Abstract: Introduction: Lumbar radiculopathy is a common complaint of patients presenting to spine clinic. A variety of conditions can lead to compression of the nerve roots, the most common cause is disc herniation. Selective Nerve Root block (SNRB) injections have been used in everyday clinical practice.
Methods: Fifty patients with lumbar radicular pain were enrolled in the study as per the inclusion criteria. Patients were assessed clinically, neurologic evaluation done and pain quantified by Visual analogue scale (VAS) and the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). They were reassessed after SNRB immediately, at 3 weeks and 6 weeks using the same outcome measures.
Results: Majority of patients (40 out of 49) demonstrated improvement after SNRB).The degree of improvement in the VAS was significantly greater and statistically significant (P <0.001). The degree of improvement in the ODI was also statistically significant (P <0.001) after 3 and 6 weeks.
Conclusion: Spinal nerve root block is effective in the selected group of patients of lumbar radicular pain and should be recommended as an alternative treatment to surgery for this condition along with physiotherapy and medications.
