Nerve Blocks

There is minimal preparation needed for nerve blocks. If you are on a blood thinner, you may be instructed to discontinue the blood thinner, but it often can be performed without stopping blood thinners.

Nerve blocks are performed in a procedure room with the patient lying on his/her stomach. The physician will use an x-ray to guide a needle to the location of the nerves that are causing the pain. A small amount of numbing medication (and sometimes a steroid) will be injected.

There are no activity restrictions following a nerve block. Sometimes your physician may encourage you to go home and do activities that would normally aggravate your symptoms in order to see if the block is relieving your symptoms.

It is important to remember that this procedure is primarily diagnostic (used to determine the source of pain) and only expected to provide several hours of relief, but sometimes the pain relief will last much longer. If the patient receives significant relief for several hours after this procedure, they are likely a candidate for radiofrequency ablation or fusion of the joint.