Suprascapular nerve block: important procedure in clinical practice

Shoulder pain is a frequent complaint that results in great functional disability in the affected shoulder as well as the decrease in patients' quality of life. Suprascapular nerve block is an effective therapeutic method and has been increasingly used by anesthesiologists both for regional anesthesia and postoperative analgesia of surgeries carried out in this articulation, which justifies this review, whose main purpose was to describe the applied technique and clinical indications.

It is presented the anatomy of suprascapular nerve, since its brachial plexus origin until its terminal branches, as well as general characteristics and technique employed to carry out the block of this nerve, main drugs used, volume and situations that give rise to its applications.

Suprascapular nerve block is a safe and extremely effective procedure in shoulder pain therapy. It also has an easy reproducibility and has been very used by professionals of many medical specialties. When it is well-indicated, this method must be taken into consideration.