The facet joints are thumbnail sized pairs of joints located in the cervical (neck), thoracic (mid back) or lumbar (low back) areas. They stabilise and guide movement in the spine and may cause pain in the head, neck, shoulders, ribs, chest, abdomen, buttocks, groin or legs.

Facet joint injection can directly relieve this pain or confirm a particular set of facet joints as the source of pain, by placing numbing medicine into the joint.

Additionally, the temporary relief of the numbing medicine may better allow a therapist to treat that joint. A time release cortisone (steroid) will also help to reduce any inflammation that may exist within the joint.