Cervical, Thoracic, and Lumbar Facet Joint Injections and Medial Branch Blocks
Medial branch nerves are small nerves that feed out from the facet joints in the spine and carry pain signals from the facet joints to your brain. A Medial Branch Block is a procedure in which an anesthetic is injected near small medial nerves connected to a specific facet joint. Typically several levels of the spine are injected in one procedure.
If you experience significant pain relief immediately after the injection, then the facet joint is determined to be the source of your pain. The Medial Branch Block procedure is primarily diagnostic, meaning that if you have an appropriate duration of pain relief after the Medial Branch Block, then you may be a candidate for a subsequent procedure – called a Medial Branch Radio-frequency Neurotomy (or ablation) – for longer term pain relief.
