Radiofrequency Ablasion

Radiofrequency ablation is a technology that was employed over the last probably ten to twelve years, or even longer than that, where we are able to take a radiofrequency that causes a localized increase in temperature around a nerve to cause destruction of the nerve. So for sensory nerves we are able to use that to control pain. It can be applied just about anywhere in the human body. We use it for cervical or neck pain, we can use it for shoulder pain with a suprascapular nerve ablation, we can use it for back, for medial branch nerve blocks, also thoracic and lumbar region, we can even use it for knees and hips now. In the knees we do a radiofrequency ablation of the genicular nerves and for the hip we use it for the articular branches of both the femoral and obturator nerves for hip pain. So again, it’s a very well established treatment modality that is able to control pain in some cases up to a year.