Medial Branch Block (MBB)

What is it?
The medial branch nerve is the nerve that innervates the facet joints in the spine. There is a medial branch nerve at each level of the spine. When patients have arthritis of the facet joints, blocking this nerve or neurotomy of the nerve can make the patient not feel the arthritis as well. The medial branch block is most commonly used as a diagnostic tool to figure out if facet joint arthritis is contributing to a patient’s back pain.
How does it work?
A medial branch block is carried out under fluoroscopic guidance. A physician uses bony landmarks to place a needle in close proximity of the nerve and then a medication, usually bupivacaine, is injected.
What conditions does it treat?
A medial branch block is used to treat facet joint arthritis, also known as spondylosis or facet arthropathy. It is most commonly used as a diagnostic tool to see if a patient is a candidate for radiofrequency neurotomy of the medial branch nerve.
Conditions
- Arthritis
- Cancer Pain
- Chronic Pelvic Pain
- Chronic Abdominal Pain
- Cervical Radiculopathy
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
- Compression Fractures of the Spine
- Diabetic Neuropathy
- Fibromyalgia
- Herniated Discs
- Knee Pain
- Low Back Pain
- Migraine Headaches
- Neck Pain
- Neuropathy
- Post Laminectomy Syndrome
- Shoulder Pain
- Trigeminal Neuralgia
- Whiplash CAD
Treatments
- Botox Injection
- Capsaicin (8%) Patch
- Cervical Epidural Steroid Injection
- Disc Nucleoplasty
- Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulator (DRG)
- Endoscopic Discectomy
- Facet Joint Syndrome
- Hip Joint Injections
- Intrathecal Pain Pump
- Intercostal Nerve Block
- Ketamine Infusion
- Knee Joint Injection
- Kyphoplasty
- Lidocaine Infusion
- Lumbar Epidural Spinal Injection (LESI)
- Lumbar Sympathetic Ganglion Block
- Lumbar Radiofrequency Neurotomy
- Minuteman Procedure
- Medial Branch Block (MBB)
- Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression (MILD)
- Platelet Rich Plasma
- Peripheral Nerve Stimulation
- ReActiv8 Procedure
- Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA)
- Regenerative Medicine
- SI Joint Injection
- Stellate Ganglion Block
- Sympathetic Nerve Block
- Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS)
- Trigger Point Injection
- Transforaminal Epidural Spinal Injection (TFESI)
- Vertebroplasty
- Vertiflex Procedure