Blocks with local anesthetic can be used to control acute pain. Pain and injury often makes nerves more sensitive, so that they signal pain with less provocation. Think about lightly brushing against your skin when you have a sunburn. Blocks can provide periods of dramatic pain relief, which promotes the desensitization of sensory pathways. Steroids can help reduce nerve and joint inflammation and can reduce the abnormal triggering of signals from injured nerves.
Blocks often provide diagnostic information, helping to determine the source of the pain.
Remember, blocks are not the best treatment for all pain problems. Often blocks are not possible, are too dangerous, or simply are not the best treatment for the problem. Similar injections can be very useful in the cervical spine, where the symptoms will extend into the arms. The facet joints of the spine can also cause pain. Injections into the facet joints or blocks of the nerves that go to the facets can often be very helpful with these pains.