Low Dose Lignocaine Injections as a Treatment Option for Acute Lumbosacral Radiculopathy

Low back pain is one of the most common ailments that plague patients, with nearly 80% of the population developing some form of back pain in their lifetime. Of all the causes of low back pain, the most common is lumbar radicular pain which may result from irritation of the nerve fibers or dorsal root ganglia due to intervertebral disc prolapse, degenerative spondylolisthesis or spinal canal stenosis. [1] Up regulated sodium channels in the nerve root or dorsal root ganglion are the basic cause for the mechano-sensitization and injecting the drug in the peripheral end of the nerve will block these sodium channels, since functionally both ends of the pseudo unipolar neuron are the same. [2]There have yet been no studies done to prove the efficacy of peripheral nerve block as an alternative to lumbar epidurals. We would like to share our experience of peripheral nerve blocks with low dose local Anaesthetics as the treatment of acute lumbosacral radiculopathy.