Patent ID: 7144397

Claim:
A method of manipulating a bodily tissue, wherein the tissue is enclosed by a definable outer layer of the same or different bodily tissue, the method comprising: locating an opening in the outer layer, wherein said outer layer comprises bony or spinal tissue; inserting within said opening to a point past the outer layer a distal end of a hollow cannula, said cannula having a proximal end and a distal end and having an elongated longitudinal axis, said cannula slideably housing an advancer coupled to a probe member, said probe member having a proximal end connected to the advancer and said distal end of said probe member connected to a tip, said distal end of the probe member capable of being advanced and retracted through a curved slot at the distal end of the cannula via longitudinal movement of the advancer within said cannula; and advancing the advancer within the cannula and causing the probe member to be advanced outward from the curved passage at an angle between 30 and 150 degrees relative to the long axis of the cannula such that the probe tip travels and manipulates tissue parallel to the intersection of the tissue with the definable outer layer of tissue.