Headaches are another source of pain for many people. The onset of headache may occur for one or more of these reasons: dental problems, eye problems, high blood pressure, migraine, muscle tension, sinus disease, stress, anxiety, surgery, trauma and injury, or tumors.

Less common, but no less disruptive, is facial pain. Facial pain is a complex combination of multiple pain-related disorders caused by more obscure conditions than headache pain including:

• Dental neuralgia - pain resulting from a dental origin or dental procedure
• Radiating pain from the scalp and neck
• Shingles - post-herpetic neuralgia
• Temporomandibular Joint Syndrome (TMJ) causing joint clicking, limited jaw movement and pain
• Trigeminal neuralgia - a neurologic condition caused by degeneration or pressure of facial nerve and characterized by episodic, stabbing pain

Following a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation, we offer a variety of treatments both traditional and innovative for headache and facial pain patients including:

• Acupuncture -the Chinese practice of the insertion of needles into specific body locations to relieve pain

• Intravenous medications - to abort a pain attack

• Nerve blocks - diagnostic and therapeutic - the interruption of a nerve's function by the injection of a local anesthetic agent or other drug

• Nerve freezing - by injection and surgical procedures that interrupt nerve pain pathways

• Oxygen therapy

• Pain relief medications - administered in proper doses to allow continued function and social interactions

See the available treatments section in the Pain Management Center for a comprehensive description of further treatment options.