Dr Stephen Humble Consultant in interventional spinal medicine and pain management

Background

Dr Stephen Humble is a consultant and honorary senior lecturer at Charing Cross and St Mary’s hospitals.  His principle specialist focus is interventional techniques for the treatment of spinal pain and he has performed thousands of epidurals and other spinal procedures over the last 16 years. He qualified in medicine at the University of Aberdeen in 2000 and trained in major centres in both Scotland and Australia. In addition, he completed a MSc at the University of Edinburgh in 2010 and a PhD in neuroscience in 2012.

Dr Humble was featured on the BBC One programme ‘Health: Truth or Scare’ and has published numerous medical and scientific papers in high-level journals and spoken about his work at many conferences and meetings. 

His specialist interests include the management of neuropathic pain as well as local anaesthetic and steroid injections for joint pain and spinal pain. Through his research he has adopted cutting-edge techniques that are only performed by a small number of specialised doctors, such as radiofrequency therapy for spinal pain and nerve entrapment syndromes, as well as capsaicin patch therapy for painful peripheral neuropathy. Dr Humble is also a medicolegal expert witness for the courts and has advised on a number of complex cases related to his area of work.

Dr Humble is a member of numerous professional organisations such as the Spinal Intervention Society, Harley Academy, International Association for the Study of Pain, British Pain Society, London Pain Forum, Fellow of the College of Anaesthetists, Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, Associate Fellow Faculty of Pain Medicine RCoA, British Medical Association, European Society of Regional Anaesthesia & Pain Therapy and the Association of Anaesthetists of GB & Ireland.

Expertise

Back pain, neck pain, x-ray guided spinal injections, ultrasound-guided joint injections, steroid injections, neuropathic (nerve) pain, radiofrequency treatment, Qutenza patch therapy, cancer and chemotherapy pain, anaesthesia

Research & publications

Recent publications:

Humble, S R (2017) Mitochondrial dysfunction in diabetic neuropathy may be involved in the development of neuropathic pain via a reduction in neurosteroid synthesis. F1000 Research, in press

Kailainathan P, Humble S, Dawson H, Cameron, F, Gokani S, Lidder G. (2017) A national survey of pain clinics within the United Kingdom and Ireland focusing on the multidisciplinary team and the incorporation of the extended nursing role. British Journal of Pain, in press

Humble SR (2017) The global year against pain after surgery. Expert Witness Institute Magazine, March

Humble S, Smith D, Bhaskar A (2016) Apps, bots and Wearables: the future is here at present. Pain News Dec, Vol 14(4) 173-6

Humble SR (2016) Neurosteroids are reduced in diabetic neuropathy and may be associated with the development of neuropathic pain. F1000 Research, 5:1923 (doi: 10.12688/f1000research.9034.1)

Humble SR (2016) Chronic post-surgical pain and consent. Expert Witness Institute Magazine, Aug

Smith D, Humble S, Bhaskar A. (2016) Social media for professionals in pain medicine – Part 2: the good, the bad and the ugly. Pain News, June, Vol 14(2) 64-67

Humble SR (2016) What is a pain medicine specialist. Expert Witness Institute Magazine, Mar

Smith D, Humble S, Bhaskar A (2016)  Social media for professionals in pain medicine – an introduction and Twitter. Pain News Mar, Vol 14(1) 24-27

Humble S, Li L, Dalton A (2015)  Author's reply to the comment by Chow. Eur J Pain, Nov;19(10):1564. doi: 10.1002/ejp.772

Humble SR (2015) Could hot chilli pepper consumption reduce the prevalence of chronic pain? Rapid Response to Lv et al., Consumption of spicy foods and total and cause specific mortality: population based cohort study. BMJ;351:h3942 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h3942

Humble SR, Dalton A, Li L (2015) A systematic review of therapeutic interventions to reduce acute and chronic post-surgical pain after amputation, thoracotomy or mastectomy. Eur J Pain, Apr; 19(4):451-65. doi: 10.1002/ejp.567