Page 7 - facet pain

of pain. The periosteum which is the tough fibrous

coating outside the bone may also become inflamed

and painful.

Joint capsules are segments of strong tissue

which help hold one bone in place relative to

another. If the joint capsule has been stretched or

damaged, it too will contribute to the pain.

If the inflammation of these tissues persists for

an extended period of time, there can also be

changes to the local nerves. As example, one type

of nerve helps you feel where a body part is in

space so that you have coordinated movements.

This is called proprioception and the nerves

responsible for this are called proprioceptive

nerves.

When you have an area that is consistently

irritated, injured and inflamed such as during facet

pain, the body converts proprioceptive nerves to

pain nerves. This means that you will be more

sensitive to pain - movements that previously did

not cause you pain now do - and that pain may

increase in both duration and severity. This is why

it is so important to effectively treat pain because if

you do not, the body may make changes where the