Neck pain is one of the commonest complaints that a rheumatologist sees in the clinic, especially in the City where there are so many hard-working deskbound patients. It is often seen in combination with pain in other parts of the back and neck pain should be viewed as one part of a whole organ- the spine. It’s very uncommon Read More

Lower back pain can prove to be insufferable and impair the quality of your everyday life. Prescription drugs can be used as part of your treatment plan to manage your lower back pain and different drugs can be used for different types of pain. For example paracetamol can be used for postural back pain or Read More

There are a number of causes of back pain and the choice of a prescribed drug obviously depends on the diagnosis. Simple muscular or postural back pain may respond to paracetamol or a mild anti-inflammatory drug, but more severe pain may require codeine preparations or other drugs that affect pain pathways. Let’s take a look Read More

There are a number of causes of neck pain and while many of them can be treated with prescription drugs, it is important that a diagnosis is made first so the correct type of medication can be prescribed. Common postural and muscular neck pain may be effectively treated with paracetamol or a mild anti-inflammatory drug. Read More

There are a number of causes of neck pain and the choice of a prescribed drug obviously depends on the diagnosis. Simple muscular or postural neck pain may respond to paracetamol or a mild anti-inflammatory drug, but more severe neck pain may require codeine preparations or other drugs that affect pain pathways. Let’s take a Read More

Arthritic conditions that affect the cervical spine can cause terrible neck pain for the sufferer. These conditions are usually either diagnosed as inflammatory or mechanical, with the latter being the more common of the two. Mechanical Causes These arthritic conditions are more common and tend to be caused by a structural dysfunction of the spine, Read More

As with most musculoskeletal problems, the diagnoses of arthritic conditions can be divided into those that are inflammatory and those that are mechanical. Inflammatory causes of neck pain are much less common and include ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, polymyalgia rheumatica, infections and, rarely, malignancies. Mechanical causes are more frequently encountered and are generally due to Read More

The ancient condition of gout is on the increase – we are seeing more and more patients, mostly due to changes in our lifestyle. Our understanding continues to improve and yet patients are not being treated as well as they could be. Not all patients get the right diagnosis, for a number of reasons. The Read More

Having a typical degree education in a British medical school usually means that there are gaping holes in one’s general medical knowledge. This especially applies to those professions that are variously termed “non-traditional” “paramedical” “complementary” or even “alternative”. Some of these really are alternative and probably don’t need much attention – I’m talking of the Read More