Skip to content

The Benefits of Posterior Joint Infiltration in Chronic Low Back Pain

Not yet recruitingNot applicableNCT06347328
View the official record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Recruiting status changes often. Contact the study team listed on ClinicalTrials.gov, and talk to your doctor before joining a study.

This study has no listed site in Canada in this snapshot. It is included as part of the worldwide chronic pain corpus.

Brief summary (from the registry)

Lumbar facet joints have been implicated in chronic low back pain in over 45% of patients with isolated chronic common low back pain. Low back pain is the most common form of spinal pain, more chronic and severe than cancer pain. The annual prevalence of chronic low back pain ranges from 15% to 45% (one-off prevalence, 30%; lifetime prevalence, 54-80%). Because of this extremely high incidence, doctors from a wide range of specialities perform interventional techniques in a variety of settings. Facet joints have long been recognised as a source of back pain. In 1911, Goldthwait first recognised their role as a potential source of back pain. In 1933, Ghormley introduced the term "facet syndrome", defining lumbosacral pain with or without radicular pain. Badgley later suggested that facet joints could be a primary source of pain independently of spinal nerve compression. They demonstrated the role of posterior facet joints (PFJs) in a large number of patients with low back pain whose symptoms were not caused by a herniated disc. The underlying physiological concept of the PJF was introduced by Hirsch et al in 1963. They demonstrated that injecting a hypertonic saline solution into the region of the facet joints caused pain. The management of chronic low back pain due to zygapophyseal involvement (lumbar facet joints) consists primarily of conservative treatment. This is based on analgesics, anti-inflammatory drugs, physiotherapy and weight loss, where appropriate. Other non-surgical options may be proposed, including glucocorticoid injections into the facet joints. Glucocorticoid injections, which act by reducing inflammation, are commonly used in routine care to treat spinal pain. This pain may be due to a variety of pathologies, including discogenic or facet-related, or mixed, ligamentous or muscular, linked to a regional or global disorder of spinal statics. They are commonly used as a standard treatment for chronic spinal pain. Traditionally, in routine clinical p…

Study details

Official title
The Benefits of Posterior Joint Infiltration in Chronic Low Back Pain: a Randomised Study of the Benefits of Ultrasound-guided Infiltration Versus Unguided Infiltration. Prospective Randomised Study
Interventions
  • Procedure: echo-guided infiltration
  • Procedure: non-echo-guided infiltration
Sponsor
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice
Start date
2024-09
Primary completion
2027-01
Sex
All
Age range
from 18 Years
Results posted
No results posted in this snapshot
Countries
France
Total sites listed
2

Eligibility criteria

Show eligibility criteria (verbatim from the registry)
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Age 18 to 80 years 2. Isolated intermittent or continuous chronic low back pain resulting in functional disability; 3. Having undergone a CT scan or MRI of the lumbar spine, with the joint spaces of the lumbar facet visible, showing condensation or hypersignal of the posterior joints. 4. Somatic or non-radicular low back pain lasting at least three months; 5. Failure of conservative treatments, including physical therapy with exercises, chiropractic and pharmacological therapy; 6. Initial or recurrent lumbago lasting more than 3 months. 7. VAS pain greater than or equal to 4 on a scale of 0 to 10. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Withdrawal of consent 2. Instability of the spine 3. Spondylodiscitis 4. Fracture of any location

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov (US National Library of Medicine), snapshot October 2026. Check the registry for current recruiting status. Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06347328