“Is an epidural the same as a nerve block?”
I am a 29 year old female. I want to know if an epidural is the same as a nerve block?
3 Answers
Yes, nerve block is generic term, epidural is more specific since it is blocking the nerves through epidural space. It can be neck, thorax, or lumbar.
No, they are not the same. Nerve blocks involve injection of local anesthetic under the fibrous sheath that encases an individual nerve or nerve bundle and serves to numb a limited part of the body that is innervated by that nerve. An epidural block involves insertion of local anesthetic into your back, beneath the ligamentum flavum, where local anesthetic can spread to block sensation and pain in a wider distribution over multiple dermatomal levels.
Epidural is a type of regional anesthesia administered in the spinal column epidural space. A nerve block is administered in the territory of peripheral nerves. It's not the same.
