Esther Passaris admitted in hospital

Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris on Monday morning revealed that she is admitted at the Aga Khan hospital due to a back problem.

Through a video seen by Ureport, Passaris stated that she developed a back problem almost two decades ago and although it subsided, a fall down a flight of stairs 10 years ago aggravated the injury.

“This is a problem that started 20 years ago when I was pregnant with my son and immediately after I delivered the pain went away.

“10 years later I fell down a flight of steps and the pain came back,” she said.

Adding that her participation in the 2018 EALA Games worsened the situation after she started experiencing pain immediately she completed a 1500m race.

Passaris is currently at the Aga Khan Hospital where she is set to undergo a Medial Branch Block procedure.

“Admitted at the Aga Khan Hospital for a Medial Branch Block procedure plus Paraspinal L3 to S1 under the care of Dr Thikra Shariff and Mr Livingstone Olunya,” she wrote.

A medial branch nerve block is a procedure in which an anesthetic is injected near small medial nerves connected to a specific facet joint.

Typically, several levels of the spine are injected in one procedure.

If the patient experiences marked pain relief immediately after the injection, then the facet joint is determined to be the source of the patient's pain.

The procedure is primarily diagnostic, meaning that if the patient has the appropriate duration of pain relief after the medial branch nerve block, then he or she may be a candidate for a subsequent procedure - called a medial branch radiofrequency neurotomy (or ablation) - for longer term pain relief.