An inflamed spinal nerve can lead to pain in the neck, shoulders, and/or arm of your neck (cervical spine). If you have anything that can help locate your pinched or inflamed spinal nerve and relieve your pain, your neck and spine doctor can suggest you inject a root block cervical selective nerve block injecting. This is how it works.
When to Consider a Selective Root Nerve Block
In cases where pain persists, a cervical selective nerve root block may be considered despite resting and other nonsurgical treatments. While pain is the most common symptom, there are other symptoms, including pinching, weakness, bruising or other curious feelings called paresthesia, often in the neck and/or arm.
Common conditions that may compress a spinal nerve or inflame it include:
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Cervical arthritis (joint swelling and nerve spur)
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Cervical degenerative disorder
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Cervical herniated discs
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Cervical foraminal stenosis
The Process
Your neck and back doctor may give you a sedative to start a cervical selective nerve root block procedure. Then he or she will have you lie down face down and inject a local anesthetic into your skin over the painful area.
Next your doctor will inject a contrast dye on or close to the nerve, which is suspected to be the cause of your pain, using X-ray guidance.
When the needle is found to be in the right position, your doctor will inject both the lidocaine, a type of anesthetic, and a steroid, such as cortisone, into the root of the nerve.
Results of a Selective Cervical Nerve Root Block
If your pain is supported by the injection described above, you and your doctor may find that the correct nerve was identified.
Although the anesthetic effects wear away quickly, typically the effects of the steroid shot are longer. In turn, this can help reduce inflammation (and thus alleviate pain) and help to heal the irritated nerve.
The good news is that you can usually leave the hospital the same day, using the selective nerve-root sequence.
Effectiveness of Selective Cervical Nerve Blocks
If at least temporary relief is achieved by a cervical selective nerve block, it can also play a key role in confirmed nerves that are the cause of pain. A selective cervical injection of the root nerve block is used to diagnose and treat an inflamed spinal nerve.
Although the anesthetic effects become relatively quickly disappearing, the effects of a steroid shot usually last longer. That, in turn, can reduce (and thus alleviate your pain) inflammation and can also help to heal the irritated nerve.
The efficacy of selective cervical nerve root blocks is estimated differently. One study found that 67% of patients reported significant pain decrease at the end of 3 months and 57% reported benefits at the end of six months.
At Neuroscience Specialist you would get this treatment. Our neck and back doctors would help you for spine injures along with other treatments like carpal tunnel syndrome.
**Disclaimer- Information presented here is not intended to be qualified medical advice. Nothing expressed herein creates a doctor-patient relationship.