Any reason neurologists cant do simple pain procedures?

[scoopdaboop]

Rotating in pain medicine now. Seems the overlap of neuro and certain procedures are pretty obvious. For example, US guided trigger point injections/joint injections, even MBB/RFA seems simple enough to do. Also, it brings in $$.

Do any neurologists do these routinley?

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[Captain_Falcon]

From my experience most neurologists don’t care for the patient population

 

[Bostonspine]

Rotating in pain medicine now. Seems the overlap of neuro and certain procedures are pretty obvious. For example, US guided trigger point injections/joint injections, even MBB/RFA seems simple enough to do. Also, it brings in $$.

Do any neurologists do these routinley?

USG injection you can do a weekend course but spine procedure probably should do a fellowship cause it easy til you make a mistake

 

[mrbreakfast]

Some do, but they generally have relevant fellowship training.

I would say that, for various reasons, the average neurologist is probably not interested in treating this patient population.

 

[scoopdaboop]

Some do, but they generally have relevant fellowship training.

I would say that, for various reasons, the average neurologist is probably not interested in treating this patient population.

I’m sure it’s facility dependent and some place down south is okay with letting you but not a desirable location…granted you show some training etc. is pain the only fellowship where you learn these, is it part of emg fellowship at all?

 

[mrbreakfast]

I’m sure it’s facility dependent and some place down south is okay with letting you but not a desirable location…granted you show some training etc.

Some training meaning board certification. I'm not sure how else you're going to both get that training and convince an institution to let you perform spine procedures from a liability standpoint. If you're board certified, sure. I know neurologists who do spinal procedures, etc. But they have pain fellowship training.

is it part of emg fellowship at all?

No.

Interventional pain from a neurology perspective is overwhelmingly headache-related pain, or potentially things like TN. These people are doing things like specialized nerve blocks within the skull.

If you want to do knee injections or something simple, knock yourself out. You can get a certificate in that from a weekend course, and you'll learn things like botox and a few basic nerve blocks in neurology residency. But if you want to do a diversity of injections, PM&R is generally the route you'd take.

 

[SeniorWrangler]

I think you would be well advised to do a pain fellowship, ACGME accredited or not, if you want to do spinal procedures.
Ultrasound guided injections are very good for headache IMO but they are not a big moneymaker since you can’t bill for US guidance any more.