Fig. 2.

Schematic drawings of the facet joint and the primary tissues that compose it, as well as the cartilage and menisci of the facet articulation. The blowup illustrates the different zones of the articular cartilage layer with the collagen fibers and chondrocytes orientations through its depth. A cut through of the facet joint (A-A) is also drawn to show the elliptically-shaped inter-articular surfaces with the cartilage surface on the inferior facet, the synovium, and meniscoids. Adapted collectively from Martin et al., 1998, Pierce et al., 2009, and Bogduk and Engel, 1984 [48,49,73].