Comparative Study between Conventional Radiofrequency Neurotomy versus Intraarticular Steroid Injections in Lumbar Facet Joint Pain

Abstract

Chronic pain is defined as a complex and multifactorial phenomenon with pain that persists 6 months after an injury and/or beyond the usual course of an acute disease or a reasonable time for a comparable injury to heal, that is associated with chronic pathologic processes that cause continuous or intermittent pain for months or years, that may continue in the presence or absence of demonstrable pathology and may not be amenable to routine pain control methods with healing never occurring (Manchikanti et al., 2013). Studies of the prevalence of low back and neck pain and its impact in the general population have shown 23% of patients reporting moderate to severe low back pain with a high pain intensity and disability compared to 15% with neck pain. Furthermore, the prevalence of persistent pain is highly prevalent in the elderly and closely associated with functional limitations. Overall, chronic persistent low back and neck pain is seen in 25% to 60% of the patients one-year or longer after the initial episode (Manchikanti et al., 2013). Lumbar facet joint degeneration is a source of chronic low back pain, with an incidence of 15% to 45