- Facet joints are pairs of small joints at the back of each spinal level, and they can wear out like any joint.
- Blocks and radiofrequency help many people, and stem cells add a different goal: supporting the joint itself.
- Stem cells in the facet joints aim to calm inflammation; the early evidence is encouraging.
It aches across your lower back, maybe into your buttocks. Leaning back or twisting makes it worse, and the first few minutes after getting out of bed are the hardest part of the day.
If that sounds familiar, your pain may be coming from the facet joints. They are small, they are easy to overlook, and they are one of the places the specialists can place stem cells in the spine.
What are facet joints, anyway?
Each level of your spine has two small joints at the back, one on each side. They guide how you bend and twist, and they share the load with the disc in front.
Like your knee, they are true joints, with cartilage, a lining and a capsule full of nerve endings. Which means they can develop arthritis like your knee, too.
If the disc is the cushion, the facet joints are the guide rails that keep each level on track. Years of bending and twisting, plus a disc that has lost height, put extra stress on the rails.
How do doctors know the facet joints are the problem?
Not from symptoms or an MRI alone. A review in Anesthesiology found that no set of exam findings reliably diagnoses facet pain, and that the facet joints are the main source in up to about 15% of people with chronic low back pain.
The standard test is a diagnostic block: a little numbing medicine placed at the joint or its small nerves, under imaging. If your pain drops for a few hours, you have your answer.
What are the usual treatments?
- Physical therapy and core strengthening.
- Anti-inflammatory medication.
- Steroid injections into or around the joint.
- Radiofrequency ablation, which uses heat to quiet the small nerves that carry the pain.
These help many people by quieting the pain signal. Regenerative medicine looks at the joint itself.
What could stem cells add?
Mesenchymal stem cells, or MSCs, work mainly as messengers. Researchers describe them as a kind of “drugstore” that opens at the site of injury, releasing signals that calm inflammation and support repair.
The stem cells used at Stem Cells Colombia come only from the Wharton’s jelly of donated umbilical cords. Nothing is harvested from your own bone marrow or fat, so the only procedure you recover from is the one in your spine.
In a worn facet joint, the goal is to calm the inflamed lining and support the cartilage that is left. It is the same logic studied in knee arthritis, applied to a smaller joint under X-ray guidance.
What does the evidence say?
Research is growing, and the results are encouraging. A 2025 systematic review of biologic injections into the facet joints found that studies report improvements in pain, physical function and quality of life; so far, two of those studies used stem cells.
The 2025 guideline from the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) gives facet joint injections with PRP and mesenchymal stem cells a moderate, consensus-based recommendation (Level IV evidence). Research in other joints supports the idea. The disc has stronger data, which is one reason a plan may treat both at the same level.
- Ask whether a diagnostic block has confirmed that your pain comes from the facet joints.
- If blocks or radiofrequency helped but wore off, mention how long relief lasted each time.
- Ask for a free evaluation: stem cells here are often combined with treating the disc at the same level.
Facet joint pain is well described as a mix of degeneration and inflammation inside a true synovial joint. The case for MSCs rests on their anti-inflammatory and supportive signaling, well established in the lab and studied in larger joints. For the facet joints themselves, studies report improvements in pain and function, and the 2025 ASIPP guideline gives facet joint injections with PRP and mesenchymal stem cells a moderate, consensus-based recommendation, based on Level IV evidence. Research is growing, and larger trials are building on these results.
- Pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of lumbar zygapophysial (facet) joint pain · Anesthesiology, 2007
- A systematic review of regenerative medicine therapies for axial spine pain of facet joint origin · Current Pain and Headache Reports, 2025
- Comprehensive evidence-based guidelines for regenerative therapies in the management of chronic low back pain: 2025 update from the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) · Pain Physician, 2025
- The MSC: an injury drugstore · Cell Stem Cell, 2011
Questions
Can stem cells help facet joint pain?
They are studied for it, and the early results are encouraging. A specialist reviews your imaging and history first, so your plan is designed for you.
Is it the same as a facet injection with steroids?
The technique is similar, a guided needle into the joint, but the goal is different: calming inflammation and supporting the joint rather than numbing it for a while.
What imaging do I need?
A recent MRI is ideal. If you don’t have one, an MRI in Medellín starts from $200 per area and an X-ray from $60, transfers included.
Is stem cell therapy approved by the FDA?
Stem cell therapy is not approved by the FDA, but in Colombia it is legal.