Conventional Radiofrequency, Pulse Radiofrequency, and TENS for Lumbar Facet Joint Pain

Group 2 patients were administered TENS therapy 30 minutes a day for 15 days at the outpatient physiotherapy unit of the Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Department. The TENS therapy was applied in the form of conventional TENS subtype with 80-100 Hz frequency by placing four electrodes on the region where the pain was most intense.

In the radiofrequency method applied to Group 1 and Group 3 patients, the targeted facet joints were marked while the fluoroscope was in antero-posterior position. During this marking, the fluoroscope was directed towards cephal or caudal so that at whatever level the median ramus block was to be involved the endplate of that vertebra would become a straight line. The connection point of the superior articular protrusion was marked on the fluoroscope using the transverse process and the intervention was applied with a 22G, 10-cm radiofrequency cannula with 0.5 cm active tip in a way that bone contact was established through the tunneled vision technique. The intervention was completed after the radiofrequency procedure was applied at four levels.