While studies have reported the failure properties of the facet capsular ligament, and pointed to its potential for subfailure injury that may cause pain, the mechanical conditions and mechanisms that lead to the initiation of ligament injury remain undefined. As has been previously demonstrated for other soft tissues and ligaments, understanding the ligament’s response to mechanical loading requires insight into its microstructural behavior. Therefore, this study describes the development and implementation of quantitative polarized light imaging (QPLI) to define the collagen fiber direction and strength of alignment in the facet capsular ligament. Fiber alignment maps were created during tensile loading of human cervical (C6/C7) ligament specimens and compared with simultaneous mechanical measurements. The mean fiber direction and the variance of this direction were calculated from all pixels in each image map for each time point. Retardation was also measured at each pixel to determine the strength of alignment through the thickness of the ligament. Gross ligament (n=3) failure occurred at 66.3±11.1 N and 5.84±1.81 mm. Changes in the mean fiber direction, variance, and retardation were observed prior to gross failure and minor rupture. Mean variance of fiber direction and retardation both decreased for all specimens up to gross failure. Error in measuring direction and retardation in our QPLI system was quantified as 2.93±1.45° and 0.85±0.44°, respectively. These findings from pilot studies demonstrate use of integrative methods to examine the relationship between microstructural and mechanical responses of the cervical facet capsule under load. Preliminary results suggest that QPLI techniques may be useful in broadening the experimental approaches used to study this ligament and its role in injury. Further, data obtained from these types of studies could provide additional perspectives for defining more appropriate thresholds for painful injury and for constructing more biofidelic models of the facet joint.