck as well). If you're in/near Seattle, look up Pat O'roarke. She's the best.

Awesome, thanks for the thorough response. I'm near Sacramento, but should be able to find a craniosacral therapist around I imagine. I had an MRI done for the cervical, which indicated mild facet arthropathy. I also had an MRI done of the lower spine, but nothing was found, no issues, except one thing for the spine specialist to mention. That was that my lowest transverse process intersects/overlaps with the sacrum bone. I've wondered about possibly other issues, since I've had digestive issues for years (I now stay away from all soy, gluten, and any uncultured dairy), like fibro, but needed to get structural looked at. A nerve conduction study was done on my legs, and those were all fine, but now I'm set to have an MRI of my nerve plexus in my sacrum area to see if the transverse issue is problematic. Needless to say, my 30's have been rather limited

I should mention, the facet arthropathy was diagnosed by the radiologist, but I plan on bringing it to the spine specialist at UCSF to get their opinion

You have muscle/connective tissue tightness that is compressing the facet joint resulting in raw debilitating pain.

@TendonitisExpert Thank you for taking time to reply, I'm seeing a consultant soon for pain relief,its been a difficult time getting diagnosed, as ive also a disc protrusion and l5 nerve impingment but the facet joint pain is on another level, On my last scan I was shown how bad it was and your answer ties it all together Thank you so much.

I'm in the same boat as you but I've also had fusion in lower back and neck🥶🤮​@@vivienmelia1964

Good news is, it's not irreversible. There should be a link there under the video that takes you to a page on my site that offers the free facet joint program.

What medicine do they give you and does it help the pain at all?

I suggest my free program. What does the chiro claim is the 'why'? What does the PT say is the why?

@@TendonitisExpert The chiro has said my pelvis is tilting forward due to extra weight that I gained while going through years of depression. The PT says it's from years of inactivity. The do both agree that I need to get stronger. The chiro gave me a back brace, but the PT said to never use it. The chiro is adjusting my back and my PT is having me walk and do some exercises. I'm in pain while walking. I'm also hypermobile. I can stretch my back forward and backward far with no pain. Thank you for getting back to me.

Why do you think you have facet joint pain (if you can bend far forward and backwards with no pain)?

@@TendonitisExpert Because that's what the chiro told me it was.

Well, maybe. I don't know. But I wager the chiro doesn't either. Having said that, it doesn't reeeeeaaalllly matter. What matters is, your muscle and connective tissue is too tight. That tightness is compressing everything, making you work harder to move, creating fatigue (which creates muscle failure more tightness more compression more fatigue etc). Depending on how hypermobile you are, that certainly adds to a facet joint scenario. Ligaments are lax, muscles are too tight and pulling various directions, compressing the joint and either compressing the other side or pulling the other joint apart, depending. Pelvic tilt should be easy for the PT to correct, and to show you how to do an easy little exercise to keep it corrected. Has that happened?

Yeah, forced adjustments of the spine when one has pain, disc compression, and especially facet joint pain is a 100% no. Bad news. Good on those surgeons for not doing surgery 'just because'. They often do. So, you're left with pain and no solutions. That's unforntuately all too common. Seriously though, it's good news they didn't do 'exploratory surgery'. So. You have an overall problem causing those 'problems' at different areas of the spine. That overall problem is tightness. Tightness is compressing everything. The body doesn't like that, and responds accordingly. More tightness, more pain. It's not very smart, but that's what it does. Gotta get rid of that tightness. So you need to reverse the these three factors: too tight muscle and connective tissue, inflammation process, nutritional lack. The nutrition is going to be a big factor in your scenario.

@@TendonitisExpert I have a 6mm X 19mm central protrusion at L5 S1 as a start point. Surgery is the last thing i want to be clear. When i have asked about that protrusion. What does it cause as far as pain and where it affects things down nerve. The answer i get is "i dont see anything to cut on". The frustration is beyond explanation with that one quote. Several doctors have tried sending me back for more therapy on my neck, but i refuse and that seems to make any appointments after that worse. I have multiple protrusions, osteophyte's everywhere, limb weakness, loss of bladder control, sexual dysfunction, loss of dexterity, loss of motor skills, cognitive problems, vision and hearing, and memory problems that worsen with pain levels. Some areas that were excruciatingly painful are now going numb, but still painful. Vertebral alignments are off, i am 2 1/2 inches shorter at age 48 than at age 22. I have autoimmune conditions. The tightness you mentioned is only a small part of what is going on. I do believe that i would have had improvement as you stated had any on the dozens of doctors done anything. I do also think that ultrasonic bone removal would be beneficial. The spinal and foraminal impingement's are very easy to see. The bigger problem is that everything is getting worse. All the pains, numbness, cognitive, neurological, structural, and motor skill problems are accelerating in leaps. And i am still no closer to any answers let alone treatment. I do appreciate your time. Thank you.

You're welcome. It's a horrible place to be. I've spent some time screaming in pain into a pillow until I passed out....I have some appreciation for your position. So. 1. You have the 'cause'. Which is compression from the tendonitis dynamic (3 factors), which results in the protusions and bone spurs. 2. You have the symptoms. The symptom is the results of that compression, which is the protrusions and bone spurs etc. One could also call the symptoms everything you listed pain numbness neurological motor skill etc...but those are results of the compression etc. You have issues all up and down the spine. So you have a tendonitis dynamic, but it's progressed far past the point of just 'tendonitis in one spot'. It's systemic, meaning, all over tightness and inflammation. And of course nutiritonal insufficiency is systemic. You have #2, but one could argue that your focus should be reversing #1 (the cause). It's just going to get worse if you don't. So, you have to reverse the cause. Will that make you 100% better? Unlikely at this point. 25%- 50% better? Probably. 80% better? Probably not, maybe. But hey, 25% better at this point is SIGNIFICANT. And more importantly, if you can stop or slow the progression so things don't get worse.....just that is worth a lot. For #1 right now, nutrition is CRITICAL. See the program. For #2: - I can't speak for why the doctors say what they've said. Maybe your issue is too big and they're frightened to do bad things with surgery (which is rare for a surgeon to have any fear or concern, in my experience, they're generally very gung ho on surgery). If things are clear on MRI's etc...I'm surprised they haven't wanted to cut on you. 2. I'm 99% against surgery, in general, but sometimes it's necessary. I had a neighbor once who very quickly developed serious issues. The MRI showed nothing, as far as disc problems etc. But a different doctor had a hunch so took an MRI or whatever fromm a different angle, and it very clearly showed the rupture/protrusion was making an arrow shaped push into the deep center of her spinal cord (which gives different symptoms, like loss of bowl control etc like she was suddenly experiencing). She had surgery. She got better. And one could argue that she NEEDED surgery. In that scenario, surgery is good and necessary. Not without risk, but there's nothing else that's going to fix that. I'm glad I didnt' get surgery for my back. But she 100% needed it. You may need/benefit from surgery. Debilitating pain is one thing. But loss of motor control etc is a whole other level of badness, in a structural/mechanical. A point I'd like to push is that surgery may be necessary, but one MUST still take care of #1. Plus any surgery recovery will be faster/better. Again, it's weird that multiple surgeons haven't taken you that direction. My program is there. It's kind of slow and subtle, but there's no fast fix that I'm aware of. It's a start. Nutrition is CRITICAL (as per the program). I can't stress that enough, but I'll try repeatedly. There is no getting better without it (basically).

