The lumbar medial branch nerve is a portion of the main nerve roots of the spine that innervates the facet joint. Each facet joint is fed by two medial branch nerves, and thus, by blocking those nerves, pain can be relieved. Anesthetic blocks of these nerves may be done in cases there the facet joint is difficult to infiltrate or when we need to make a more definitive diagnosis of pain. In other words, it can confirm that the facet joint is indeed a source of pain. This is a solely a diagnostic block, and thus, steroids are not used in this procedure. Pain relief is short-lived and is a stepping stone to longer acting pain relief techniques.