WHAT IS FACET SCLEROSIS

Hello gizzy,

Facet sclerosis is a degenerative condition of the spine.  

The spine is made up of bones called vertebrae. Each vertebra has four
facet joints. These are little bits that protrude from the main part
of the bone and end in a small flat surface (the facet). The facet
joints are the way in which the vertebrae lock together to make the
spine stable.  There is a picture of the facet joints, and how they
lock together on the web site of the Southern California Orthopedic
Institute at http://www.scoi.com/spinanat.htm

The word "sclerosis" comes from the Greek sklerosis which means
hardening. It is used in many ways in medicine to mean a hardening of
something. It is used most often when talking about hardening of the
arteries or about multiple sclerosis, but neither of these are
relevant to the use of the word in your question.  For example, you
can see such a definition in Cancerweb's medical dictionary at the
University of Newcastle upon Tyne:
http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/omd?sclerosis

In facet sclerosis, the facet joints of the vertebrae become thicker
because more hard bone is formed, while the softer cartilage tissue
degenerates. This causes them to press and grate against each other.
This often results in "back pain aggravated by rest and relieved by
repeated gentle motion", while too much increase in the bone of the
joints can also compress nerve roots leading to more pain (from an
article, "Degenerative Spine Disease" by John R. Hesselink, MD, FACR,
http://spinwarp.ucsd.edu/NeuroWeb/Text/sp-700.htm - you need to scroll
about hafway down the page, and look for the discussion on facet joint
arthrosis).

Search strategy: 1. Search on Google for: anatomy spine vertebrae
2. Search on medical dictionary at the Dept. of Medical Oncology,
University of Newcastle upon Tyne for a definition of sclerosis (this
dictionary is a frequent reference source of mine).
3. Search on Google for: "facet sclerosis" (a search on Google did not
identify