Cervical zygapophyseal joint pain patterns. I: A study in normal volunteers.

The pain patterns evoked by stimulation of normal cervical zygapophyseal joints were determined in five volunteers. Under fluoroscopic control, joints at segments C2-3 to C6-7 were stimulated by distending the joint capsule with injections of contrast medium. Each joint produced a clinically distinguishable, characteristic pattern of pain, which enabled the construction of pain charts that putatively could be of value in determining the segmental location of symptomatic joints in patients presenting with cervical zygapophyseal pain.