@@TendonitisExpert Again Thank you. I have been on about 30 different diets in the last 20 years. The current one seems to be the best. With autoimmune issues crowns being just one of them. I run vitamin difencies. Powder supplements are the only thing that gets absorbed and at a small rate. I was told by a friend several years ago (he is a primary doctor in a small town 40 miles from me) that " Joe your MRI, X Rays, and CT scans are scary, just scary." And that is all he would say. I have been researching things my self for 20 years. The doctors i have seen are shocked by my knowledge on the various scans. The surgeons did actually answer one question but quickly followed up with the "i dont see anything i can cut on". When i have directly pointed out and named something like an extruded disk or osteophyte's in the foramen and asked if i was wrong. They answered. NO with a very bewildered surprised look on their faces. But that is the only answer i got from them. The first doctor i seen was the exception. Dr. John Hopkins in Columbia Mo. He retired before i was able to make it back to see him. Homelessness and repeat septicemia among other things kept me from a return visit with him. When i mentioned seeing him and what he had shown me. The first ortho surgeon i seen after dr. Hopkins changed his tune and only said " i see what Dr. Hopkins was referring to but that is not my cup of tea so i have to refer you to someone else. That Dr. originally said "i dont see any problems" But as i mentioned when i told him about seeing Dr. Hopkins. His face turned white, he said i will be right back and 15 minutes later he came back. That started a bouncing referral s to 12 different surgeons in 5 years. When the last surgeon said i need to refer you to #13. I said NO IM DONE and walked out. That was 8 years ago. Due to pressure from my girlfriend and family i have seen 6 surgeons since then. It almost seems like the 2nd surgeon made a big mistake and rather that put the #1 rule of practicing medicine first. Most doctors put priority on the 2nd rule. Rule #1 DO NO HARM!!! Rule #2 Don't tell on your fellow doctors. The hypocritical oath. I am set to see a ortho group at St. Mary hospital in Jeff City soon but have very little faith anything will be done. I PRAY!!!!!!! It will be different. But have prayed for that for 20 years. None of this makes any since. I find my self venting to no end. I do take new suggestions seriously and any lead will be looked into. Again Thank You.

Do you not have insurance, or 'bad' insurance? So they don't want to recommend surgery because they/the hospital won't get paid? #2 is a real thing, unfortunately. "Homelessness and repeat septicemia among other things" You have a lot going on. ""With autoimmune issues crowns being just one of them. I run vitamin difencies. Powder supplements are the only thing that gets absorbed and at a small rate." Nutrition, and lack thereof, is critical. Of primary importance. "Powder supplements are the only thing that gets absorbed and at a small rate." This is probably not true, but that's complex for now. 1. What is your Vit D level? This is critical. 2. Were you given Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics like cipro/ciprofloxacin, levaquin/levofloxacin, avelox, etc at any point? That could be a big clue. 3. What deficiences are you aware of?

I've been threatening to put this program together for the past couple years. Here it is, The Free Facet Joint Program. tendonitisexpert.samcart.com/courses/course/free-facet-joint-program

You mean, your doctor isn't available?

What does that mean, exactly 'the joint is crooked'? Hip/sacrum/lower spine being out of ideal alignment can be problematic, for sure. Squats have always made my back/hips unhappy, but I can lunge all I want/can.

Chiropractic...🙉 just run away .....they not understanding musculature, and can damage more muscles attachments.....

Ahh, VA medical care.... Moving on. 1. Yes. If your skin is being hurt, you feel it. When ligament or, for instance, heart attack pain is happening, you can't feel it because of how the body is wired, and nausea is one way you feel it. 2. So if your interior joint tissue is being compressed and ground into each other, that can hurt in a variety of ways including nausea. 3. Did you take the Anthrax vaccine while in the military/in Iraq? You probably did so I'll speak as if you did: The anthrax 'vaccine' is Cipro, a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. One of the mechanisms of Cipro, that is responsible for all sorts of symptoms, is that it depletes magnesium. 4. It takes Calcium to fire a muscle, and Magnesium to stop firing a muscle/relax. So if you were living in a stressed environment and eating crappy, you were already short on magnesium. And then the cipro dropped your levels even more. So your muscles that were already probably tight got tighter, and couldn't relax. So the muscles of your spine got tight, locked down, stayed tight/locked down, and your facets (for instance) started getting compressed. I don't know anything about your history, maybe you had previous injury, maybe you had a fall or accident, etc, etc, but ultimately, your facets joints have been compress for a long time (due to too tight muscles...which somehow doctores don't know/don't understand...which is mind boggling that they don't), so that constant compression causes arthritis, change of joint shape, ''disc degeneration, and sooner or later the chronically acute pain you've been in. And of course pain causes muscles to tighten up....... 5. Moral of the story, you have a lot going on, a lot of mechanism doing it's thing. And while there's some things you COULD do that could/would help, nothing will help/work if you don't get enough magnesium back into your body so your muscles can start to work properly...or at least have a chance to start doing so. See: www.tendonitisexpert.com/magnesium-for-tendonitis.html See: www.easy-immune-health.com/magnesium-dosage.html See: www.tendonitisexpert.com/pain-causing-dynamic.html (you're locked into a big ol' pain causing dynamic)

TendonitisExpert yes I took the anthrax vaccine, well that's the wall what my VA doctor says now arthritis and I did have some percentage 4 degenerative disc disease but I took it back because they said they couldn't find anything that warrant the percentage which didn't make any sense because I have it in black and white. At first I thought they said they weren't doing it because the arthritis was trying to say it was hereditary wasn't service-connected but military service aggravated the condition made it worse

@@jonroberts6518 did you get problems from the anthrax vaccine?

