Head

Specialities

  • Atypical facian pain

Atypical facial pain (AFP) is a type of chronic facial pain which does not fulfill any other diagnosis. There is no consensus as to a globally accepted definition, and there is even controversy as to whether the term should be continued to be used. Both the International Headache Society (IHS) and the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) have adopted the term persistent idiopathic facial pain (PIFP) to replace AFP. In the 2nd Edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-2), PIFP is defined as “persistent facial pain that does not have the characteristics of the cranial neuralgias … and is not attributed to another disorder.” However, the term AFP continues to be used by the World Health Organization’s 10th revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems and remains in general use by clinicians to refer to chronic facial pain that does not meet any diagnostic criteria and does not respond to most treatments.

The main features of AFP are: no objective signs, negative results with all investigations/ tests, no obvious explanation for the cause of the pain, and a poor response to attempted treatments.[8] AFP has been described variably as a medically unexplained symptom, a diagnosis of exclusion, a psychogenic cause of pain (e.g. a manifestation of somatoform disorder), and as a neuropathy. AFP is usually burning and continuous in nature, and may last for many years. Depression and anxiety are often associated with AFP, which are either described as a contributing cause of the pain, or the emotional consequences of suffering with unrelieved, chronic pain. For unknown reasons, AFP is significantly more common in middle aged or elderly people, and in females.

  • Headaches

A headache is a condition of pain in the head; sometimes neck or upper back pain may also be interpreted as a headache. It ranks amongst the most common local pain complaints.

Medical Therapy Headaches may be successfully treated through medical therapies such as analgesisa and, in some cases, a tandem approach with implanted electrodes.

Primary Prevention Some forms of headache, such as migraine, may be amenable to preventative treatment.

  • Migraines

  • Occipital neuralgia

Occipital neuralgia, also known as C2 neuralgia, is a medical condition characterized by chronic pain in the upper neck, back of the head and behind the ears. These areas correspond to the locations of the lesser and greater occipital nerves.

Causes Occipital neuralgia is caused by damage to these nerves. Ways in which they can be damaged include trauma (usually concussive), physical stress on the nerve, repetitious neck contraction, flexion or extension, and as a result of medical complications (such as osteochondroma, a benign tumour of the bone).

Symptoms The only direct symptom of this condition is essentially a chronic headache. Commonly described as back of head and around or over the top of head, sometimes up to the eyebrow. Because chronic headaches are a common symptom for numerous conditions, occipital neuralgia is often misdiagnosed at first, most commonly as tension headache or a migraine leading to treatment failure or addiction.

Treatment Once diagnosed, occipital neuralgia can be treated in several ways. These include local nerve block, peripheral nerve stimulation, steroids, rhizotomy, phenol injections, antidepressants, and Occipital Cryoneurolysis.

Other less common forms of surgical neurolysis or microdecompression are also used to treat the condition when conservative measures fail.

Chiropractic is an alternative method to treating mechanical conditions such as Greater Occipital Neuralgia. The C2 nerve root exits the spine between C1 and C2. Irritation between these two vertebrae will cause this pain.

Prognosis Occipital neuralgia is not a life-threatening or otherwise health-threatening condition.

Chiropractic is the best way to treat this condition.

  • Temporomandibular joint disorder
  • Trigeminal neuralgia

Overview Trigeminal neuralgia is a nerve disorder that causes a stabbing or electric-shock-like pain in parts of the face.

What are the symptoms of Trigeminal neuralgia? Very painful, sharp electric-like spasms that usually last a few seconds or minutes, but can become constant Pain is usually only on one side of the face, often around the eye, cheek, and lower part of the face Pain may be triggered by touch or sounds
Painful attacks of trigeminal neuralgia can be triggered by common, everyday activities, such as: Brushing teeth
Chewing
Drinking
Eating
Lightly touching the face
Shavings