New Mexico Pain Management

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Autonomic Nerve Blocks

There are two nervous systems

somatic nervous system - normal motor and sensory nerves that most people are familiar with. It is organized like a centralized federal government, with the brain and spinal cord in charge.

autonomic nervous system - another very extensive system that controls blood flow, sweating and many other secretions, digestion, heart beat and other organ functions. It also has significant influence on pain. It is then divided into two parts.

• The parasympathetic nervous system is the autonomic nerves that help us relax, secrete and digest.
• The sympathetic nervous system is the autonomic nerves that stop secretion and peripheral blood flow in response to fight or flight situations, or perhaps just greater situational stresses.

The autonomic nervous system is organized in a less centralized manner. The brain and spinal cord participate, but there are also powerful regional offices, like local or state governments. These regional offices are larger masses of nerve tissue called ganglia, situated in front of the spine, from the neck to the tail bone. A few of these can be safely be injected in-office, particularly with technique modified for safety, targeting not full block but incremental therapeutic regulation of the ganglion in question.