Before I respond, tell me more about the old/current/new nerve pain. who what how where when

The nerve pain runs from my lower back/buttock, mostly on the left side but still present in the right, through my hip into the thigh, but rarely below the knee. It hasn’t changed pre to post surgery, and is mostly a dull ache / pinch all of the time which is worsened bending backwards and makes sitting / standing for long periods unbearable - only relief is from lying down.

1. Get and read 'Healing Back Pain' by dr. John Sarno 2. Get and read '7 steps to a pain free life' by dr. Robin McKenzie. Terrible title, great book. Those two books got me off 2 months of being on the floor in like three days (not pain free, but I could stand and be up for more than 10 minutes at a time..was up all day actually). You've had surgery, so that complicates things. But pain basically is the same pre and post surgery, so one can argue that the cause of the pain etc wasn't what the surgeons said it was (unsurprisingly). Why might the surgery not have helped? Because the discs were symptoms of the larger problem, that surgery ignored. Ultimately, tightness is the problem. Tightness compresses the spine and the discs, etc. And reduces the structures' ability to funtion, reduces ability to absorb force (more compression), etc. Can't stand, because when standing, too tight muscles aren't absorbing force, and that force is transfering to places it shouldn't be, which causes pain, etc. All while that tightness is compressing the structures. Structures including facet joints, etc. The two books will explain two different...perspectives (not the best word, but roll with it). Super valuable. Get and read. Then get back to me here.

Good lord. "you have inflammation due to arthritis". Uhhmmm, arthritis is an inflammed joint. Nobody has inflammation because they have an inflammed joint. The inflammed joint is a SYMPTOM of the problem. RFA is not the only treatment. RFA is one drastic form of treatment. That 100% ignores the causes of the joint pain.

Oh Frank. Damaging/severing a nerve (ablation) to stop pain signal, while NOT AT ALL fixing the problem nor or the causes of the problem, isn't drastic? Not even a little bit fixing the problem is the gold standard treatment? That's sad. And you're ok with causing nerve damage? That's also sad.

TendonitisExpert any input here would be valuable. Is it likely my chronic trapezius spasm that gives me intermittent electric shocks is facet related vs disc related, in your opinion?

Hi Driv. 2 months later, how are things? Give me an update and we'll go from there. Cipro 10 years ago is a helpful clue, actually. Fusion, no I"m not a fan, I hope that hasn't happened in the last 2 months.

​@@TendonitisExpert Hey thanks for the reply. Thankfully no surgery yet. Doctors have been pushing an epidural injection on me, but I've held out and just started with a new PT facility at a nice hospital. He apparently has a lot of experience dry needling the neck area and seems to know his stuff. Things are no better as far as my main concerning tendon issue -- I'm still able to palpate on the back of my neck when my trap is flexed and induce a "zing", around the C5-C6 attachment point at the end of the band that travels up my neck. Still unsure if its nerve related due to facet or disc, or simply a trap muscle strain. MRI didn't acknowledge facet arthritis at the C5 level, just at T1. I can shrug my shoulders with 15lb weight just fine. The sharp/shooting pain happens if I'm reaching behind me to close a door, occasionally when lifting myself out of a chair, pushing overhead, lifting something overhead on a shelf etc. It's been nearly a year since symptoms started -- no immediate soreness after the accident. My first inclination something was wrong was when I was reaching to pick something off the floor with my left arm and got the sharp pain in the nape of my neck

Ultimately, tightness (connective tissue and muscle) is the problem. It squeezes nerve (that 'zing' when you contract the muscle), compresses joints, pulls things out of whack (which causes other muscles to tighten up to compensate...then EVERYTHING is too tight, repeat). Cipro depletes magnesium. Magnesium is required for muscles to be able to relax. So 10 years....tighter, tighter, tighter, etc. It adds up over time, then suddenly people have pain/problems, and the tendon/joint/ligament/etc gets the blame as the problem, while the tightness is 100% ignored. Were I you I'd get my Reversing Whiplash Tendonitis program. www.TendonitisExpert.com/reversing-whiplash-tendonitis.html It deals with tightness in the area (the three main factors that make things tight and keep them tight). Get to work with it, loosen things up, and reassess. At first you'll find a TON of tightness. You'll have to outsmart it, out savvy it, sneak up on it and start getting it to loosen up. (Don't attack it hard at first, it's already clamping down on high alert/high defense.) Moral of the story is, tightness is the problem (ultimately). It's not the facet joint, not the nerve, not 'the trap', for instance'. At this point, stretching isn't going to work (very unlikely). Massage likely won't (though is likely helpful). Injections definitely aren't going to fix anything. Etc. Reverse the factors causing the pain dynamic you're stuck in. Once you get used to/skilled at the program, you'll get how simple it is.

@@TendonitisExpert Thank you Joshua. It makes me hopeful you feel its solely tightness and not facet or disc related. Sad that I went into the chiro for "whiplash treatment" even though I had no neck pain stemming from my accident, and proceeded to get my neck torqued in such a way. He overtook the muscles and I feel it strained a particular portion of the trap. Neck manipulations are far too risky :( I will purchase your reversing whiplash book and see where it takes me. PT currently has me doing trap stretches (side bends) and lev scap stretches as well as corner pec stretch. Did graston technique last week and will proceed with more next week along with dry needling. Will eventually get to strengthening. Of course, my main hope is that I'll one day be able to lift overhead again. I appreciate your time and advice1

If you mean the 'it' is the tightness that is compressing the facet joint(s), then yes. Tightness compresses joints, so when moving through a range of motion, the joint has to 'pop' (some amount out of it's normal grove path) to let you get where you're trying to go.

