Brain,

It is as Java said...they will ablate the medial branch nerve. It is as fine as a human hair and runs for lack of a better description across the facet joint. The facet injections were done as you said for diagnositic purposes. And I believe the new rule of thumb is to have two sets of facet injections and THEN an RF. I was told this not too long ago and it is so the insurance company will pay for the RF...must be a reason why the insurance companies want a set of two.

Anyway, I had it done in my lumbar, one side, 3 levels. I didn't feel a thing and I don't remember a thing. I would do it over and over again! It gave me a year's worth of relief and I probably need to have it done again. But don't be afraid. I was terrified if you want to know the truth. But shoot, it was soooo easy I shouldn't have been as scared as I was. I know it is easy to say...but it was NOT bad at all! The key is to take it easy for a few days and put cold packs on the area for a few minutes at a time. My soreness was gone in two days and from then on out I had a new lumbar...sort of LOL! Oh, I did tell the doc I stumbled a little bit the first couple of days...like my leg would give out. But he said that was mostly due to the numbing medicine. It went away though and as I said...a whole year of pain relief!