Knee pain is a very common affliction. It can be due to age, a previous injury or as the result of surgery. Experiencing this can be debilitating and difficult to work around, and sometimes it seems that it’s just something you are going to have to live with for the rest of your life.
Genicular nerve block is a non-invasive treatment that can help manage knee pain, either chronic or not. It can relieve the area temporarily, or long-term and even aid in diagnosing the origin of the pain. Nerve blocks are safe procedures that have helped many people with pain issues all over the body.
If you are looking for cutting edge treatments in New Jersey, University Pain and Spine Center specializes in pain management and treatments for all sorts of conditions.
Our pain management experts in Somerset, Monroe, Ewing, Englewood Cliffs, Jersey City, Hoboken, Bloomfield, Freehold, Clark, and Elizabeth, New Jersey; and Bayridge, Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, and Hempstead, New York, are committed to helping patients find relief and regain control of their everyday lives.
Genicular nerve block works by injecting a local anesthetic or steroids into the nerves that feed information from your knees to your brain. In other words, it halts the pain signals from moving through your nervous system.
Unlike other knee pain injections, the needle doesn’t go directly into the knee, but rather a different part of your body that connects the nerves to your spine. Traditional knee injections are also not going to be delivering pain-relieving substances, but lubricating the inner part of the joint, which is helpful for some conditions, but not for everyone.
The word “genicular” means that it’s in relation to the knee, and for the injections there are multiple places that can work. You can discuss which one is best for you with a medical professional.
Because of its minimally invasive nature, you won’t really need to do preparations or previous work before getting a genicular nerve block. This is unless your physician recommends being fully sedated during the procedure, which isn’t common.
At the medical center, you will most likely lie down, and receive some kind of mild sedation to help you relax. You will get local anesthesia for the site of injection, and promptly get the genicular nerve block delivered by the medical professional treating you. The injections will be done with imaging guidance so that the nerve will be perfectly targeted.
After that, you will wait until the injection has begun to work and the pain diminishes. This can take around 10 minutes and you can go home afterwards, as genicular nerve block requires no overnight stay.
Several different types of knee surgery can lead to experiencing pain in the area for some time. Things like a knee replacement or some ligament tears will leave the joint pretty tender and movement can end up being a painful ordeal. A genicular nerve block can assist with alleviating that pain for a while, leaving the surgical site to rest without having to endure post-operatory discomfort.
If the pain is new and doesn’t have a clear reason, getting a genicular nerve block can serve to do three things. For one, it does away with the pain, and can give your doctor a starting point for what the problem might be. But if the nerve block wears off and the pain persists, that means that it might be a chronic knee pain issue, and you can look further into treatment options. So it treats, tracks the origin of the pain, and helps diagnose if it’s a chronic issue or not at the same time.
For people who don’t want to go through such an invasive ordeal like knee replacement surgery, or just are not candidates to one for any reason, a genicular nerve block can be a great alternative that prevents dramatic surgery in the body which is not ideal for some people.
Learn more: Chronic Pain
If you are experiencing knee pain that hasn’t gone away with things like physical therapy and is affecting your quality of life, our medical center can provide a genicular nerve block in New Jersey.
Our team at University Pain and Spine Center is highly qualified to deal with any kind of pain management and treatments. Dr. Demesmin is one of our providers and he is an award winning Doctor of Medicine (MD) who specializes in minimally invasive pain treatment procedures, including genicular nerve blocks.
Contact us to begin your painfree journey, and get back your mobility and quality of life.
