The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Peripheral Nerve Clinic offers a multidisciplinary setting where patients with peripheral nerve injuries — which impair function in the arms and legs — are treated by an experienced team of therapists, neurologists and surgeons.

Why choose Ohio State for treatment of peripheral nerve injuries?

The specialists at the Ohio State Peripheral Nerve Clinic are committed to offering the highest quality of care for peripheral nerve diseases. A team of medical specialists diagnose and manage a variety of conditions. Our goal is to individualize the most effective treatment plan for each patient, including medical and/or surgical options.

We also do our best to simplify your healthcare, offering access to a therapist, neurologist and surgeon in one scheduled visit.

Learn more about brain and spine neurological conditions at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

Conditions Treated
Diagnosis
Treatment
Research
Patient Education

Conditions Treated

Peripheral nerves transmit information between the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) and every other part of the body, which not only generates sensations of touch or temperature, but also creates movement and controls coordination. At the Ohio State Peripheral Nerve Clinic, we treat patients with nerve damage or injury, most commonly involving compression or entrapment--often referred to as “pinched nerves.”

When peripheral nerves are injured, there may be a range of symptoms, including pain, numbness, tingling or pricking sensations and weakness. Sometimes, surgery is the only way to improve symptoms because the nerve must be physically freed from its compromised position or directly repaired.

While there are hundreds of conditions treated by the Peripheral Nerve Clinic at Ohio State, the most common are listed below. Please note that Ohio State also offers a Peripheral Neuropathy Clinic to treat medical disorders such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome and diabetic nerve problems. Regardless of your issue, Ohio State has the specialists you need.

Accurate, State-of-the-Art Imaging

At Ohio State, multiple imaging techniques are used in combination to provide valuable insight to the nerve problems causing a patient’s symptoms.

Diagnosis

An accurate diagnosis is incredibly important. At the Peripheral Nerve Clinic:

Fellowship-trained peripheral nerve specialists, including neurologists and neurosurgeons, use multiple tools to evaluate patients.
Clinicians have access to numerous non-invasive imaging techniques and outstanding electrodiagnostic laboratories.
State-of-the-art magnetic resonance (MR) and ultrasound imaging is performed with techniques specially designed to visualize potential peripheral nerve entrapment or lesions. If recovery of function after injury requires tracking over time, these screening studies may be repeated.

Treatment

The severity of peripheral nerve injuries and symptoms can range widely. As a result, it is often difficult to estimate the chance for spontaneous recovery. At Ohio State, each patient’s prognosis is individually assessed based on:

the type of initial injury
progression or recovery over time
treatments already attempted or in use

Based on our findings and a multidisciplinary approach, Ohio State counsels patients on recommended treatments, which may include a combination of medicine, therapy or surgery. Repeated physical exams and diagnostic studies are crucial for tracking the progression of recovery over time.

Fortunately, for most conditions, surgery can be avoided to allow for spontaneous recovery. However, surgery may be indicated when there is no evident recovery or functional recovery has stalled at a point the patient finds unacceptable. Surgical procedures which may be considered to restore function include decompression (neurolysis), nerve transfers (neurotization), and nerve grafting.

Research

Patients with challenging peripheral nerve conditions or damage may want to consider participating in a clinical trial at Ohio State to gain access to promising new treatment options. To learn more, visit the Neurological Institute clinical trials page or discuss available options with your physician.

Enroll in a clinical trial

Patient Education

Patient Education Animation Library

Our Spine Providers

Appointment Information

Most patients come to us via referral from their primary care physician, internist, general surgeon or other specialist (e.g., podiatrist). Your referring physician will coordinate all transfer of medical documents and test results when they forward the referral to Ohio State.

We will do our best to schedule your appointment so that you can see multiple team specialists—therapists, neurologists and/or surgeons--during just one visit to the clinic.

Peripheral Nerve Clinic

Why choose Ohio State for treatment of peripheral nerve injuries?

Conditions Treated