Nerve Block Treatment for Arthritis and Back Pain

As controversy surrounding pain medication grows, the medical community seeks pain management methods that prohibit abuse or redirection of opioid pain medications for street sale. Therapeutic nerve blocks can control or remove pain while preventing drug abuse.

Function

• According to Spine-Health, an anesthesiologist injects a mixture of lidocaine and a steroid into the spinal canal, around intervertebral discs or into nerve bundles serving the arm, wrist and hands. As the medications spread around the injection site, inflammation and back pain subside.

Benefits

• If you have spinal arthritis or peripheral neuropathy from compressed nerves, a nerve block may reduce your need for oral pain medications. Pain relief from a nerve block can last from a few days to a year.

Considerations

• Nerve blocks can cause weight gain, bleeding and elevated glucose levels. Pain may worsen and nerve or spinal cord damage is possible. Finding a doctor experienced in spinal nerve blocks may be difficult.

Frequency

• You can have no more than three injections in a 12-month period, protecting against side effects of multiple steroid injections.

Prognosis

• The likelihood of a nerve block easing pain and inflammation is greater if injections begin after six weeks of conservative pain treatments using physical therapy and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications.

Warning

• Nerve blocks will not help everyone with severe pain. Nerve blocks are ineffective if pain is diffuse, emanating from more than a single nerve or small nerve bundle.