Nerve Blocks for Chronic Pain: What You Should Know:

as interventional pain physicians we use 
nerve blocks to both diagnose and treat   sources of pain the source of pain may be 
from joints or from the nerves themselves   often times nerve blocks are guided with 
some kind of image guidance either ultrasound   or an x-ray machine during a nerve block a needle 
is placed next to the nerve and an injection of   numbing medication and sometimes steroid is 
undertaken the response to that injection may   tell us the source of the pain as well as 
possible treatments for that type of pain   in the future usually when a patient has a nerve 
block we have you keep track of your pain for   the rest of that day an understanding of how your 
pain responds to the nerve block may guide us in   future treatment options depending on the specific 
type of nerve block you may or may not have some   temporary muscle weakness this can be expected 
and would be discussed with you by your physician   prior to the nerve block if this is the case we 
ask that you take care for the rest of that day   and be careful while those muscles are weak muscle 
function should return to normal within 12 to 24   hours as with all procedures there are risks with 
nerve blocks usually these risks are confined to   bleeding infection and nerve damage use of 
image guidance and strict aseptic technique   can decrease the risk of infection bleeding 
and nerve damage your physician may discuss   changes to your normal medications such as 
blood thinners prior to your nerve block