Category Archives: Blog

A patient recently consulted me with increasing back pain over the past year. She had a history of back problems including a fusion operation nine years ago

A patient recently consulted me with increasing back pain over the past year. She had a history of back problems including a fusion operation nine years ago

Headache, chronic pain syndrome and fibromyalgia often occur together and all have abnormalities of pain transmission as a central problem. Pain has a tendency

Osteoarthritis occurs when the layer surrounding the bony surfaces of joints is worn and becomes thin. It is often a gradual process but can be hastened by injury.

Germon, 46, was at the gym on the leg press machine when it slipped and he twisted his lower back. Initially he developed pain in the groin and inner thigh,

As discussed in my last column migraine is a condition in which sensations of pain, touch, sound, light and smell are all amplified. A certain percentage

A migraine episode grinds life to a standstill for many people with approximately one in six people experiencing migraine during their lives.Not only

One of the things doctors noticed about people with regular headaches is that they have muscle tenderness. Initially when headache patients were studied,

Neck and shoulder pain are becoming one of the most common reasons why people attend our clinic. Symptoms originate from the neck, sometimes from the shoulder

I recently saw a 13 year-old boy, called Jack, who had travelled from Christchurch with his mother. She was concerned with her sons’ history of headaches,which had been

Nerve pain is usually the most intense and frequently misdiagnosed pain. Many women who have presented with nerve pain have said it is worse than childbirth.

Osteoarthritis occurs when the layer surrounding the bony surfaces of joints is worn and becomes thin. It is often a gradual process but can be hastened by injury.

Margaret was walking once a day, up a slight hill and back home which would take her approximately 20 minutes. She managed the walk with minimal pain, and when however

Sciatica describes leg pain that arises from the lower back region. The pain in the leg is referred (pain that arises in one region – the low back and felt at another site – the leg).

Sara is a 49 year old lady who has suffered from chronic pain for many years. When I first reviewed her several years ago she was unable to walk without significant pain. A diagnosis of hip impingement syndrome and she had an arthroscopic hip operation which relieved her right hip pain significantly.

Mr X is a 36 year old accountant who first presented in June 2016 after experiencing significant low back pain, especially when sitting at work. He also experienced pins and needles, numbness and weakness down the left leg. He has had symptoms over four years with an episode every six months. He attends the chiropractor and…

This is a patient I reviewed yesterday. The first scan shows a disc prolapse sustained in 2006 when the patient was 27 years old. It is a little difficult to see as this is an old scan however the disc height at L5/S1 is preserved but there is a disc prolapse. Have a look at…

In the lower back discs undergo changes once they sustain damage. Following early injuries to the disc such as annular tears, people can develop disc prolapse, disc dehydration and subsequent narrowing over years and decades. When seeing patients and viewing thousands of MRI scans and x rays over three decades the pattern emerges quite clearly. Fully…

Is disc narrowing a source of low back pain? There is a misconception that disc narrowing is not a potential source of low back or neck pain. This may be partly due to studies that show some people with disc narrowing have no low back pain. Any structure with a nerve supply is a potential…