Pain medicine
Service detail
The Walton Centre is internationally famous for treating patients with chronic pain.
Everyone has experienced pain, we associate it with damage to our body, expect it to get better once healing has occurred. We call pain which gets better with healing ‘acute pain’.
Chronic pain lasts longer than the normal healing process and is still present three months after an injury or illness. Chronic pain can cause disability and depression and has a major impact on the sufferer’s life. An estimated seven per cent of people in the UK have chronic pain.
Chronic pain medicine has developed as a speciality over the past 50 years. The Walton Centre has been at the forefront in the battle against chronic pain since the 1960s, and is recognised for its expertise, both nationally and internationally.
Our aim is to use specialist techniques to cure or ease the pain. In addition we help people come to terms with chronic pain and improve their quality of life on our Pain Management Programme (PMP) which is the largest and longest running PMP in the UK.
Patient leaflets
Acupuncture Treatment
Acupuncture has been used to treat many medical conditions, and it can be particularly useful for the treatment of pain.
Caudal Epidural Injection
An Epidural Injection is the name given to an injection into the epidural space.
Ilioinguinal Nerve Block
This injection can be helpful in reducing pain in the groin area. The main reason for doing this block is to reduce pain.
Intrathecal Phenol or Alcohol Injection for Cancer Pain
Intrathecal phenol or alcohol injection is a nerve block.
Lumbar sympathetic block
A sympathetic nerve block involves injecting medicine around the sympathetic nerves in your lower back. By doing this, the sympathetic system is temporarily blocked in the hope of reducing or eliminating pain.
Pain medicine Consultants
Dr Manish Gupta
Dr Manish Gupta is a Consultant Anaesthetist with a special interest in Pain Medicine.

Dr Bernhard Frank
Dr Bernhard Frank is a Consultant in pain medicine at The Walton Centre, also holding the roles of clinical lead for neuropathic pain and opioid management for chronic non-cancer pain. He is an honorary senior clinical lecturer in pain medicine at the University of Liverpool.
Dr John Wiles
Dr John Wiles specialises in pain medicine from an anaesthetic background.

Dr Andreas Goebel
Dr Andreas Goebel is a Consultant in Pain Medicine at The Walton Centre since 2007.

Dr Christopher Whitehead
At The Walton Centre, Dr Whitehead is the Medical Appraisal Lead and the Clinical Director for Pain Medicine.
Related Services
Neuropathic pain (nerve pain)
Neuropathic pain (nerve pain) is a common type of chronic pain. It is caused by nerve disease or nerve damage.
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)
Complex regional pain ayndrome, is often difficult to diagnose. Its main feature is persistent pain in an arm or leg, usually after trauma. It is often associated with changes in temperature, swelling and sensitivity.
Facial pain
The Walton Centre has established a multidisciplinary facial pain clinic for patients with difficult-to-treat pain in the face.
Page last updated: 23 June 2021
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