Not surprising that it's a case of 'now this!'. Unfortunately, the fusion surgery ignored all the causes of the 'need' for a fusion. All the causes are still at play, so facet joints (continue to) get compressed, pain results. Now, still clueless about how to fix the problem, they want to destroy some of your nerves so you don't feel any pain. All in all that may not be the worst thing in the world (pain is no fun), except that all the causes are still in play, and chances are high that sooner or later something else will start hurting as the problem progressively gets worse and worse over time. I suggest doing the Free Facet Joint Program for a few months and see what happens to pain levels before agreeing to killing some nerves. tendonitisexpert.samcart.com/courses/course/free-facet-joint-program

Malic, this is all so me after L3/L4 fusion, I'm at a complete loss, I feel like I've gone backwards in my progress 🥺 I hope that you've found some relief!

Lol. I shouldn't laugh at that, but I did. Our bodies are utterly amazing in their complexity and how much they....work. But also.....so so dumb. Our bodies can be pretty dumb. And then you start getting old and it's whole new level of 'oh, I get it, when they say 'falling apart'...they really mean it.' But slowly...

@@TendonitisExpert👍 maybe Mr musk is right. Place our consciousness into painless cyborg bodies !

It's not so much that it's crap, most people do not maintain their body. The sedentary lifestyle or office work sucks, without balance, like a rivet of a door that is open to the element, if you don't use the door regularly it will rust. After all, nothing stays the same.

And if you exercise to hard or use your joints and back to much it will wear out Damned if you do Damned if you don't 😂🥵🥶☠

@@samofrabat Look at how the average person takes care of their car and you will see a great similarity.

I don't fully understand what you're saying. 1. You're having a second shoulder joint replacement? 2. If yes, does that mean a shoulder replacement is getting replaced? Or the other shoulder is getting replaced? 3. Ablations off of what, specifically, before the shoulder replacement. 4. WHY are you getting a shoulder replacement?

Great questions I love the topic. 1. I think you mean stretching of the ligaments/joint capsule tissue, yes? 2. Also, there's two conversations for facet joint pain. One is after impact injury that causes actual injury, one is when there is no impact injury causing actual damage. Let's get on the same page there first.

@@TendonitisExpert 1. Yes, I am talking about strecthing of the ligaments around the joint, as in bending too much foreover but without actual weight or power which makes in only a kind of overstreching of the ligaments nonekstremeviolently, and so disrupts ones ability to keep the joint correctly aligned. 2. Nonimpact injury, like as in nonweight or nonpower beeing reason for the overtwisting of the joint is what I meant, but instead a wrong move making the joint open more than capable of. Is that causing as much actual damage as a forcefulrelated injury or does a such have better chances for not beeing reinjuried later on?

@@TendonitisExpert Do you see that I mean the nonimpact move, that causes injury or maybe merely dislocation of the joint, and that the question is related to if there will be permanent damage or big risk for instability later? I really like to dicuss the topic as many seem to suffer from this problem having lied wrongly in bed or made a triggering move for the problem to occur by rather than a violent behaviour making damage at impact.

A forceful/impact injury is always going to have more injury potential. As far as the stretching of the ligaments/joint capsule just from stretching, I'd say that's really not an issue....it doesn't really just happen that way. 'I bent over and stretched ligaments and now my joint is all sorrts of proglem'....doesn't happen like that. The non-impact road to pain looks like: Muscles and connective tissue in the back get tighter and tighter over time. This compresses the joint, eventually causing pain and more tightness which causes more pain and tightness. So you have a compressed joint with restricted/impacted range of motion (and there's not much range of motion to begin with) and THEN you go bending over....which greatly ads to the compression on one side and the pulling apart of the other side. This pulling apart can put stretch on the joint capsule. Probably not permanent overstretch damage, but PAIN for sure. Point being, the ligament/joint capsule really isn't the issue, it's the dysfunctional muscle/connective tissue in the ecology of the entire area.

Instability later is/can be an issue, but first things first have to fix the ecology and get it working properly again, and then see what if any problem remains. That whole 'instability' thing is generally misattributed to ligament/joint capsule when it should be attributed to muscles etc holding and controling the joint.

What did they do in the treatments? Massage?

@@TendonitisExpert instagram.com/p/B19dobDHW13/?igshid=5geij3sziy4w Musculature treatment ..Fibrosis ..trigger points...but he don't do to much attachments points;( going directly to muscle,and one muscle part treat 45 min after heating....I respect what he doing but needs this treatments more dynamic, to get faster results...but he very busy, Client's from all world visits him.....next Year I will do MR to see what is happened with my broken shoulders tendons ...on right shoulder don't got two attachments on scapula;( but I get in my arms slowly back....🍺✌I am like tendon man 🤣kite surfing and snowboarding,stress gave me chronic pain...to fix tendonitis not so easy...damaged neck, but person's not understanding that they damage other parts to...all body connected....👣.now are interesting to work till get all attention away;) wat is interesting in Lukjanov job,most always he starring from stomach muscles and glutes muscles..I think to get free secrum joint.....any way I don't change my minde...all starring from ankle biomechanics, Achilles tendon balance..almost person's got problems with lateral line...little toes dysfunction, big toe this tendons crossing two times in the foot 🤔?exist hot spots in the body and I just try to do something good for other person's to understand how we destroy our body with stupid exercises.....

@@TendonitisExpert next year I will email Your MR , I need to fix broken tendons ,and I want to find best solution ....one more time respect for Your job....👍🎖

What was he injecting into her glutes? Tendonitis is easy to reverse. If you have partially or completely torn tendon attachments, that's a related but totally different conversation.

