A femoral nerve block (FNB) results in anesthesia of the skin and muscles of the
anteriorthigh and most of the
femur and
knee joint, as well as the skin on the medial aspect of the leg below the knee joint.[1]
For hip surgery, a femoral nerve block and
fascia iliac block (FIB) are alternative methods for providing analgesic relief. A meta-analysis concluded that compared to FIB, the FNB decreased
visual analog scale at 24 hrs and the incidence of nausea, vomiting and oversedation.[3]
For knee surgery, a femoral nerve block may lead to delayed postoperative mobilization of the patient and greater risk of falls as it causes motor blockade of the
quadriceps muscles.[4] Due to the sparing of the thigh muscles the
adductor canal block is becoming a preferred choice for providing post-operative analgesia for knee surgery.[5]
^Min H, Ouyang Y, Chen G (August 2020). "Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction with the use of adductor canal block can achieve similar pain control as femoral nerve block". Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy. 28 (8): 2675–2686.
doi:
10.1007/s00167-020-05933-6.
PMID32166390.
S2CID212681626.