Peripheral Nerve Injections

Peripheral nerve injections are performed in patients with nerve pain in the arms, legs, neck, back, trunk, or face. The most commonly injected nerves are the sciatic nerve, femoral nerve, suprascapular nerve, median nerve, dorsal scapular nerve, spinal accessory nerve, geniculate nerves of the knee, ilioinguinal nerve, intercostal nerve, greater and lesser occipital nerves, sphenopalatine ganglion, trigeminal ganglion branches, cervical plexus, and brachial plexus.

Usually, a combination of a steroid and numbing medication is injected directly into the tissue surrounding the nerve. If the patient obtains a certain percentage of relief then the pain generator is most likely coming from that nerve. These injections with steroids are sometimes able to be repeated more frequently than every three months. For certain nerves, radiofrequency procedures may be performed for potentially longer-lasting effects.