Clinical Diagnosis Scale for Lumbar Pain of Facet Origin

Abstract

Abstract INTRODUCTION Lumbar pain affects between 60–90% of people. It is a frequent cause of disability in adults. Pain may be generated by different anatomical structures such as the facet joint. However, nowadays pain produced by the facet joint has no clinical diagnosis. METHODS The study was conducted by means of 6 phases as follows, Phase 1, a systematic review of the literature, Phase 2, a list of signs and symptoms, phase 3, submitted to a committee of experts to discriminate the most significant signs and symptoms, Phase 4, recollection of patients and the evaluation questionnaire was applied, phase 5, selective facet block and subsequent postoperative clinical control, phase 6, propose a clinical scale of diagnosis scale RESULTS A total of 36 signs and symptoms were found for the diagnosis of lumbar facet syndrome that were submitted to the group of experts, where a total of 12 (8 symptoms and 4 signs) were included for the final survey. 31 patients underwent selective lumbar facet blockade, mostly women, with an average of 60±11.5 years, analogous visual scale of preoperative pain of 8/10, postoperative of 1.7/10, the signs and symptoms most frequently found included in a diagnostic scale were: 3 symptoms and 3 signs. CONCLUSION The clinical diagnosis of lumbar facet pain is still debated. Few diagnostic scales have been postulated, with little or no external validity, so the present study proposes a diagnostic scale consisting of 3 symptoms and 3 clinical signs.