Prognostic Factors in Zygapophyseal Osteoarthritis Infiltration: a Prospective Cohort Study

Inclusion criteria

• The following are inclusion criteria for participants:
• Older than 18 years;
• Fluent or native Portuguese language speaker;
• Continuous or intermittent low back pain for at least three months;
• Low back pain with or without irradiation to the gluteal region indicating facet syndrome (pain is aggravated by spine extension or bending toward the affected side; pain is exacerbated by prolonged sitting or walking up steps, as well as retaining one position for a prolonged time);
• Failure of traditional treatment includes, but is not limited to, physical or drug therapy;
• Understand the purpose of the study;
• Voluntarily provide a free and informed consent form, by themselves or through their partners, and complete the questionnaires, before undergoing infiltration, over the telephone or online during the follow-up.

Exclusion criteria

• The following are exclusion criteria for participants:
• Younger than 18 years old,
• Symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis with claudication or radiculopathy;
• Evidence of radiculopathy;
• Active rheumatologic diseases;
• Congenital or acquired deformities of the lumbar spine;
• Fracture or sequel of lumbar spine fracture of traumatic, pathological or osteoporotic origin;
• Surgical manipulation of the lumbar spine;
• MRI scans of limited quality and incomplete sequences;
• Treated with systemic steroids less than one month before the IFI;
• Treated with IFI with steroids within the last six months;
• Diagnosed with uncontrolled diabetes mellitus;
• History of allergy to anesthetics or adverse reaction to steroids;
• Pregnant women or women who breastfed;
• Who could not be contacted over the phone during follow-up.