There are two kinds of nerves in the peripheral nervous system -- sensory nerves and motor nerves.
Motor nerves carry signals from the spinal cord to your peripheral nerves, controlling movement.
Sensory nerves carry signals of sensation, including pain, from your peripheral nerves, to the spinal cord and brain.
In many places, motor nerves and sensory nerves are bound together, making nerve ablation impossible. You never want to burn or ablate a motor nerve -- you'd lose control of whatever part of the body the nerve innervates.
But in other places, sensory and motor nerves can be divided, allowing a specialist to destroy the sensory nerve while leaving the motor nerve intact.
For example, as they exit the spine, sensory nerves and motor nerves are on opposite sides of the nerve root, allowing access to the sensory nerve.
So, some areas with permanent pain can be treated with nerve ablation, while other areas cannot. Depending on where the pain is coming from in your shoulder, ablation may or may not be a treatment alternative.
Your interventional pain doctor will know.
Hi, I just had the procedure done last month and did have some side effects that were addressed by the DR. they will explain the procedure and possible side effects as you know everyone is different so you may or may not have any I had the feeling of sunburn at the lower part of the right side of my neck but it did go away as the Dr. said also some pain in the upper part that was taken care by trigger point injection by the same Dr. the procedure was unpleasant but I wish I had done it sooner I am looking forward to have the left side done as well. It is the first time in a lot of years the right side of my neck and head has felt so good C-2 to C-6 nerve abrasion (burnt nerve) good luck
Very good question! I would look at long-term studies (e.g. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21785480).
On forums like these, you'll read a lot of personal ("short-term") experiences, but the answer to your question lies in results garnered from genuine unbiased long-term studies.
If it were me, I would find the longest, most well-established "nerve burn place" in my town, speak to the doctor who's been there the longest (we're looking for, "This is my 28th year" type of a doc) and then asking him/her if he's had any "long term" patients, and what their experience is...
You know what I mean?