Padda Institute Center for Interventional Pain Management is a physician-owned interventional pain practice serving the greater St. Louis area. Our offices are on Woodson and on Natural Bridge Road, both in St. Louis. Care is led by Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP.
Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP — Interventional Pain Management Physician
For a plain overview of how care works here (first visit, diagnosis, insurance and what comes next), see our guide to what pain management involves.
Dr. Padda has practiced interventional pain medicine in the St. Louis region for more than three decades. He did his anesthesiology residency at Washington University–Barnes Hospital. He spent seven years on the faculty of Saint Louis University School of Medicine. He is a diplomate of five American specialty boards. A full professional profile, with his papers and national talks, is on its own page.
Board certifications you can verify independently
Many doctors who advertise pain care are board certified in pain medicine. This mix of five boards is rare.
- American Board of Anesthesiology — Diplomate
- American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians (ABIPP) — Diplomate
- American Board of Pain Medicine — Diplomate
- American Board of Addiction Medicine — Diplomate
- American Board of Obesity Medicine — Diplomate
Numbers you can check yourself instead of taking our word:
- Individual NPI: 1427035955 — verify in the CMS national provider registry
- Practice NPI: 1508067208
- Missouri medical license: MD 100572
Training and background
- Doctor of Medicine — University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Medicine
- Anesthesiology residency — Washington University / Barnes Hospital, St. Louis
- Master of Business Administration — Saint Louis University
The anesthesiology training is the one that matters most for your care. Interventional pain medicine grew out of anesthesiology, because the core skill is putting a needle right on a named target in the body, under imaging, safely. That is an anesthesiology skill.
What does an interventional pain management doctor do?
“Pain management doctor” covers several very different kinds of provider. The difference matters when you pick one. A primary care doctor treats pain mostly with medicine. A physical therapist or chiropractor treats it with movement and hands-on therapy. A spine surgeon treats structural problems that need an operation.
An interventional pain doctor works in the space between those. The work is diagnosis first. We find which exact spot makes the pain: a facet joint, a nerve root, a sacroiliac joint, or a trapped nerve in the limbs. We use image-guided injections that double as tests. Only then comes treatment, aimed at the spot the diagnosis found. The whole specialty rests on the idea that “back pain” is a symptom, not a diagnosis.
Why the addiction and obesity board certifications matter here
These two look out of place at a pain practice until you see who walks in the door. Many chronic pain patients arrive already on long-term opioids. Some are at doses that no longer help and cannot be stopped all at once. Handling that safely is addiction medicine, not pain medicine. It means tapering down without throwing someone into withdrawal, while procedures take over the work the drug was doing. Most interventional practices send it elsewhere.
The metabolic side is less obvious and more interesting. Body fat is not dead storage. It acts like a gland and pumps out inflammatory chemicals (cytokines). Insulin resistance, visceral fat (belly fat) and long-term inflammation change how the nervous system handles pain signals. That is why some patients hurt more than their scans say they should. Treat the joint and ignore the metabolic ground it sits in, and you treat half the problem.
Conditions we treat
Each condition below links to a full page on how we find it and how we treat it.
- Sciatica and radicular leg pain
- Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS/RSD)
- Diabetic and peripheral neuropathy
- Failed back surgery syndrome
- Car accident and injury pain
- Severe head and neck pain
- Migraine and cluster headache
- Piriformis syndrome and cluneal neuropathy
- Serious foot pain
- Chronic pancreatitis pain
- Cancer pain
- Anxiety, PTSD and chronic pain
Interventional pain procedures we perform in St. Louis
Every procedure is done on site, and you go home the same day. We work under ultrasound or fluoroscopic guidance.
- Epidural steroid injection, selective nerve root block and epiduroplasty
- Facet joint injection and facet joint radiofrequency ablation
- Sacroiliac joint injection and hip joint injection
- Genicular nerve block, genicular radiofrequency ablation and knee gel injections
- Diagnostic and therapeutic nerve blocks, including stellate ganglion, lumbar sympathetic, celiac plexus and sphenopalatine ganglion blocks
- Spinal cord stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation
- Kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty for compression fractures
- Nerve hydrodissection and trigger point injections
- Botox for chronic migraine
- Ketamine for RSD, CRPS and refractory nerve pain
- Discogram and electrodiagnostic testing
The full list is on the interventional pain management guide.
How do I choose a pain management doctor in St. Louis?
Four questions sort practices better than any ranking or ad:
- Is every procedure image-guided? A shot placed by feel is not a test, because no one can know where the medicine went.
