Ablation apparatus and system to limit nerve conduction

A method of locating and treating a nerve comprising:

• inserting a single longitudinal probe through a single puncture site in a layer of skin;
• positioning the probe tip in close proximity to said nerve;
• delivering a stimulating current through an electrode on the probe;
• not detecting a response of a muscle associated with said nerve;
• readjusting the position of the probe tip;
• delivering a stimulating current through an electrode on the probe;
• observing a response of a muscle associated with said nerve and observing a degree of the response;
• ablating the nerve at a first location with the probe tip;
• and
• moving the probe in a direction axially along the nerve without removing the probe tip from the puncture site and ablating the nerve at a second location to more effectively terminate a signal conduction through the nerve.

A method of ablating a nerve comprising:

• locating the nerve by inserting a single longitudinal probe through a single puncture site in a layer of skin;
• positioning the probe tip in close proximity to said nerve;
• delivering a stimulating current through an electrode on the probe;
• observing a response of a muscle associated with said nerve and observing a degree of the muscle response to determine a proximity of the electrode to the nerve;
• ablating the nerve by delivering energy through electrodes on said probe sufficient to ablate the nerve at a first location;
• confirming the ablation of the nerve by delivering a stimulating current through an electrode on the probe to determine feedback as to a quality of the ablation;
• and
• moving the probe tip axially along said nerve to ablate to the nerve at a second location axially spaced from the first location without removing the probe tip from the nerve.