Dr Nicholas Fraser

I qualified as a Doctor in London in 1995. As a junior doctor, I saw a lot of musculoskeletal pain which formulated my interest later in my career when undertaking Higher training in Anaesthesia. As such I completed advanced training in Pain Medicine and in 2007 I was appointed as a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine.

My NHS base is at Stepping Hill in Stockport where I am Clinical Lead for the Chronic Pain Service. Privately I am based at the Alexandra Hospital and also the new OrthTeam Centre in Didsbury.

I have strong links with Neuroscience, and indeed most of my referrals come from Neurosurgeons; such as Professor King, Mr Leach and Mr Rutherford. I have access to the latest imaging modalities such as MRI, X-Ray, CT and Ultrasound and can easily obtain multi-disciplinary opinions as we tend to prefer a team approach.

I have considerable experience in spinal Injection techniques, treating Back pain and sciatica.

In practice, I like to adopt a patient-centred structured approach to best manage their pain in the safest and simplest way. Acute Pain often responds well to steroid injections but Chronic Pain often requires a different approach.

Medications in long term pain problems can be disappointing in their effectiveness, so I advise a careful assessment of medications and tend to recommend patients use simple drugs occasionally rather than regular dosing of strong drugs.

Pain affects us all in complex ways, and in Pain Medicine, we know all too well how Pain can affect us emotionally as well as physically. It is invariably worthwhile to pause, reflect, and take stock of how we've changed in this regard.

PLEASE NOTE: I have had to suspend private practice until further notice because of the COVID 19 to provide critical care in the NHS. I am sorry for this inconvenience.

Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injections

Cervical Epidural Steroid Injections

Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injections

Medial Branch Nerve Block

Radiofrequency Denervation to Lumbar facet joints

Radiofrequency Denervation to Sacro-iliac Joints

Genicular Nerve Blocks

Procedures in Pain Medicine broadly fall into two categories, those for Acute Pain (of less than a few weeks duration) and those for Chronic Pain (lasting more than a few months).

In Acute Pain Steroid injections can be used to settle down inflammation and swelling and improve mobility which can be beneficial. These are often done after injury or after an inter-vertebral disc prolapse where a nerve has become irritated or trapped. Think of these injections as injectable pain medicines that can last up to three months.

In Chronic pain, such as Low Back Pain, certain joints of the spine can be the cause such as Facet Joints or the Sacro-iliac joints. It is relatively simple to clinically assess these and then we can undertake targeted nerve blocks to switch these joints off with Local Anaesthetic to see if the pain goes away. We can then do Radiofrequency treatment to these nerves which can reduce the pain for a long time. This can also now be done in the Knee as well (Genicular nerves)