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(415) 751-0583February 12, 2026 | Occipital Neuralgia
What Happens to a Nerve Under Long-Term Compression? As I’ve written previously, the occipital nerves can be compressed by a variety of surrounding structures—muscle, fascia, scar tissue, or even nearby blood vessels such as the occipital artery. Patients often understand that compression can cause pain. A more interesting question is: What actually happens to the […]
Read MoreFebruary 12, 2026 | Nerve Pain, Occipital Neuralgia
Over the past week alone, several patients have asked essentially the same question, “Are my tight neck muscles irritating the nerves, or are irritated nerves causing my muscles to tighten?” It’s a fair question, and frustratingly, the answer is often: both. In many cases, it’s less a straight line of cause and effect and more […]
Read MoreFebruary 09, 2026 | Occipital Neuralgia
People often confuse migraine symptoms with something called neuralgia. The former refers to an often disabling neurological condition characterized by severe and sometimes frequent headaches. The latter literally means “nerve pain” with the implication that the condition in question is secondary to some type of nerve injury or dysfunction. While migraines can be sub-classified in […]
Read MoreFebruary 06, 2026 | Occipital Neuralgia
The title of this post is often the million dollar question. I have posted many times in the past about how ON can be caused by compression from spastic neck muscles, compression by tight connective tissue (i.e., fascia) and/or compression from surrounding blood vessels. Many of the patients I see have had headaches ever since […]
Read MoreAugust 06, 2024 | Headache Surgery, Occipital Neuralgia
Dr. Ziv Peled recently presented Grand Rounds at Yale University’s Division of Plastic Surgery on the over 20-year evolution of headache surgery. Take a look at the first part of this video to learn more…
Read MoreAugust 04, 2024 | Occipital Neuralgia
I always knew it was just a matter of time and it finally happened. I was speaking with a patient of mine who was a bit more than one year out from her occipital neuralgia operation. She was doing extremely well with “over 90% relief” at the one-year mark, when she was diagnosed with COVID-19. […]
Read MoreAugust 02, 2024 | Headache Surgery, Nerve Pain, Occipital Neuralgia
I was recently asked why some people require more than one operation to obtain optimal relief. A great question and one with a multi-part answer. Let me try to break it down in the next few paragraphs. Let me preface these remarks by stating that what I write below is my opinion only and how I approach patients, […]
Read MoreJuly 30, 2024 | Nerve Pain, Occipital Neuralgia
This query is one of the great ones – a $64,000 question that continues to be raised both in my office as well as online. What is the difference between neurectomy/muscle implantation (i.e., transection of the nerve and implanting it in the local muscle) and decompression? Along with this primary query come many misconceptions […]
Read MoreJuly 29, 2024 | Occipital Neuralgia
This question is one of the most common articulated in my office and I believe represents an underappreciated component of our everyday lives that can certainly impact many facets of our health including our nervous system function. In this post, I will focus on the effects of stress on the mechanical forces impacting the peripheral nerves as […]
Read MoreNavigating chronic pain can feel isolating. You don’t have to do it alone.
Dr. Peled is active in several online nerve pain communities, particularly those focused on specific conditions, such as occipital neuralgia. He shares general advice, answers questions, and provides support for those seeking clarity about their condition.
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