3 Types of Pain Nerve Blocks Can Relieve

When you can’t find relief for chronic pain with oral medications, a nerve block may be the next nonsurgical strategy we use in your treatment plan.

At AABP Integrative Pain Care, our pain management experts offer in-office nerve blocks to treat several types of persistent pain. Our board-certified anesthesiologists can also use nerve blocks as a diagnostic tool to uncover the root cause of unexplained pain.

How nerve blocks provide lasting pain relief

A nerve block describes an injection of a local anesthetic directly into a single irritated or inflamed nerve or a group of nerves.

The local anesthetic relieves pain by preventing nerve signals from traveling to your brain. Our team can also combine a corticosteroid with the anesthetic to ease inflammation in the nerve being treated.

Unlike oral medications, nerve blocks deliver pain-relieving medications directly into the space surrounding the painful nerve. This helps you achieve faster, more efficient relief from chronic or debilitating pain.

The results of a nerve block can last for several weeks before you need another injection so that you can reduce your reliance on oral medications.

Nerve blocks as a diagnostic tool

When your pain is new and undiagnosed, our pain management specialists may recommend a nerve block as part of your diagnostic testing.

As a diagnostic tool, a nerve block can help our team confirm nerve-related pain and identify the location of the irritated or damaged nerve.

If injecting an anesthetic into a specific nerve or group of nerves provides quick pain relief, we can use imaging tests to evaluate your condition further. We can provide additional nerve blocks to ensure you stay pain-free.

Three types of pain nerve blocks can treat

You might be a candidate for nerve blocks if you experience chronic, nerve-related pain nearly anywhere in your body. Our anesthesiology team may recommend nerve blocks as part of your treatment for:

1. Arthritis

Degenerative and inflammatory forms of arthritis can trigger nerve-related pain in your hips, shoulders, fingers, and other joints.

While a nerve block won’t stop the progression of arthritis, the treatment can be useful in keeping chronic arthritis pain in your back under control. We can also use a nerve block to ease pain that radiates from your spine into your arms or legs.

2. Headaches

Nerve blocks provide effective pain relief from chronic headaches and migraines. We inject a local anesthetic into the base of your skull to block pain signals from traveling to the brain.

You may benefit from a nerve block to treat existing headaches or migraine pain or to prevent new headaches from developing.

3. Chronic regional pain syndrome (CRPS)

We offer sympathetic nerve blocks to treat the chronic, widespread pain of CRPS. Sympathetic nerve blocks target the sympathetic nervous system which controls your involuntary movements.

Blocking pain signals from the sympathetic nerves can provide lasting pain relief, so you can participate in physical therapy and other activities that make CRPS easier to manage.

Call AABP Integrative Pain Care today in White Plains, Brooklyn, or Garden City, New York, to learn more about the benefits of nerve blocks for chronic pain, or book an appointment online.