@@TendonitisExpert Dexamethasone for fibrosis treatment...more essay to work on this part, but he do not always just in bad condition...after 45 treatment he heating that place folding towel with hot water around 10-15 min and Client should do this at home and in the same time next day doing other muscle part...step by step....I am first Client after in 30 years dr job, who got so damage tendons and muscles;) I can feel all attentions, for that now interesting to work with tendons and realise muscles;) this year don't did MR ,from my hips and shoulder tendons, will do next Year....maybe fascia did some job 🤣🤔dr.told if I get broken supraspinatus tendon he can feel muscle loose near scapula, but maybe too much dehydration because all ready 6 or more years ?. MR for 3 years was 4cm with 51%.d. and one stupid dr.fixed -attached long biceps tendon in different place 🤣🤔 more important now to fix spine....I am lucky getting slowly out from fibrosis in the neck and all ready stomach realise....Tendonitisexper have are nice day and take easy.....✌I can't use tel because arms still losing, elbow, triceps can be get some damage in OP time but trying to fix 🤔✌ If I tell to Chiropractic they damage muscles attachment points I am correct ? Did Your agree that ankle biomechanics most important in our body?Achilles tendon,owerloud fibular Leeds damages, because dynamic ....tendons,muscles,nerves crossing points it's exist "hot"spots but people not understanding ....

If the facet joint isn't damaged, mri won't show damage. If it's not very inflamed, it won't show damage. But in general, the facet joint isn't the cause of pain. It's the muscle tightness compressing the joint that is the cause of what is commonly called facet joint pain. Doctors give the facet joint all the attention. But if it hurts, it's just a symptom (meaning, the facet joint isn't the problem, it's a symptom of the problem, which is 24/7/365 compressive tightness).

Ask for a CT scan with contrast..I had 2 different MRIs doctors told me everything was fine or normal for my age. Yet I'm laying in bed wanting to die cause of the pain. Almost a yr went by went to a different doctor she ordered a CT scan with contrast. Then come to find out t7, t8 both facets are completely messed up and narrowing pinching on my nerve.

@@marissaawesome2422 That's interesting and helpful thank you. What are they recommending for treatment?

It could help, yes. Definitely start at a shallow incline and build up to it. If facet joints are in pain, and you go full inversion, muscles will clamp tight and compress said joints....which won't help anything.

Good question. My first reply is, is there a weaker side? Or is it more a matter of the 'stronger' side being stuck in shortness and contraction (leaving the 'weaker' side overstretched and overfatigued)? Answer: It's more a matter that the 'stronger' side is stuck short and contracted, overstretching the other side leaving it fatigued and less able to function/contract (thus falsely accused of being weaker). Point being, the 'weaker' isn't the problem, so no need to try to strengthen it. Well, more accurately, 'strengthening' won't work because it's not 'weak', and the other side needs to be attended to first before worrying about the 'weaker' side.

I don't know if you have to have surgery. If bladder function is affected due to compression of a nerve, that could be life threatening so I'd definitely see a doctor about that.

Program via the link. Yes credit card details but just put in $0.00.

best method of diagnosis? See a doctor that specializes in back pain/vertebrae problems. But MRI is good if can get a test without a prescription. But, it might not show facet joint pain/problem...and you're left in the same position, and without an explanation. Chronic seizing does point to facet joint involvement. But...what does that mean? That means you have chronic tightness that is compressing joints. That's the culprit, not the joints themselves.

Sorry I didn't have this out until now. The Free Facet Joint Program. Also good for disc problems, as the causes are exactly the same. How are you now? tendonitisexpert.samcart.com/courses/course/free-facet-joint-program

And even then, it's muscle tightness/connective tissue tightness, that is causing compression of the facet joint(s).

@@TendonitisExpert Are there any injections that can be given to relax the muscle if the muscle is too tight and is causing compression of facet joints?

Realistically, no. Botox is sometimes used but it just kills muscles. That's bad. Muscle relaxers don't work (and are primarily oral delivery only). And there are far more muscles involved, of various sizes, so an injection just isn't going to work, regardless (even if injected into multiple spots.

It probably does need to 'pop', as the muscles and connective tissue are compressing joints and the body knows it (and doesn't like it). Because the brain is in high defense mode due to the pain, it is locking muscle down with tightness to 'guard and protect' (not very smart, but that's what it does). Chronic, constant, muscle contraction (which compresses and irritates already irritated facet joints). So they let up the pressure and the brain is all "OMG WE JUST GOT ATTACKED! PROTECT WITH MORE TIGHTNESS AND PAIN!" and contracts down even harder which irritates the compressed facet joints with even more compression...which causes more pain...which causes more tightness, repeat. TENS units can help a little, but they are in no way capable of fixing or really even helping the problem. Injections didn't work because injections don't work (doctors just use them as a potential temporary pain decreaser. Sorry it's taken me two years, that's about how long I"ve been resisting putting this program together. The Free Facet Joint Program. tendonitisexpert.samcart.com/courses/course/free-facet-joint-program How are things now, 2 years later?

Two things at play. 1. Overstretching with the traction, meaning, pulling vertebrae apart, and the muscles (and nervous system controlling everything) when 'Hey! No good! So contracted tight to help guard and protect things from getting pulled apart. 2. If you already had sciatica, you already had too tight muscle and connective tissue and a brain worried about the area so it was already sending 'tighten up to guard and protect' signal. Then you added traction, which the brain took as a threat and protected you the only way it knew how, with more tightness. Not the smartest strategy in the world, but that's what it does. That tightness causes compression of the facet joints, thus irritation and hypertrophy. How are things now? www.tendonitisexpert.com/free-facet-joint-program.html

Anything that helps as good. Unfortunately prolotherapy doesn't relax chronically too tight musculature that is compressing the facet joints.

a. Gotta pick your battles. If you want to ride and it's important and you can manage it, go for it. b. But, it's not the riding that is the problem. Stopping riding forever won't fix the problem. The problem is, your muscles and connective tissue are too tight (and other things) so it can't work correctly so it can't hold you/protect you/absorb the force placed upon you by riding. You have to effectively address that, or it will always be a problem, and always be a problem that is getting worse quickly or slowly. So technically, riding will make it worse quickly or slowly over time...but again, the riding isn't the problem, isn't the cause of the problem.

Lee O'Shea Any plans on getting the nerve block?

Im pretty pessimistic about any positive outcomes from trying to communicate to a doctor. If they knew how to fix the problem, they would have. Suggesting that they do something other than what they always do (reminding them that they failed to fix you) doesn't get very great responses, in my experience and the experience of many I've spoken with over the last couple decades. As far as attempting to fix it, I just put this together for people with facet joint pain. The Free Facet Joint Program. tendonitisexpert.samcart.com/courses/course/free-facet-joint-program

Sorry, it took me 2 years to actually sit down and put this together. The Free Facet Joint Program. tendonitisexpert.samcart.com/courses/course/free-facet-joint-program Did you end up getting surgery? If so, how did that go?

