What Is Sympathetic Nerve Block And When Is It Performed?
Sympathetic nerves are part of an autonomic nervous system that control homeostatic mechanisms such as blood pressure, sweating, breathing, and digestion. The sympathetic nervous system is sometimes involved in the pathophysiology of different chronic pain conditions including Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), ischemic pain, and nerve related pain. Nerves from different parts of our body gather along the front part of the vertebral body (part of the spine). Depending on the location in the body, each group of nerves have different names such as stellate ganglion for the neck and lumbar sympathetic chain for the low back. By blocking the pain transmission, pain relief can last beyond the duration of the local anesthetic. Plexus Block What Is A Plexus And When Do You Block It? Plexus is a group of nerves in a network located in numerous areas of the body such as cardiac, carotid, celiac, enteric, and coccygeal plexus to name a few. In certain cases, pain fibers follow the sympatheti
