The Stress Response in Injured Afferents of the Capsular Ligament Depends on Tensile Loading Applied to the Facet Joint

Chronic neck pain from whiplash affects over 10 million people annually in the United States [1]. Many studies have indentified the facet joint as a possible source of neck pain due to its innervation by nociceptive fibers [2]. In particular, in vivo studies have reported that distraction of the facet joint and its capsule produces both persistent firing of capsule pain fibers and persistent behavioral hypersensitivity and pain symptoms (i.e. mechanical allodynia) [2,3].