Effects of Lumbar Facet Nerve Block on Standing Balance among Lower Back Pain Patients

Abstract

Lower Back Pain is one of the leading causes of disability globally. Its degradation to patients’ standing stability has been reported in the past. The goal of the current study was to evaluate the influence of immediate pain relief enabled by a lumbar facet joint anesthetic injection on patients’ standing stability. A total of 91 chronic LBP patients were recruited, each patient performed standing balance tests both before and after a lumbar facet nerve block treatment while their dynamic center of pressure data were recorded and compared. Results of our study showed that after the injection, participants showed 10% smaller total excursion and up to 30% smaller sway area. These results suggested patients’ balance might be used as an objective measurement to evaluate pain reduction among LBP patients.