Personal Profile
He has been a Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists since 1998 and was appointed Consultant in Pain Medicine at Bucks Hospitals NHS Trust in 2003 based at Amersham, Wycombe and Stoke Mandeville Hospitals. He became a founding Fellow of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Royal College of Anaesthetists in 2007. Later that year, he became the Regional Advisor in Pain Medicine for Oxford deanery.
Since 2018 he has been Clinical Lead for Pain medicine for Bucks NHS Trust. He is a tutor for the Royal College of Anaesthetists in Pain Medicine and has lectured and run instructional classes nationally and internationally.
Dr Evans believes that treating patients with chronic pain starts with an accurate diagnosis leading to a specific treatment pathway. He coordinates with other specialists from spinal and orthopaedic surgery, neurology, sports medicine and physical therapists in a multi-disciplinary team approach to diagnosis and treatment.
By combining accurate history taking and careful physical examination, we use MRI, CT, ultrasound scans and X-rays to establish a precise diagnosis wherever possible to guide therapy.
Common Types of Pain
- Spinal Pain
- Neck Pain
- Sciatica
- Joint Pain
- Headaches
- Nerve Pain
- Facial pain
- Migraine
- Whiplash
- Pelvic pain
- Spinal pain
Back and neck pain symptoms are some of the most common problems referred to the clinic and typically accounts for large amounts of distress and disability for patients. Low back and neck pain account for the vast majority of the spinal conditions we see and manage. We use localised interventions wherever possible, to achieve long term results through injection and radiofrequency therapy.
Sciatica
This refers to nerve pain in the leg, usually but not always from a low back cause. As there are several important causes for this type of pain, it is essential to identify the precise cause and treat this appropriately with therapy aimed at the source of the symptoms whenever possible to prevent side effects from medications.
Joint pain
Shoulder, knee and hip pain cause considerable distress to patients. Not all of whom will be amenable, or it is sensible to undergo surgery. Improving pain and restoring movement are essential to retaining normal function.
Headaches
The two main types of treatable head pain are migraine and referred pain from the neck region. Both can be treated with a mixture of medications combined with injection treatments.
Nerve pain
This is a primary pain of nerve origin and can be spontaneous unrelated to any other pathology or related to chemicals (medications), diabetes, vascular (blood supply) issues, infections, e.g. shingles or after surgery. We may carry out nerve function tests aimed to locate a precise cause for a peripheral nerve problem as well as MRI or other imaging techniques. The therapeutic options may involve medications specifically designed to treat nerve hypersensitivity, nerve blocks or radio-frequency treatment to desensitise neural tissue.
Summary
Whether you have a long history of chronic pain or a recent injury that is not improving, these diagnostic and therapeutic pathways will aim to identify, plan and deliver treatments to reduce your symptoms and return you to more normal functioning and a more active life.
Clinical Interests
Dr Evans main clinical interest is in treating pain with radiofrequency therapy. By inserting specially designed needle-like probes adjacent to nerves causing pain symptoms, we can replicate the pain distribution using micro-electrical stimulation. This aides the precise location of the pain, which can then be desensitised using a pulsing mode also called neuromodulation or denervated using thermal (heat) effects also known as ablation. These are long term treatments for chronic pain symptoms.
Professional Memberships
- Royal College of Anaesthetists
- British Pain Society
- Association of Anaesthetists
Professional Website
Specialist Pain Solutions | Dr Neal Evans MBBS FRCA FFPMRCA - Consultant Pain Specialist
