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Occipital Nerve Block

A simple local anesthetic injection around the nerve will give you important information about the attributes in the spine. Once the medial nerve block has been completed and you have a profound reduction in pain, you may become a candidate for ablation. Ablation of this small nerve may give relief from this arthritic condition for up to a year at a time. This is a very simple procedure. The nerve has no other function of importance, the nerve is not killed, it is disabled. The function of the nerve will return in a year and with it will come arthritic pain.

Frequently Asked Questions:

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​Can my pain be controlled without injections or pain medicines?

Yes, there are many options depending on if it's musculoskeletal or nerve pain.

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If I need an injection, is it dangerous?

There are risks of inserting a needle into the body. These include bleeding, infection, and lack of benefit. These risks are minimal and the vast majority of patients see enormous benefits because we select the treatment modality carefully. The benefits of performing pain intervention are carefully calculated and discussed against risks before we proceed with any treatment.

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What do you inject?

There are different medications/compounds that may be offered. The goal is to reduce or eliminate pain and improve function. The medication and compounds may include steroids, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), A2M (alpha 2 macro globulin), and/or stem cells.

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How long with the benefits of an injection last?

It's not possible to accurately predict the level and duration of benefit. Many of our patients have improvement or elimination of their pain with a single injection. We reevaluate every patient after each intervention. All decisions on further treatment are discussed as a team.

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Do you provide medicine management?

Dr. Graf uses many medications for pain. Many of these medications are habit-forming and require careful monitoring. When appropriate, patients will receive opioid medications under Dr. Graf's supervision. Dr. Graf is recognized for his expertise as as addiction management physician in assisting patients in withdrawing from habit-forming medications.

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