CONTRIBUTED CONTENT — If you have back pain that radiates down an arm or leg, the most common cause is a pinched nerve in your spine. An injection called selective nerve root block, available at Southwest Spine & Pain Center, can be helpful in finding the exact nerve that’s causing your pain.

The nerves for your arms exit the spine from your neck (cervical region), and the nerves for your legs exit the spine in the low back (lumbar region). Nerves exiting the spine are most commonly pinched by a bulging or herniated intervertebral disc, arthritis that has built up to narrow around a nerve or a cyst from a joint in the spine. 

When a nerve is pinched, it can cause radiating pain down your limb called a radiculopathy. A severely pinched nerve can also cause numbness or weakness. 

A radiculopathy is diagnosed with clinical evaluation and an MRI of the affected spine region. Treatment options for radiculopathy include anti-inflammatory medications, physical therapy, injections and surgery.

Often, radiculopathies can improve with conservative treatments and epidural steroid injections. Epidural steroid injections place steroid down in the spinal canal around nerves that are being pinched to decrease inflammation and improve pain.

If there is worsening weakness, numbness or pain despite these treatments, then surgery may be necessary. Prior to surgery being performed, we want to maximize the likelihood that surgery will be effective in alleviating symptoms.

Selective nerve root blocks are spine injections that use X-ray guidance to place medication around a single nerve as it exits the spine. They allow us to find the specific nerve that’s the source of the pain.

These injections are performed in an outpatient clinic. Patients go home following the injection and are given a pain journal to write down how much relief from the pain is felt for the few hours while numbing medication is effective. If the patient’s typical pain resolves for a few hours, then the nerve causing the pain is confirmed. This information is then used to develop further treatment plans, including helping with surgical planning. 

I always do my best to treat each patient individually based on their symptoms, not just treat the X-ray or MRI images. Selective nerve root blocks are a tool to find the source of the pain and develop a plan to best improve the pain affecting a patient’s quality of life. The physicians at Southwest Spine & Pain Center are fellowship-trained and board-certified to perform selective nerve root block injections and other spine interventions to reduce pain and improve your quality of life.

Written by DR. CASEY MUIR, pain management specialist at Southwest Spine & Pain Center.

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Resources

• Vista Healthcare | Address: 2891 E. Mall Drive, St. George | Telephone: 435-215-0257 | Website.

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