Greater Occipital Nerve Blocks

Greater occipital nerve blocks are used to treat what is called greater occipital neuralgia. Often times, patients have had a severe whiplash injury, or blow to the back of the head, that causes them to have headaches from the posterior aspect, or the back of their head, going towards the top or cranial vertex of their head. These blocks are both diagnostic and for treatment in regards to that entity known as occipital neuralgia. A needle is placed at the base of the skull on both sides after providing local anesthetic and a local anesthetic is placed around the nerve on each side. And that treatment doesn’t take very much time, can be done safely in the office, or if sedation is required, we can do that in the safety of the operating room.