occipital neuralgia

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Related to occipital neuralgia: trigeminal neuralgia

post·trau·mat·ic neck syn·drome

a syndrome of neck pain, tenderness, and spasm, often associated with ill-defined symptoms (for example, dizziness, blurred vision), resulting from neck trauma, most often of the whiplash variety.

Synonym(s): cervical fibrositis, cervical tension syndrome

occipital neuralgia

Neuralgia involving the upper cervical nerves, usually caused by nerve entrapment.

occipital neuralgia

A type of headache that originates from the upper neck, often radiating toward the back of the head and the scalp on one or both sides. The pain may be chronic or intermittent and may extend all the way up the scalp to the forehead. It is associated with head and neck injury, osteoarthritis of the cervical spine, and, less often, with spinal infections or tumors. Treatments vary but sometimes include analgesic injections, corticosteroids, or other pain relievers.

Occipital neuralgia

Pain on one side of the back of the head caused by entrapment or pinching of an occipital nerve.

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References in periodicals archive ?

Successful treatment of occipital neuralgia with implantable peripheral nerve stimulation in a pacemaker dependent patient.

Percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation of peripheral nerve for the intractable occipital neuralgia.

Implantable peripheral subcutaneous occipital neurostimulation for the treatment of refractory Arnold's neuralgia: cases report/Neuroestimulacion subcutanea periferica implantable de nervios occipitales para tratamiento de la neuralgia de Arnold refractaria: reporte de casos

Occipital neuralgia can occur spontaneously or result from underlying disease, hence--it can be classified as either primary or secondary.

Our patient presented with trauma induced occipital neuralgia which failed conservative treatments.

Ultrasound guided greater occipital nerve blocks for post-traumatic occipital neuralgia

The patient presentation and examination findings suggested a probable diagnosis of occipital neuralgia.

As previously discussed, occipital neuralgia may involve the greater occipital nerve, lesser occipital nerve, third occipital nerve or a combination of these neural structures (Figure 1).

Presently, the precise etiology of occipital neuralgia remains unclear with most cases presenting as idiopathic.

The clinical presentation for occipital neuralgia has been described by the International Headache Society (IHS) including specific diagnostic criteria (Table 3).

As previously stated, differential diagnoses for occipital neuralgia include cervicogenic, migraine, cluster and tension-type headaches.

As outlined earlier, management considerations for occipital neuralgia may include pharmacology, conservative care, interventional therapies and/or surgery.

Interventional therapies (ITs) for managing occipital neuralgia consist of injections, pulsed radio-frequency ablation, and occipital neurostimulation.

Improvement in clinical outcomes after dry needling in a patient with occipital neuralgia

Weiner and Reed and others have reported successful use of PFNS for treatment of occipital neuralgia (1.