- Does a diagnostic step come before a therapeutic one? If the plan is the same shot no matter what is found, nothing is being diagnosed.
- Are the credentials verifiable? Board certifications, NPI and state license numbers are all public. Ask for them and check.
- What happens if the first procedure does not work? A practice with one tool will repeat it. A practice with a full range will change the target.
Choosing a pain physician: what the title actually tells you
“Pain specialist” is not a protected term. Doctors from anesthesiology, physical medicine, neurology and psychiatry all treat pain. So do people with no formal pain training at all. What matters is not the label. It is the training behind it and what the practice can really do.
Who actually treats pain, and what each brings
Several kinds of doctors treat chronic pain. The differences are real, not cosmetic.
- Anesthesiology-trained pain physicians come from the field that built nerve blocks and image-guided injection. Their strength is deep hands-on procedure skill.
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation doctors tackle the same problems through function and movement. Many hold the same pain board certification.
- Neurologists lead when the problem is the nerve itself: neuropathies (nerve damage), headache disorders, central sensitization (an oversensitive nervous system).
- Psychiatrists hold the pain board in smaller numbers. They matter more than most patients expect, because chronic pain and mood are tangled together in the body, not just linked on paper.
- Surgeons address structural problems that need a structural repair. That is a smaller share of chronic pain than the surgical view suggests.
- Non-physician practitioners (chiropractors, physical therapists, nurse practitioners) give a lot of real, useful pain care. What they cannot do is the needle-based testing that proves which spot makes the pain.
None of these is the right answer in the abstract. The right answer depends on what is making your pain. That is exactly the thing that usually has not been found yet.
Fellowship training is the dividing line
In the United States, pain medicine is a recognized subspecialty. A doctor enters it after a full residency. That residency is in anesthesiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, psychiatry or emergency medicine. Then comes an extra accredited fellowship just for pain medicine. Only after that can the doctor sit for the board exam.
This is the most useful thing to ask about. It tells you more than the words on the door. A practice may advertise pain care with no doctor on site who did that fellowship. That does not rule it out. But you should know it, because it tells you what the practice can and cannot look into.
Specialist, primary care, or surgeon?
Primary care is the right place to start for most new pain. A good primary doctor solves a lot of it. The reason to move on is not that you are unhappy. It is a stall. When the plan has become “continue and review” for months at a time, the question has changed. It is no longer how to manage the pain. It is what is causing it, and that is a different kind of work.
A surgeon’s opinion is the right call when there is a structural problem a surgeon can fix. It also needs conservative and interventional care to be truly used up, not just tried. Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP, is a licensed physician and surgeon with surgical privileges. This practice does perform surgery. But it leads with the least invasive option that can answer the question. It saves surgery for when it is the right answer, not just the next step.
Questions worth asking on the first call
- Will a physician perform the procedure, or someone else?
- Is imaging guidance used, and which kind?
- What happens if the first treatment does not work?
- Is the goal to reduce my medication, or to continue it?
That last question matters more than most patients think. This practice cuts opioid use instead of keeping it going, and says so up front.
Signs a practice may not be the right fit
None of these proves poor care. Each is worth a direct question.
- A fixed series of injections booked in advance. A course of three, booked before anyone knows how you did with the first, is a billing pattern, not a medical one. What the first shot does decides how many you need. There is nothing magic about three.
- Injections without image guidance. A shot placed by feel into a joint or near a nerve is fine in some settings. For spine targets, imaging is how you know where the medicine really went.
- No diagnostic step. If nothing is ever done to find which spot hurts, every treatment is a guess with a needle attached.
- Medication as the whole plan. Most of all when the dose keeps climbing and the relief does not.
- No interest in the rest of your health. High blood sugar, poor sleep and inflammation all change how pain behaves. A plan that ignores them works with one hand tied.
Can I get a same-day pain management appointment?
Sudden pain does not wait for the next open slot. We hold same-day and urgent visits open at the Woodson office. No referral is needed. Call or text us. Full details are on the same-day and emergency visits page. That page also lists the symptoms that belong in an emergency room, not a pain clinic.
What patients say
Patient reviews collected on their own and gathered through ReviewHub and Google total 1,551 five-star reviews across both offices. You can also watch patient video testimonials instead of reading a hand-picked set of quotes.
Our two St. Louis offices
- St. Louis (primary): 4477 Woodson Rd, Suite 100, St. Louis, MO 63134 — minutes from St. Louis Lambert International Airport
- Natural Bridge Road: 12174 Natural Bridge Rd, St. Louis, MO 63044
Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM. Phone (314) 481-5000 · Fax (314) 481-3037 · info@painmd.tv. Directions and maps are on the locations page.
