Cervical Facet Radiofrequency Neurotomy in Palm Coast, FL

When numbing a neck joint’s nerves reliably takes your pain away, treating those same nerves is how a temporary answer becomes a lasting one.

What it treats

This treats neck facet joints that blocks have already identified as your pain source — including cervicogenic headache: head pain generated by the upper neck joints and referred upward, which is a different problem from migraine and the only headache this addresses.

The blocks come first; this follows only if they answered clearly.

How it works

Every facet joint in your neck is served by two medial branch nerves rather than one: a branch from the level above, another from below. Quieting one joint therefore means treating both, and because neighboring joints refer pain into overlapping areas, more than one joint is often implicated — so more nerves get treated here than patients expect.

One branch has a name of its own. The third occipital nerve serves the C2-3 joint at the top of the neck, and unlike its neighbors it also carries sensation from a patch of scalp at the back of the head. That double role is what makes the upper joints a credible headache source, and it carries a counseling point: when that level is treated, a temporary numb patch there is an anticipated effect rather than a sign anything went wrong.

Dr. Manuel López, a board-certified pain management and rehabilitation physician, places a specialized needle alongside each targeted branch under precise image guidance. The bone here is small and steeply curved, so working angles are tighter and each position is checked in more than one view. Low-current stimulation confirms the tip lies against the sensory branch and away from anything supplying muscle. Radiofrequency current then heats a small volume of tissue, enough to stop that branch relaying the joint’s pain.

What to expect

You come in for this and leave the same day.

• Before: your head is supported with the back of the neck exposed, the skin is cleaned and numbed, and you stay alert enough to answer during testing.
• During: each branch is located, tested, numbed further, then treated in turn. Because two branches serve every joint, plan on several sites rather than one.
• After: tenderness across the treated area is common early on, and where the upper levels were included, the numb patch may register before any change in pain does. You’ll need a driver.

Relief tends to arrive gradually rather than at once. Bring your follow-up a plain account of how rotation and extension behave now.

Is it right for you?

You’re likely to be considered a candidate if:

• Blocks identified specific neck joints, and the relief they produced was clear before it wore off
• Your pain sits in the neck and shoulders, or begins at the base of the skull, without traveling down an arm
• Rotation and extension are what reliably bring it on

Nerve root pain is a different mechanism and doesn’t respond to this, which is part of why the blocks come first. A pacemaker or other implanted electrical device, blood thinners, a bleeding disorder, or infection anywhere in the body all need review beforehand.

Where to go once the block confirms it

If your blocks worked and then wore off, the question is what to do with that answer.

Call (386) 222-7746 or request an appointment.