In this position, your back is arched, helping the intervertebral spaces become wider.

You will need to lie down on your side on the examination table while tucking your chin to the chest and your knees to the abdomen.

You will need to urinate before the spinal tap procedure in order to empty the bladder.

You will need to get naked and remove all of your jewelry.

A spinal tap can be performed on an outpatient basis or while hospitalized. In general, a spinal tap procedure is done through the following steps. How Is Spinal Tap Performed?ĭoes a spinal tap hurt? Knowledge of the procedure may help you cope with the pain well. However, I had the worst headache ever in the next couple of days, so that I could not even lift my head from the pillow. The spinal tap procedure went smoothly for me. However, headache and nausea can occur due to a change in the pressure once the cerebrospinal fluid is collected for examination.

For people who have had an epidural, it is just about the same thing. It is not the worst thing that can happen to a person. I have had a spinal tap done without any anesthesia. Once the needle is inserted, patients often describe it as an electric sensation moving down to legs or into the back, or as a deep pressure sensation in the back. No more than local anesthesia is needed to control the pain during a spinal tap. In general, the worst part of the spinal tap is during the injection of the local anesthesia. Some have described it as a painful experience, while others have laughed throughout the procedure. The level of discomfort that a patient feels during a spinal tap varies.

Through lumbar puncture, various medical conditions are diagnosed, such as meningitis, multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, brain cancers and cancers of the spinal cord. The cerebrospinal fluid is the fluid normally surrounding the brain and the spinal cord.

Spinal tap involves inserting a needle between two vertebrae in the lower back to collect a sample of the cerebrospinal fluid for further examinations. Spinal tap is also known as lumbar puncture.

Spinal tap needle