The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society
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Lumbar zygapophysial joints are currently believed to be a cause of axial low back pain. Once this diagnosis is made, decisions about when to institute a particular intervention and which treatment to offer is regionally and specialty dependent. ⋯ Current studies fail to give more than sparse evidence to support the use of interventional techniques in the treatment of lumbar zygapophysial joint-mediated low back pain. This review emphasizes the need for larger, prospective, randomized controlled trials with uniform inclusion and exclusion criteria, standardized treatment, uniform outcome measures and an adequate duration of follow-up period so that definitive recommendations for the treatment of lumbar zygapophysial joint-mediated pain can be made.