Has anyone replaced their facet joint?

Posted by eddiestella1 @eddiestella1, Jan 1 8:35am

Has anyone replaced their facet joint? Did you get relief? How was the recovery. I have osteoarthritis in my facet joints causing severe pain they pretty much gas me bed ridden and pain meds don’t help.

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Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Jan 1 10:34am

@eddiestella1 I think this is still a new enough procedure that the study of early results in ongoing, whith a final report due in the next year or so. Preliminary results do look promising - here is a report from last year:
https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/for-spondylolisthesis-posterior-lumbar-facet-arthroplasty-promises-a-mobility-maintaining-alternative-to-fusion
At this point, I believe the procedure is still new enough in the US that you would have to go through a rigorous presurgical evaluation and preparation to insure success. It seems they want you mobile before surgery so you can participate fully in rehab afterwards.

Have you tried the more conservative treatments of injections and ablation to reduce pain?

eddiestella1 | @eddiestella1 | Jan 1 11:02am

In reply to @sueinmn "@eddiestella1 I think this is still a new enough procedure that the study of early results..." + (show)

Thank you for all the info. To be honest I’ve had so many injections I can’t recall all of where. I have intense back issues with a history of 13 back surgeries. Ten of those were fusions. I didn’t realize Tops was new. I just had a bone scan last week where it showed in uptake of inflammation and osteoarthritis in the fact joint. I will talk more about the results with my doc on Tuesday. If an injection wasn’t done in my facet joint before I’m sure that will be the next step. I’m pretty sure insurance won’t cover ablation. They look at that as experimental. This pain is worse than torture. I really hope something can be done because my quality of life is horrible.