The femoral nerve is one of the largest nerves in your leg. It’s located near the groin and controls the muscles that help straighten your leg and move your hips. It also provides feeling in the lower part of your leg and the front of your thigh. The obturator nerve arises from the lumbar plexus and provides sensory and motor innervation to the thigh.
A femoral-obturator nerve block is used to treat chronic hip pain which may occur after hip surgery or trauma to the hip. The procedure may provide pain relief for patients with chronic hip pain after successful hip replacement and can be repeated to manage chronic hip neuralgia.
With the femoral-obturator nerve block, the physician injects an inflammation-reducing steroid mixed with local anesthetic around the nerves innervating the hip joint and may use ultrasound or fluoroscopy to maximize accuracy.
If blockade of these nerves relieves pain short-term, radiofrequency nerve ablation of the femoral-obturator nerves may be recommended for long-term pain relief.
