Editorial Commentary: The Truth about Peripheral Nerve Blocks and Hip Arthroscopy

Peripheral nerve blocks targeting the fascia iliaca compartment have been used in attempts to improve postoperative pain after hip arthroscopy surgery. Recent level I evidence from randomized controlled trials have revealed injection of local anesthetic into the fascia iliaca compartment to be no better than sham injection for postoperative pain control, while contributing to decreased patient quadriceps strength and increased fall risk after surgery. The fascia iliaca compartment block is also inferior to local anesthetic injection at the surgery site for pain control. Results of these high-level studies show that routine preoperative use of the fascia iliaca compartment block is not recommended for hip arthroscopy.