A nerve block puts local anesthetic around a specific nerve so that, for a few hours, it stops carrying its signal. If the pain disappears during those hours, that nerve was carrying it. If the pain carries on unchanged, it was not.
That is a rare thing in medicine — a test where the result is obvious to the patient within the afternoon. It is why blocks are used to settle arguments that imaging cannot, because a scan shows what a structure looks like while a block shows what it is doing.
Sometimes the aim is purely the answer, and the relief lasting an afternoon is simply the proof. That answer then decides whether a longer-acting treatment is worth booking.
Sometimes the aim is relief in its own right, particularly when a short quiet spell is what makes it possible to start moving again. Steroid is often added for that reason, so the effect outlasts the anesthetic.
Which one you are having should be stated plainly before you go in, because it changes what counts as a good result.
Blocks are done in office at our Northglenn clinic, 11990 Grant Street, just off I-25 at 120th Avenue, and at our Lowry clinic on specific days. It is an outpatient appointment and most people are in and out inside a couple of hours.
Assessment can happen at any Denver-area clinic and the plan follows you rather than restarting. Which nerve is targeted depends entirely on where the pain is and what the examination found, so that conversation happens before anything is scheduled.
The most important part of a diagnostic block happens after you leave. You are asked to go and provoke the pain deliberately — the stairs, the drive, the standing, whatever normally brings it on — while the anesthetic is still working.
Then write down what happened and roughly how long it lasted. Going home and resting on the sofa wastes the appointment, because a pain that was never tested cannot be said to have gone.
In Colorado most major commercial plans are accepted and we are in network with most Medicare Advantage plans. Benefits are confirmed before the appointment.
Where a collision caused the pain, billing goes through the med-pay portion of the auto policy or an attorney lien; work injuries through the carrier on the claim. No referral is needed for an assessment and appointments are usually available within the same week.
The nerve block page covers this territory more generally, as does Pain Management in Denver.
Every clinic below has Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Acupuncture and Pain Management on one chart, so care can move between them without a new referral.
Downtown out through the north, west, south and east suburbs.
Academy, InterQuest and Tenderfoot cover the north, central and south of the city.
Harmony in Fort Collins and our Greeley clinic serve Larimer and Weld counties.
Across the Valley, from the West Valley through Phoenix to the East Valley.
Usually a few hours, depending on the anesthetic used. That window is the test.
If it comes back as the anesthetic wears off, the block worked and told us what we needed. Returning pain is expected from a diagnostic block.
For a diagnostic block, the opposite. Go and do the things that usually hurt, so the answer is worth having.
In office at Northglenn on Grant Street or, on specific days, at Lowry, with assessment available at any of the Denver-area clinics.
Not quite. An epidural is placed around a nerve root in the spine; a block can target a range of nerves depending on where the pain is coming from.
Yes, where it is helping and where repeating it serves a purpose beyond confirming what is already known.
Usually, unless sedation was used or the block affects a limb you need. It is worth asking at booking.
No. Book an assessment directly for Pain Management, usually within the same week.
Nerve Block is performed in office at our Northglenn clinic, and at Lowry on specific days. No referral is needed to be evaluated, and appointments are usually available within the same week.
