Arnold's neuralgia and osteopathy
What is Arnold's neuralgia?
Arnold's neuralgia is also called neuralgia of the large occipital or Arnoldalgy. This neuralgia corresponds to the attack of Arnold's nerve (or large occipital nerve) and which is translated by a pain along the path of the nerve, i.e. from the cervicals to the head (in the cranial hemisphere).
Anatomy summary: the great occipital nerve (Arnold's nerve)
Presentation: The Great Occipital Nerve is the posterior cutaneous branch that comes from the cervical spinal nerve C2. We have 2 of them, one on the left, one on the right.
Role: Innervation
- Motor of the neck muscles
- Sensitive of the posterior part of the scalp
Trajectory: It crosses the C1-C2 foramen between C1 and C2 via its cervical ganglion and then goes towards the surface of the head by crossing the suboccipital muscles.
Termination: scalp on one side or the other depending on the nerve.
What causes Arnold's neuralgia?
Arnold's neuralgia corresponds to the compression, the suffering of a nerve. But the causes of this suffering can be various:
- Trauma: whiplash from a car accident or a fall
- Articular blockage of one or more upper cervicals (Atlas C1 or Axis C2)
- Osteoarthritis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Cervical disc herniation
- Neuropathy
- Bruxism: jaw grinding
- Muscle contracture
What are the symptoms of Arnold's neuralgia?
Arnold's neuralgia is characterized by a :
- Sharp, radiating pain in the helmet hemisphere on the head, which can go from the neck to the eye
- Triggered pain:
- Palpation of the cervical spine or the nerve at the back of the head
- To the movement of the head
- Following a prolonged head position.
How is Arnold's neuralgia treated?
Osteopathy and Arnold's neuralgia
Your osteopath, with his hands, will test the different structures of your body in order to determine the cause of the Arnold neuralgia.
With various techniques, he will treat this cause and its repercussions. His techniques will be adapted to the patient, to his pathologies and his history and to the dysfunctions found. None of them are painful.
He will work on the cervicals, the base of the skull, the muscular complex of the sub-occipitals, the skull, etc. But he will also look at the rest of the body in order to remove all the tensions that may cause Arnold's neuralgia, such as the shoulder girdle, the thoracic vertebrae and the pelvis.
The role of your osteopath will also be to give you advice to avoid the recurrence of this pathology such as mobilization, stretching or muscle strengthening exercises. If necessary, he will redirect you to another health professional for a multidisciplinary treatment such as a physiotherapist, a doctor or an orthoptist.
Your practitioner will also be able to apply kinesiotaping bands to relieve muscle, ligament, tendon or joint pain.
Other treatments
- Analgesics
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
- Physiotherapy
- Mesotherapy
- Acupuncture
- Infiltrations
- Transcutaneous electrical stimulation
Marie Messager
Osteopath
2 rue Alexis de Tocqueville
78000 Versailles
