• Perineural anesthesia of distal limb nerves.
• Individual nerve blocks and ring block are described.

Uses

• Facilitates examination and treatment of painful conditions of the distal limb, including wounds and foot lesions.
• Enables claw amputation and joint lavage Joint lavage: through-and-through.
• As an adjunct in a patient under general anesthesia Anesthetizing cattle as part of multi-modal anesthesia and analgesia.

Advantages

• Inexpensive and minimal equipment needs.
• Minimal side effects.
• Allows standing surgery.
• Minimal patient recovery time.

Disadvantages

• Depending on accuracy of block placement, the area of desensitization can be variable.
• Knowledge of the anatomical landmarks is required.
• Good restraint of the animal and its limb is required Restraint techniques.
• Risk of introducing infection if aseptic preparation of the site in not undertaken appropriately.

Technical problems

• Palpation of the distal limb nerves is rarely possible in adult cattle because of their skin thickness, and ‘blind’ injection based on anatomical landmarks is required.

Alternative techniques

• For examination, deep sedation Sedating cattle (for example, with xylazine HCl Xylazine).
• For surgical procedures, general anesthesia Anesthetizing cattle.

Time required

Preparation

• Aseptic site preparation (clipping and surgical scrub): 5-10 min.

Procedure

• 5 minutes per site/nerve.
• Allow 15-20 min for block to take effect.
• Check site for desensitization before proceeding with procedure.

Decision taking

Criteria for choosing test

• Lesion type and location.
• Generic factors that determine most appropriate type of anesthesia.

Risk assessment

• Good general restraint Restraint techniques of the animal and specific restraint of the limb is required to allow accurate placement of nerve block and avoid injury (including self-injection) to practitioner and the patient alike.