FAMILY VALUES — AN ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE IN


12 SEPTEMBER 2022


New families & healthcare 27


radiate to the back of the head and be associated with tenderness of the scalp, causing a condition known as occipital neuralgia. Te pain is usually burning in nature and can cause considerable discomfort when laying the head back on a pillow, leading to sleep disturbance. It can be caused by entrapment of the nerve to the back of the head and can affect one or both sides. Often a simple nerve block to these nerves by injection can effectively treat this condition. Tis can be done in a clinic setting and can be repeated should the condition return or only partially respond to the first injection. If the muscles of the neck are over-


stretched, it can result in persis- tent neck pain due to muscle trigger points. Tese are areas of spasm within the neck muscles, trapezius muscles or in the muscles bordering the shoulder blades. Te pain from


this muscle dysfunction can radiate anywhere from the top of the neck across the shoulders to the upper arm and between the shoulder blades. It’s commonly seen after a whiplash type of injury. A combination of ther- apies such as massage, acupuncture, stretching and physiotherapy can be coupled with a series of local anaes- thetic and steroid injections to relax the muscles and let them regain their normal function. When neck pain persists and is


aggravated by movements such as tilting the head back or looking over the shoulder, there may be a degree of degenerative inflamma- tory


change within the cervical


facet joints. Tis is often the cause of failure to respond to simple meas- ures such as stretching or physio- therapy. A set of X-ray guided injec- tions to the facet joints should be diagnostic and may lead to further treatment of the nerve supply to the


facet joints. Tis resets them via the application of a specially designed needle that can temporarily disable them using pulses of electric charge known as radiofrequency treatment. Tis process is usually undertaken by a pain medicine specialist such as Dr James Blackburn. Brachialgia is a condition when


pain radiates from the neck down the arm to the forearm, hand or fingers. Tis occurs when one of the nerve roots to the arm is irritable due to being compressed by a protruding disc or bony spur in the cervical spine. Te pain is often constant and burning or electric-like in nature. Tis condition requires specialist treatment in the form of a nerve root injection with local anaesthetic and steroid under X-ray control in a hospital setting. In extreme cases, it may require surgical decompression under general anaesthetic after an MRI or CT scan.


DR JAMES BLACKBURN


Dr James Blackburn is the lead consultant in pain medicine at St George’s


Hospital, Tooting. He also works at Sterling Health Diagnostics Centre, New Malden and Parkside Hospital. He is the co-lead for pain services in the SW London Integrated Care Service. He treats trigeminal neuralgia back pain and sciatica, as well as several other musculoskeletal and nerve-related pain conditions.


E: drblackburn.secretary@gmail.com; drjamesblackburn.co.uk


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