Dr Nigel Kellow

Resident at the Wellington Hospital

Dr Kellow was appointed as a consultant at Barts NHS Trust. He is one of London’s foremost consultants specialising in the management of painful spinal and neurological problems. He has performed tens of thousands of procedures ranging from spinal injections to spinal cord stimulation and is sought after by patients and their consultants who are keen to avoid surgery and those who still have problems in spite of surgery. Many of his patients come as recommendations from their friends or family but most come as referrals from GPs, physiotherapists, spinal and neurosurgeons. 

His particular clinical interests are: sciatica and other nerve entrapment syndromes; spinal cord stimulation / neuromodulation; spinal stenosis; peripheral nerve injuries; complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS); mechanical back and neck pain; spinal injections; radiofrequency procedures.  

Medical Qualifications

Dr Nigel Kellow qualified in medicine from the Royal Free Hospital, London and went on to train in pain medicine and anaesthesia at hospitals in London, Oxford, Cambridge and Paris. He is interested in health management and as such, studied for a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the London Business School.

Medical Experience

In 1996 Dr Kellow was appointed as a Consultant in Spinal and Interventional Pain Medicine at St Bart's and the Royal London Hospitals in 1996 and his private practice clinic is currently at the Princess Grace Hospital and the Wellington Hospital Pain Medicine Unit in London. 

Dr Kellow has a specialist interest in the use of image guided techniques to manage focal spinal and neurological problems. These include sciatica and brachalgia; mechanical back and neck pain; metastatic tumours; osteoporotic fractures; failed back surgery syndrome; complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS); and neuromodulation. He was also one of the first specialists in the UK to perform balloon kyphoplasty, a special treatment for vertebral body fractures.

Personal treatment philosophy:

“ The patients I see are often complex, with a number of problems at the same time. I get enormous satisfaction from being able to unpick these problems and implement a management plan that tackles each of them in order to help the patient get better.”

In practice at

The Wellington Hospital
Private

Specialisms

Treatment options

Languages spoken:

English

Articles written by Dr Nigel Kellow

The Ageing Spine

Like the rest of our bodies the spine is in its best shape in early adult life, but as the years go by after that the twin effects of age and the consequences of our ancestors having adopted an upright posture begin to take their toll. This article looks at the ways in which the spine changes as we get older, and the problems they can cause.

Sciatica and Brachialgia

The terms sciatica and brachialgia are used to describe nerve pain in the leg and in the arm respectively. Anyone who has ever had nerve pain will tell you that it is like no other pain they have ever had before. They tend to use very characteristic words to describe it, like “burning”, “gnawing”, “aching”, “shooting”, “electric shock.” Nerve pain does not respond very well to normal painkillers that you can get from a pharmacy, and even many doctors often find it hard to believe that it is painful as patients tell them it is. 

Image guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of bone metastases

Most patients with cancer develop metastatic tumour deposits in their bones at some stage. These are most often as the result of secondary spread from primary cancers in the breast, lung, and prostate, but less common cancers such as those arising in the kidney or thyroid frequently spread to bone. 

Understanding Pain and Painkillers

We can take a sample of blood from a patient and measure the levels of hundreds of substances in it; we can use x-rays, ultrasound, MRI, and radioisotopes to image any part of the body in minute detail. We can even take a sample of hair and tell if someone had taken drugs months previously. But if a patient tells us they’re in pain we can’t measure their pain in a blood sample, or look at it on an x-ray, and we certainly can’t tell from their hair that they were in pain a few months earlier. We have to believe them, and a good doctor will always believe their patients if they tell them they’re in pain. Pain is entirely subjective.