Abstract
Facet injections and other pain management interventions are commonly performed in combination with conservative therapy to address spinal pain. Joint mobilizations are a highly utilized intervention for manual practitioners to treat patients with spinal pain. Clinical reasoning and decision making models have not been well described in the literature assessing if and when joint mobilizations are appropriate interventions immediately or shortly following facet injection procedures. It has not been well studied if joint mobilizations immediately following facet injections negatively impact the injected solution at the respective joint and thus influence therapeutic effect. More specifically, there is a paucity of evidence assessing this at the thoracic spine. The purpose of this study was to assess if thoracic joint high-velocity low amplitude thrust manipulations caused extravasation of injected radiolucent material at respective thoracic facet joints on a cadaver. This study included an expert physician performing ultrasound-guided facet injections, an experienced manual physical therapist performing joint mobilization techniques, and fluoroscopic assessment of radiolucent material pre- and post-manipulation by a board-certified radiologist with experience in this field of study. Imaging interpretation confirmed that extravasation at respective joints did not occur following manipulation. This basic research can help guide clinical reasoning for practitioners considering implementing manual therapy techniques following facet injections and help guide further research.
Highlights
Back pain is a common cause for an individual to seek help from healthcare providers
Clinical reasoning and decision making models have not been well described in the literature assessing if and when joint mobilizations are appropriate interventions immediately or shortly following facet injection procedures
It has not been well studied if joint mobilizations immediately following facet injections negatively impact the injected solution at the respective joint and influence therapeutic effect
Summary
Back pain is a common cause for an individual to seek help from healthcare providers. Manual therapy techniques including graded mobilizations and joint manipulation are commonly utilized by physical therapists, chiropractors, and osteopathic health care providers as a common intervention for treating facetogenic based thoracic back pain [10,11,12]. Varying treatment rationales exist in physical therapy immediately following facet injections such as whether to utilize high-velocity low amplitude thrust techniques days following the procedure. This in part can be due to patient presentation, referring provider guidelines based on clinical expertise, tissue healing time frames, or treating therapist preference to avoid interfering with the potential therapeutic benefits at the recently injected joint. The purpose of this study was to assess if thoracic joint manipulation causes extravasation of solution at the respective facet joint immediately following thoracic facet joint injections
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