Strengthen? No. Weakness isn't the problem. Tightness is the problem. Tightness compresses vertebrae, compresses facet joints. Stretch yes, technically, though usual stretches probably won't get the job done, for a variety of reasons. Here's what you should do. I just put together the Free Facet Joint Program. It's 98% done, still needs a couple things, but here's a link. tendonitisexpert.samcart.com/courses/course/free-facet-joint-program

"is my pain worse because I have two conditions?" Yes and no. Everybody has a little bend to the spine. You're may or may not be problematic, and it may or may not be a new development. Ultimately things got tight, and that compresses facet joints and causes pain, and THAT causes more muscle tightness.....which can cause more spinal bend...which could then gain you a diagnosis of 'scoliosis' and put more pressure on faceet joints. I doubht that your pain is worse -because- you have two conditions...I wager it's more that the overall ecology of your back is out of whack....and the symptoms are now causing more out of whackness...which causes more symptoms...

TendonitisExpert okay thanks for the explanation, I just started a new job where I have to stand for 6 hours straight and this is where my pain always kicks in, what would you recommend for this?...

Well, the problem (from my end) is that it's complex and takes a lot of explaining. There is no 'do this' easy fix. I probably should make a program for it..Facet issues don't come my way a lot because mostly people are in severe pain and they're not looking around on the internet. I don't actually know how many people are in the 'hurts but it's not killing me' demographic. Having said that... 1. Nutrition is key. When the body doesn't enough of what it needs, muscles can't relax. The facet joints are compressed because of too tight non-relaxing muscles (and eventually, constrictive connective tissue). See: www.Tendonitisexpert.com/magnesium-for-tendonitis.html 2. Inflammation process. There's lots of pain enhancing chemical floating/stuck right in/around the facet joints. Get it out, less pain. I'd stand in a shower and do hot/cold/hot/cold/hot/cold/hot/cold for as long as you're willing to do it. 3. Doesn't seem like it would do much, and it won't be fast or obvious, but as many times a day as you're willing, sitting or standing or lahing down, take 10 deep inhalations expanding the rib cage. Focus on A. relaxing totally in each moment (at the painful area, around the painfull area, everywhere) and B. 'breathing into' the facet joint area, which means, expanding tissue there, pushing the bones away and apart (while focusing on relaxing that/those spots. This gives a little bit of stretch to all the constrictive tissue compressing the joints, gets some inner-joint circulation, etc. 4. Other things too, but one is only going to do so much. The the above for a week and see what happens.

It will be open by end of day tomorrow the 5th. I ran into an annoying snag that is unavoidable so will still be annoying.

Should be good to go now.

I love stem cells. And, just like PRP, stem cell therapy is good for what it's good for. WOUld it help heal any damage to facet joints? Yes. Will it fix your 'facet joint syndrome'? No. Why not? Because facet joint pain is caused by a dynamic made up of multiple factors. Any doctor telling you that shooting some stem cells in there will make everything hunky dory is either flat out lying, or is entirely ignorant about WHY you have facet joint pain. It doesn't show up out of the blue, it doesn't show up by magic. It is a scenario caused by various multiple factors all working together to get you to where you're at. There's reasons you hurt really bad, and it's not actually the facet joints (that's just where you feel the pain). WHich isn't to say healing any actual damage to facet joints is a bad thing, it's not....what I'm trying to say is that it's unlikely that the facet joints will heal (presuming there is any actual damage) and/or that the pain will go away unless/until the causative factors are dealt with. Stem cell treatment ignores the causes of the pain/problem. See the response I just wrote to Jon Roberts somewhere here on the page.

@@TendonitisExpert What if the pain started from an injury, then will the injection into the joint help? I injured myself by using a decompression device that stretched my neck at 30 pounds pressure, so I am assuming all my ligaments got messed up and caused instability. In this case wouldnt the injection helpp because the cause of the problem was an injury and not chronic? My neck curve reversed as a result of this injury and I am working on that. Since it was an injury how am I supposed to address the causes as it is not a chronic thing that caused it.

The curve in your neck reversed?? That sounds dramatic...as I"m envisioning it. I'd need to know more. So you were using a traction device...and what exactly happened? (I'll answer more after I get more details.

@@TendonitisExpert Yes aparently not only did it straighten but the curve was shifting in the other direction a bit. This is all due to the loose ligaments in my neck which occured from stretching my neck using a decompression device. The loose ligaments were not able to support my neck and caused my muscles to really kick in and they were overy stressed. Gradually after this incident over just a couple months I started to have severe forward head posture. So because of all this I just received stem cell injections into all my facet joints and surrounding ligaments. Now I am not sure if I need to do anything in addition to this. Or the stem cells healing my ligaments will be enough to correct the injuries i sustained to my capsular ligament of the facet joints and other ligaments

@@TendonitisExpert so in my case my facet joint syndrome did come about over night due to my injury

Hi Lizica. Depends on who you talk to. Doctors consider facet syndrome to be some magically induced problem of one or more facet joints. The actual cause of facet 'syndrome' is muscle and connective tissue tightness (ultimately) that is compressing the vertebrae (and thus, compresses one or more facet joints). So I'm going to have to go with 'no'. Do you have a spinous process that's actually touching a neighboring spinous process? That's quite a compression/bend of the spine. Soft tissue structures around there are TIIIIIIIIGHT (and yanking hard on the vertebrae).

Medication might reduce pain, but isn't going to fix any factors causing the problem.

TendonitisExpert nothing is gonna fix 20 severe facet joints that are rubbing and bruising those joints, as a pro skater I beat my body up and have had Rf ablation and 20 injections and would love to afford more injections. So it's all on going strategies right? I get your point but is there a fix for this?

Well, i don't know if 'nothing' is true, but 20 is pretty extensive, meaning, there's a lot of negative input making the factors maintaining the problem ongoingly extra aggravated, so more time/effort doing all the right things. Ablation doesn't help fix anything, but gotta do what ya gotta do when in so much pain. And by injections you mean corticosteroid injections?

