What Is Causing My Leg Cramps During the Night?
Leg cramps can leave you restless throughout the night, making it difficult to get any restorative sleep. Here are some potential causes of leg cramps and one way to alleviate them.
When to Consider a Nerve Block
Does your neck hurt every time you look up or down or turn your head? Are you suffering from back pain that haunts your every movement? Have your knees become harbingers of weather change, aching and cracking as you try to stay mobile?
Progressive Spine & Sports Medicine is located in Ramsey, New Jersey. Dr. Kevin McElroy and Dr. Steven Ferrer provide a number of treatments for back and joint pain, including interventional pain injections such as nerve blocks. If your pain is resistant to other methods of management, a nerve block could give you some breathing room.
Nerves, pain, and your brain
Nerves explain sensations in your body to your brain. This includes pain signals. When the source of the pain is unable to be treated with other methods, blocking the signal can provide relief. A nerve block is an injection of anesthetic that deadens the nerve’s ability to send signals to the brain.
Nerve blocks should be a last resort. Blocking pain signals has risks, including the risk of injuring yourself further because your body doesn’t get a red flag that what you’re doing is painful. Our board-certified physicians can help you ascertain if nerve blocks are a helpful and safe way to manage your pain.
Genicular nerve blocks for knee pain
There are several branches of nerves around the knee that provide sensation. These genicular nerves can be targeted on the outside of the knee joint to block pain signals. Your physician can carefully inject an anesthetic at three different points to surround the nerves and deaden them. We use an imaging machine to help guide these injections for precise and long-lasting effects.
Cervical medial branch blocks for neck pain
Severe chronic neck pain can be disheartening and keep you from living your best life. A cervical medial branch block targets sensation-carrying nerves at the top of the spine, blocking pain signals. In one study, patients experienced a 50% or more average reduction in pain relief.
Lumbar sympathetic blocks for back pain
If you have pain in your lower back, a lumbar sympathetic block can target compressed nerves along your spine to deaden pain signals and allow you more mobility. This type of block targets networks of nerves called ganglions that are in four different clusters along your back. A sympathetic nerve block can provide weeks or even months of pain relief.
If your chronic pain isn’t responding to more conservative methods of treatment, it might be time to explore the possibilities of nerve blocks.
To schedule a consultation with Progressive Spine & Sports Medicine, call 201-201-0443, or request an appointment online.
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