Facet Syndrome Exercises

While facet degeneration is a common condition, especially in elderly individuals, the percentage of patients who actually experience painful symptoms is low. This makes facet syndrome another extremely common back pain scapegoat which is blamed for causing far more cases of dorsalgia than it truly creates.

Regardless of the cause of pain, exercise therapy is one of the more common paths to treatment. The scope of this article will look at the pros and cons of using physical therapy for diagnosed cases of facet arthrosis.

Facet Syndrome Exercises Theory

Exercise will rarely be a cure for facet syndrome, but can be a valuable part of a combined treatment program for patients with actual physical facet joint pain. It will not reverse degenerative processes in the spine, nor will it prevent further arthritic changes.

Like in many other spinal conditions, the exact reasons for prescribing exercise therapy are less than specific and sometimes downright mysterious. In a great number of cases, there needs to be a certain effort made towards conservative treatment before health insurance will cover a major surgical procedure. When considering physical therapy for severe facet deterioration, this factors into the mix prominently.

Facet Syndrome Exercises Facts

Now let’s assume that the diagnosis of facet deterioration is actually the reason for pain. Exercise may help provide some previously mentioned health benefits and may even help to smooth out joint movement. However, all is not positive…

Exercising a severely degenerated joint will likely be excruciatingly painful. The small structural benefits which may be enacted will come at a huge price in terms of suffering. No longterm benefit will be provided to the joint by physical therapy which ceases. Degeneration will continue and may even escalate with irritating joint exercise. Of all treatments, the illogical recommendation for exercise is perhaps one of the strangest choices, were it not for the prerequisite attempts at conservative care prior to covered surgical intervention.

Recommendation on Facet Syndrome Exercises

It may not sound like me, but my experience shows that in the rare cases of truly symptomatic severe facet degeneration, minimally invasive surgical care is one of the most effective ways of resolving symptoms. Facet procedures are usually well tolerated and when the diagnosis is correct, will almost always cure the patient. Meanwhile, exercise will provide little lasting benefit for actual cases of symptomatic joint deterioration and may be horribly painful to endure during therapy.

This is certainly not a recommendation or endorsement for surgery. It is merely an observation of a prescribing practice which seems to make little sense for many patients.

As a final note, when exercise is particularly effective for facet syndrome relief, it is usually because the diagnostic conclusion is incorrect. Exercise will increase regional circulation and this can stave off the effects of ischemia, which is one of the main actual causes of symptoms in cases of misdiagnosed facet arthritis.