One of the tools that we use to diagnose back pain is selective nerve injections (SNI). Imaging studies, such as MRI’s, do not always show which nerve is causing the back pain, and selective nerve injections are effective in helping us to isolate the source of the patient’s pain.
With diagnostic selective nerve injection, just enough medication is used to numb one or two spinal nerves. This medication is then injected, and this helps us to determine if the nerve root is causing the pain.
Additionally, a study that I co-investigated concluded that selective nerve injections were also a valuable tool for patients requiring surgery for radiculopathy; a lumbar cervical decompression. This study determined that selective nerve injections can accurately determine the presence of a specific painful nerve root in cases where physical exam and/or MRI findings are equivocal. This helps spine surgeons determine their surgical treatment and oftentimes limiting its scope. Here is a link to the research study.