TendonitisExpert facet injection yes, and Ablation hurt really really bad when those nerves grew back, but your vid is the best I've seen.

I'm going to have a free superpage out in the next month or so. It will explain the how's and why's of facet joint pain and what to do about it (on your own).

It's rather surprising to me too...it's not rocket science. Doctors -should- know. C'est la vie. Check out the comments in this thread, there's a little 'how-to' response from me in one of them. I need to make an actual program for this. It's kind of complex to explain and to do the self care, but the stakes are a lot higher as generally facet joint pain is SEVERE pain.

@@TendonitisExpertthank you for the time to respond. You should do a video, serious of videos to inform and self educate people about themselves. I really believe the manufacturing jobs of repetitive motion caused pain to more people that we can imagine. I have work many factory jobs and people self medicate because the expensive back and forth only to be misdiagnosis is heartbreaking. The opium crisis is a direct correlation to that from experience. Its sick people self medicating and searching thru endless RU-vid videos. We don't have a crazy country, just lot of sick n poor people taking solution to their own hand. You should really do a video man, I know am watch .

Ouch. That all sounds painful and bad. Sorry to hear it. Killing the nerves is definitely an option. Whether it's a good one or not, I don't know, but it definitely becomes an option as doctors/surgeons run out of options. 1. You've had a lot of (failed) surgeries in there, meaning a lot of damage has been done. It's kind of a downhill slope at a certian point (hopefully you're going to different doctors than the ones you've used before....) Chronic pain is a terrible thing (the worse it is the more terrible it is... as you know), and at a certain point...just getting rid of the pain is a 'good' thing. Presuming of course that the surgery effectively achieves what it's trying to achieve....which the others didn't. Fusion is also an option. I"m not a surgeon and don't know what's 'best' for your surgical options. Fusion should lock things up so they can't compress more. Ablation just deadens nerve so you won't (shouldn't) get constant pain signal. Neither fixes the problem, but at this point I'd say you're shooting for A. pain relief at any cost and B. there's been a lot of damage done by surgeries already so a 'bigger solider' fusion might be necessary to lock it all up. Again, I'm not sure which one is best for you for your specific scenario.

The left side of your spine moved out of position? What does that mean exactly?

@@TendonitisExpert I meant "facet bone", its out of position I guess, when I move my hips up and down, I hear bone crack sound at the area where pain is, and when I sprint with Abs engaged forcefully, the pain is unbearable. It all happened after I did the T-Bar back Row. Sometimes doing things like good mornings relieve the pain

Ok that makes way more sense. Sounds like some muscle(s) are stuck too tight and pulling a verterbrae in some direction. So you move your hips (for instance) and A. bones get pulled in a way they can't go so have to pop over something to move through it's motion. That's the 'crack'. B. if that's pulling (or pushing/compressing) your facet joint out of whack, that commonly results in 'unbearable' pain. Could be something else, but ultimately that tightness is the core problem. 1. See www.TendonitisExpert.com/magnesium-for-tendonitis.html and get on that. 2. Hot epsom salt bath, with half a pound or so in the bath> 3. Massage tool (shogun shiatsu for instance, cheap and in thrift stores everywhere), massage chair, (just let those gently grind on you for as long and/or as often as your body feels good about), professional massage (tell them to go easy, and get magnesium into you for a week or two first)). 4. MAYBE chiropractor, but there's risk there....if s/he cracks your back and that janks on your facet joint, you'll be extra unhappy for a good long while. Upside is, pops the vertebrae back where they should be. If the muscles then settle down, great. BUT, if the bones are out of whack because muscles stuck tight, plus not clamping down to 'guard' vs. the pain...that could go bad.

There's some truth to that in isolation but mostly it is unrelistic because the actual context/reality of the ecology/structure. What happens with an adjustment? Sudden force and movement. To what? To a compressed and acutely irritated joint structure tightly wrapped in/compressed by too tight muscle and connective tissue. So that forced movement is going to GANK on very unhappy structures in all directions and predictably irritating/hurting things worse...if only because muscles clamping down to 'guard and protect' will instinctively clamp down even more. That 'overstretch' of the capsule barrier could/would make that VERY UNHAPPY capsule barrier (and interior joint, etc) over unhappy.

@@TendonitisExpert A strecj would potentially damage an allready partly torn or damaged facetjoint even more and even tear up the allready partly torn tendons around the joint more. Much better to adjust posture and learn, study, where the problem really is, find a skeletonmodel, or I have one I can make video of and upload from, so to understand excatly what happens in that joint when moving weight and power correctly. I find that so many problems here in these posts can be helped by understanding the joint correctly and learn to administer weight and power on the joints as well as keep the joint realigned at all times and espc. in the begining right after an injury when healing mostly is needed. Again, what are the long term prognoses for a sprained joint and can the tendons get as tight as before? That is what my question above is regarding, so I really hope you take your most respected time to answer that for all and espc for all that have posted comments, as it seems to be the solely best approach to instantly be curing the healing and pain best possible. Thanks again, you do such a great job.

I don't recommend stretches (if that's what you meant). But yes, an overstretch on too tight tissue does bad things. And the tighter tissue is the less stretch it takes to be 'overstretch'. Correcting posture etc adds postivies into the ecology, good stuff. If it fixes/helps to whatever extent it does for a person, GREAT. "Again, what are the long term prognoses for a sprained joint and can the tendons get as tight as before?" Tendons are only as tight as the muscles pulling on them. So...sure tendons can get as tight as they were before, but they generally need to (the muscles need to) loosen up to remove teh compressive forces from a/the joint. Long term prognosis depends on whether the ecology that is causing the pain/problem/spraining gets fixed/reversed. It's a dynamic, not a singular 'that sprain right there happened for no reason so give it time it will heal'. (No I'm not saying that's what you said).