Does the Padda Institute accept my insurance?
The practice accepts all commercial health insurance plans. Copays, deductibles and each insurer’s rules on certain treatments vary. So we check your own benefits before we schedule anything, not after. Procedures are done in our office, not a hospital outpatient department. That usually makes the facility part of the cost lower.
Frequently asked questions about pain management doctors in St. Louis
Who are the best pain management doctors in St. Louis?
No doctor can honestly claim to be the best. Read any practice that does with care. What you can compare is what you can check. Look at board certification and in which fields. Look at fellowship training. Ask if every procedure is done under image guidance. Ask if a test step comes before treatment. Check that the NPI and state license show up in public records. Those points narrow the field faster than any ranked list.
What is the best doctor to see for pain?
It depends on what is making the pain. New pain after an injury usually starts with primary care or urgent care. Pain from a structural problem that clearly needs surgery belongs with a surgeon. Some pain lasts past normal healing time, or scans do not explain it. That is where an interventional pain doctor helps most, because the test tools in this field are built for exactly that gap.
See Which Pain Specialist Should You See When Treatment Has Not Helped?
Do pain management doctors give you pain meds?
At this practice, medicine is a bridge, not a destination. We do not accept patients who want opioids as the treatment. We do the opposite. For patients already on long-term opioids, we use procedures to take over the work the drug was doing. Then the dose can be tapered down safely without throwing you into withdrawal. If you are looking for a prescriber, we are not the right practice. If you are looking for a way off, we are.
Do I need a referral to see a pain management doctor in St. Louis?
No referral is needed to be seen at the Padda Institute. Some insurance plans need one for coverage. That is separate from whether we can book you. We check your own benefits before your visit so there are no surprises.
What should I tell a pain management doctor at my first visit?
Be specific and be complete. Tell us where the pain is and what it feels like. Tell us what makes it better or worse, what time of day it is worst, and what you have tried, including what did not work. Bring your imaging on a disc or portal login, not just the report. Bring a current list of your medicines and the names of others treating you. Playing pain down and playing it up both lead to the wrong diagnosis.
What is the golden rule of pain management?
Treat the source, not the feeling. Pain is a signal. The useful question is always which spot is sending it. That is why the first procedure is often a test as much as a treatment. It is also why a good plan changes target when the evidence says the first target was wrong.
How soon can I be seen?
We hold same-day and urgent visits open at the Woodson office for sudden pain. Call or text us and we will find a slot.
Is a pain specialist the same as a pain management doctor?
In everyday use, yes. Patients and practices use the two terms the same way. Neither one tells you about training on its own. That is why the fellowship and board questions above matter more than the title. Dr. Padda’s board certifications and training are listed near the top of this page.
What should you not say to a pain management doctor?
Do not play the pain down to seem tough. Do not puff it up to be taken seriously. Both lead to the wrong diagnosis. Skip vague answers, too. Say exactly where it hurts, what it feels like, what makes it better or worse, when it is worst and what you have already tried. And if what you want is an opioid prescription, know up front that this practice is not the right fit.
What is the strongest pain relief for chronic pain?
The strongest relief comes from treating what makes the pain, not from a stronger pill. Here, image-guided procedures find the source first. Then treatment aims at that spot with options such as nerve blocks, radiofrequency ablation, and spinal cord or peripheral nerve stimulation. Medicine is a bridge, not a destination. For patients on long-term opioids, procedures take over that work so the dose can come down safely.
Is a pain specialist better than my regular doctor for chronic pain?
For pain that has stalled, a pain specialist does work a regular doctor is not set up to do. Primary care treats pain mostly with medicine and referrals. An interventional pain physician tests which structure is producing the pain, with image-guided diagnostic blocks and nerve testing, then treats that structure directly. Keep your primary doctor, and add a specialist once the plan has become “continue and review” for months. Learn more: which pain specialist to see when treatment has not helped.
How is a physician-owned pain practice different from a large health system?
In a physician-owned practice, the physician who examined you decides the plan and answers for it at follow-up. Large systems often route pain care through departments, with a scheduler, a first visit with another provider, a separate proceduralist and referral queues in between. Neither model is automatically better, so ask the same three questions of both: who performs the procedure, how soon a diagnostic block can be scheduled, and who decides what happens if it does not work. Padda Institute is physician-owned and physician-led. Learn more: how fee-for-service incentives shape pain care.
Request an appointment
Maybe you have handled chronic pain with medicine alone. Maybe you had shots that were never image-guided and never told you anything. Either way, a consultation is worth the visit. Request an appointment or call us.