ABSTRACT
Nerve blocks involve injecting an anesthetic solution at the proximal aspect of a sensory nerve before it has significantly arborized for the purpose of obtaining widespread distal anesthesia. Competency in performing nerve blocks requires sound knowledge of suitable anesthetic agents and sensory nerve anatomy. The ability to reproducibly block key sensory nerves is valuable to physicians who perform surgical procedures under local anesthesia. Nerve blocks can be less painful especially when dealing with the face, hands, and feet. For example, for anesthesia of the palm, it is generally less painful to block the median nerve at the proximal wrist flexion crease than to inject local anesthetic directly into the palm. Direct the tunnel of anesthesia directly medial along the border between the inferior rims of the nostrils and the upper cutaneous lip. Local infiltration of anesthesia in the dorsal hand is minimally painful and is comparable to the pain associated with a radial nerve block.