Hi Donna. Yep, long term ibuprofen is a (potentially) bad idea, if only because it's not a fix, so it's not a fix with not-insignificant risks. In general going to a ciropractor is probably not a great idea. It depends on the chiropractor. The muscles around the facet joints are SO tight and stuck tight (which is compressing the facet joint and a main driver of the pain...which causes more tightness which creates more pain...which causes more tightness which creates more pain...) that if you get a chiropractor that goes in there with a forced adjustment or three....that might make the muscles clamp down even more. The pain tells the brain there's a problem, the brain (bless it's stupid little heart) tries to protect you by tightening muscles to 'guard and protect'...which causes more pain...which.... So the suddenness of a forced adjustment or eventhe little impact guns they use, could easily make things worse. It depends on where the forced adjustment happens, your particular scenario, how your body responds, etc. For instance, my body/system does NOT like forced adjustments, even when I'm pain free. Which isn't to say a forced adjustment far(ther) from the painful facet joint(s) would cause that to happen, and depending, a 'good' adjustment could help things work better and thus decrease pain etc. It may be worth a visit just to find out (then you'll know). Having said that, unless the adjustment(s) remove the chronic too tight muscle contraction, too tight connective tissue, inflammation process, and nutritional lack...it won't be a fix. Some relief is nice, but a fix is better. See my response in Paola Vaegas' comment (to this video).

Okay thank you! I went on your web page and then also stumbled upon a couple other RU-vid videos on eating for arthritis or joint inflammation. So i started a gluten free diet a few days ago, also with eating less sugar, started taking vitamins, kept icing for 20 mins at a time. It seems to be helping. Because i feel looser. Then pain is really bad when i wake up from being in one place all night but then seems to loosen up throughout the day. I’m taking an mri Wednesday and i know it won’t show the locked facet joint but I’m doing it just to make sure it’s not anything else. Do you think the gluten free is a way to help decrease the joint inflammation?

Modern gluten is an inflammatory agent. So it's not a direct joint inflammation decreasor, but it is an overall inflammation decreasor (and also thus frees up nutrition and other resources your body was putting towards fighting inflammation.).

I feel for you. I can tell you after a car accident just over a year ago and being rear ended at 45 mph at a stop light, we were told we had whiplash. We went to a chiropractor for several months. The only improvement is the muscle spasms aren't as bad. So the electrodes he used helped with that, but the overall pain never subsided. We recently went to a doctor, who ordered an MRI and said we had facet hypertrophy and bulging discs. The xrays in ER or at the Chiro never diagnosed us with anything other than whiplash and cervical sprain. It took an MRI, bottom line the Dr. said exercise, eat right, drink lots of water, get a home traction device and told us we could take up to 4 ibuprofen 3x's daily, that didn't sound too good of an option, he also prescribed inflammatory, but said we can't take them long term, not sure how ibuprofen would be any better especially in high doses. Now we are going to a neurologists next month to see what that say about pain management/treatment. Wish you well and hope you find something that works, but I can say a chiro did not help us after going 6 months, 3xs a week. Just my experience.

It's a safe bet that the neurologist won't haveing anything beneficial for you other than pharma pain killers etc. Facet hypertrophy is a result of contsant compression, bulging discs are a function of constant compression. Compression is due to a varity of things, primarily the tendonitis dynamic (too tight muscle and connective tissue, inflammation process, nutritional lack). There's a lot going on with/around all that (like how the brain is responding to all that, but ultimately it's those three factors that need to get deal with for everything to get dealt with).

I don't know. Certainly could be. Probably.

Same with me. I hear cracking noise when I stretch my back on right side. I’ve never had cracking noise before.

I hear new crackling noises when I move sometimes.

I’m hear major cracking

It MAY reduce pain levels. But it ends mobility for the rest of your life, and sets you up for other problems, and may not help at all.

I had lower back and neck fused 8 years ago surgeon said that was my only fix now my disc above the fusions have collapse and blown into my spinal cord also causing severe faucet joint problems 🤣🤑

Sorry for the late reply. Epidural can/will/should dull/limit pain. But it won't fix anything. Let us know how it goes.

@@TendonitisExpert that's funny I swear I literally just got the shot I'm in my car now lol.. the sensation was very odd of the medicine going in.. I hope it works

@@TendonitisExpert and if it limits pain for a while that's ok with me ..but what will fix it? Surgery?

Short term

Hey, how is your back now I’m going for a facet block in 2 weeks. And they after the doctor said radio frequency

The quick answer is, reverse the muscle and connective tissue tightness that is compressing the joint(s). If you don't do that, not much else is going to help (short of waiting it out and hoping things relax on their own...which is unlikely if the pain levels are high).

TendonitisExpert, please explain how I can “reverse the muscle and connective tissue tightness that is compressing the joint(s). Specific exercises to strengthen the muscles? I have a facet joint problem in my thoracic spine. I’ve just started ice massage today! Thank you for all of this information!

1. Ice Massage is a good start. As you can imagine, it's kinda tough to reach your back effectively. So do the best you can, you may have to get creative. Imagine there's saran wrap tightly wrapped around all your muscles and spine. You need to manually stretch it. Yoga and such is good too, but i mean 'stretch it' like 'get your fingers in there and force a lengthening'. Might need to hire a professional that actually knows what they're doing. 2. Three times a day 5 minutes each, sit or lay flat (or recline, whatever) and take big breaths. By which I mean, slowly breath in and expand your rib cage, trying to focus on expanding the thoracic spine. This can give subtle benefits but it creates a little tiny stretch and gives a little more space to everything and creates a little sponging/circulation in the deep little places.. Just do it for a month and then decide if you want to continue. 3. The muscle in your back don't need strengthening. THey're already strong and they're compressing your facet joint(s) non-stop. But the muscles are stuck tight, stuck constantly firing. That's bad in a variety of ways for a variety of reasons. The key to relief is loosening too tight muscles and connective tissue, and creating some space/removing compression.

TendonitisExpert, what type of professional do I look for who can “get fingers in there and force a lengthening”? Do you mean go to a masseuse? The physical therapist gave me exercises he said would help, lots of stretching and twisting the spine while using a red-colored tension band, but after five weeks of faithfully doing the exercises, I’ve had no improvement. So I stopped the physical therapy; perhaps that was the wrong thing to do... I really appreciate your information; you are the ONLY one viewing facet joint pain as coming from too tight muscles and connective tissue. I believe you are spot-on. Thank you!

A specific correction of the subluxated vertebra a few times should do the trick

Sorry, nope. The system I use requires it. It's not perfect, I know, but it will never get used.