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Evidence Library · Pain relief
Local anesthesia: the small injections nobody mentions
Used before a needle, to repair a tear, and sometimes during an operation.
Local anesthetic numbs a small patch of tissue and nothing else. You stay fully awake, and you still feel touch and pressure around the numb area.
- Before a block. The skin over your lower back is numbed before the epidural or spinal needle goes in. This is the sting people remember afterwards.
- After a vaginal birth. A tear or a cut is numbed with local before it is stitched. A working epidural may already cover it. If you did not have one, or if it has worn off, say so before the stitching starts rather than during it.
- During a cesarean. If one spot still hurts, the surgeon can inject local into the tissue as an extra measure. It is a supplement to a block, not a replacement for one.
Tell your team in advance if you have ever had a local injection that did not seem to work, at the dentist or anywhere else.
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Read this inside the full program, with the questions to take to your next visit and a record of what you have covered.
Obstetric Anesthesia Preparedness →More from Pain relief
What labor pain is actually likeMost American women choose an epidural, and that number is rising.
How American women manage labor painThree quarters use an epidural, and the gap by insurance is not about pain.
The other optionsNitrous oxide, opioids, water, movement, and nothing.
Nitrous oxide and intravenous opioidsBoth are options. Both relieve less pain than an epidural.
This page is educational. It supports the conversation with your own clinicians. It is not consent to any treatment, and it cannot assess you.