skip top site navigation

Anesthesia for Orthopedic Surgery

skip sidebar
Before Your Surgery Day Of Surgery After Your Surgery

All procedures at Woodland Surgery Center are performed in collaboration with a highly-skilled, board certified, anesthesiology specialist. An anesthesiologist is a physician that specializes in the administration and management of your anesthetic needs during your procedure.

Prior to your surgery, your anesthesiologist will consult with you and the surgical team. Following your procedure, the anesthesiologist ensures each patient fully emerges from the anesthesia and regains full consciousness.

There are several options for surgery anesthesia for patients undergoing finger, hand, wrist, elbow, or shoulder surgery. They include local anesthesia, regional anesthesia, or general anesthesia. The type of anesthesia used depends on the nature and duration of the surgery, patient’s health and medical conditions, and preferences of the patient, surgeon, and anesthesiologist.

Local Anesthesia Injection

Local anesthesia typically means surgery anesthesia for a small area. With this type of anesthesia, numbing medicine is injected at the site of surgery.

Local Anesthesia Monitored Anesthesia Care

Local anesthesia typically means anesthesia for a small area. With this type of anesthesia numbing medicine is injected at the site of surgery. Other medications to let you relax can be given as well with this type of anesthesia. Often the relaxing medications are administered through an intravenous (IV) line.

Regional Anesthesia

 (Nerve Blocks or Arm Blocks)

Regional anesthesia puts part of your body to sleep by injecting numbing medicine through a needle placed along the path of nerves. This may be around the collarbone or neck, under the arm, or through an intravenous (IV) line in your arm. There are several different types of regional anesthesia. Sometimes an ultrasound machine or nerve stimulator is used to assist in finding the proper placement for the needle. As with local anesthesia MAC, the anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist may supplement the block with relaxing medication administered through an IV line.

Why Choose Regional Anesthesia?

Some of the proven advantages of regional anesthesia include better postoperative pain relief, less need for post-op narcotic use, faster recovery from anesthesia, less nausea, and for some surgeries, less blood loss and less risk of blood clots.

Is Placing the Block Painful?

The injection of numbing medicine with a needle before surgery can be slightly uncomfortable or painful, but you will have IV medication to help you relax and feel comfortable during block placement. Oftentimes a small amount of local anesthetic is injected around the site where the block needle is to be placed. The anesthesiologist may use a needle connected to a nerve stimulator to precisely locate the nerve. This causes the arm or hand muscles to twitch and move, which is not painful, although it can feel strange.

How Long Will the Numbing Block Last?

Placing the block usually takes around 5 to 15 minutes. The numbing medications used in regional anesthesia can provide from 1 to 24 hours of pain relief, depending on the specific medication used. The muscles controlled by the nerves that are blocked may also be weak until the block wears off. You will be given back-up medicine by mouth or by IV, in addition to the numbing medicine in the block.

Will I Be Awake During Surgery?

Orthopedic surgery under regional anesthesia means that the part of your body that will be operated upon will be numb during the surgery. Some patients prefer to be awake during surgery. Others prefer to be asleep. During your surgery you can be as awake or as asleep as you and the surgical team (surgeon and anesthesiologist) decide. Sometimes general anesthesia is recommended as well as the regional block. Your anesthesiologist will discuss this with you before surgery. You will not be able to see the surgery itself because a large sterile drape is placed between you and the surgeon. This is to protect the “sterile field,” the important area of your surgery from any contamination.

Are there any Complications?

As with any anesthetic, there are risks associated with the benefits of regional anesthesia. These include incomplete pain relief, soreness or bruising at the needle site, or tingling that lasts for several days. Serious complications can occur but these are very rare; significant bleeding, infection, or nerve injury. Your orthopedic surgeon and anesthesia provider will check to make sure you are comfortable before, during, and after the procedure. Do not hesitate to tell them if you are not.

Types of Regional Anesthesia

The interscalene, supraclavicular, infraclavicular, and axillary blocks numb all of the “brachial plexus” which is the network of nerves that supply the arm, forearm and hand.

Interscalene Block

The numbing medication is injected towards the brachial plexus below the collarbone (clavicle). This type of regional anesthesia provides good anesthesia for wrist, forearm, upper arm, and often shoulder surgery.

Supraclavicular Block

The numbing medicine is injected above the collarbone, shallow to the lung and outside of the great vessels. This block is more widely used than in the past because newer technologies have made it safer. It provides anesthesia to the upper arm, elbow, wrist, and hand.

Infraclavicular Block

The numbing medication is injected towards the brachial plexus below the collarbone (clavicle). This generally provides good anesthesia for wrist, forearm, and elbow surgery.

Axillary Block

The numbing medicine is injected under the armpit (the axilla). This generally provides good anesthesia for hand, wrist, forearm, and elbow surgery.

Bier Block

The numbing medicine is injected through an IV line in the arm being operated on. A tourniquet is applied around the upper part of your arm to hold the medicine in the arm preventing it from leaking out to the rest of your body. This type of block is useful for short procedures such as carpal tunnel surgery.

Rescue Block

The numbing medicine is injected after surgery to make you more comfortable, or after one of the blocks above has been performed, in order to complete your anesthesia.

General Anesthesia

General anesthesia for orthopedic surgery is when you are put to sleep for your surgery. Newer medications and techniques make side effects such as nausea, dizziness, and drowsiness less likely than they used to be although they can still occur. General anesthesia may be used either instead of or in addition to a nerve block.

What type of anesthesia should I have?

The type of anesthesia used for orthopedic surgery depends on the nature and duration of the surgery, your general health and any medical conditions, and your preferences as well as those of your doctors. You and your doctors can decide together what method is best for you.