Medial Branch Blocks

A medial branch block helps to block the pain signals emitted from the medial nerves, which run through the facet joints in your spine. Although this outpatient procedure can reduce pain temporarily, it is mostly helpful for diagnosing and pinpointing back pain or sciatica that a patient is experiencing. Though the procedure sounds similar to the facet joint injection, it is different in that the medial branch block is an injection outside the joint, close to the medial nerve.  

 

The actual procedure is prepared by monitoring the patient’s vitals. The patient is then given a sedative to ease the muscles, and they are positioned on their stomach or their side. Local anaesthesia is applied before the actual injection, and then the patient is monitored for a short period of time to ensure there are no issues.