Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda · Pain physician
He spent twenty years telling patients their numbers were not too bad.
Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP, is the interventional pain physician who treats you here. He has said publicly, in front of rooms full of colleagues, that for twenty years he told patients their numbers were not too bad. That correction is why this practice asks about your sleep and your bloodwork on a back pain visit.
Who is Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda?
Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP is an interventional pain physician, anesthesiologist and addiction medicine specialist in St. Louis. He holds board certification across five fields: anesthesiology, pain medicine, interventional pain management, addiction medicine and obesity medicine. He treats chronic pain as a metabolic disease. He has run the Center for Interventional Pain Management since 2001.
He was trained first in trauma surgery, then in anesthesiology. He spent seven years as an academic before leaving the assembly line. He is an operator with an MBA. He runs the practice as a system, not a series of appointments. He funds a 501(c)(3) out of his own pocket. Those parts are not separate from the clinical work. The same eye that re-engineers a preadmission program is the one that noticed the food supply is an incentive problem before it is a nutrition problem.
The correction that shaped the practice
For roughly two decades he told pre-diabetic patients that an A1C drifting upward was not too bad. That is because it was the standard of the day, and he believed it. He was also, for years, a strict vegetarian defending guidelines he now dismantles. Both models changed when the physiology stopped supporting them.
The link to your back is direct. Suppose insulin resistance and chronic metabolic inflammation glycate collagen (bind sugar to it). Suppose they also impair the microcirculation (the tiny blood vessels) that feeds a disc, and hold tissue in a degradative (breaking-down) state. Then a lumbar spine is a metabolic organ as much as a mechanical one. And the standard workup, which stops at the picture, is missing half the causal chain. A physician who has already been wrong about the terrain once is more careful before calling a back a mechanical problem and stopping there.
Pain is a signal, not a diagnosis. The disc is where it hurts. It is not why it hurts.
Dr. Padda, on how this practice reads a chart
Where did Dr. Padda train?
- University of Missouri–Kansas City — BA in Biology, then MD
- General surgery training at Cook County Hospital, University of Illinois–Chicago
- Anesthesia residency at Illinois Masonic
- Anesthesia residency, Washington University–Barnes, with pediatric anesthesia at St. Louis Children’s; Chief Resident 1991–92
- MBA in International Business Studies, Saint Louis University
- Certified Physician Executive, American College of Physician Executives
What is Dr. Padda board certified in?
- Anesthesiology
- Pain Medicine
- Interventional Pain Management — Diplomate, American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians
- Addiction Medicine
- Obesity Medicine
- Metabolic Health Practitioner, Society of Metabolic Health Practitioners
- Fellow of Interventional Pain Physicians
Added competency certifications in Coding, Compliance and Practice Management (2009), Controlled Substance Management (2010), Nutrition Network Advisor (2023) and Regenerative Medicine in Interventional Pain Management (2024). Licensed in Missouri and Illinois, among other states. Individual NPI 1427035955.
Academic and leadership
- Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology (1992–99) and of Pediatrics (1993–99), Cardinal Glennon / Saint Louis University
- Pediatric Anesthesiology, Associate Director, and founding Director of the Pediatric Acute Pain Management Service (1995–99)
- Saint Louis University Institutional Review Board — Deputy Director (1998–99)
- Faculty, KCU Freeman Health System psychiatry residency, pain and addiction (2024–present)
- Chairman of Anesthesia, Perioperative Medicine and Pain Management at Saint Joseph’s–Kirkwood and at Saint Alexius
- Center for Interventional Pain Management — Chief Medical Officer since 2001
- Center for Regenerative Medicine — Medical Director since 2004
- President, Missouri Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (2002–10, 2023–present)
- Board Member and Examiner, American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians; ASIPP Board of Directors
On the national platform
Two ASIPP keynotes carry the argument this practice is built on. One was Treating Metainflammation and Interventional Pain (July 2020). The other was Metabolic Inflammation and the Hedonic Treadmill (July 2021, New Orleans). More recent talks are Revenue Enhancement with Risk Reduction through Outcome Measurement (ASIPP 2025) and Reimagining Metabolic Health (SMHP / LowCarbUSA, January 2025).
His published research runs across anesthesiology, critical care, pain and surgical journals. Among them are Neuromodulation, Pain Medicine, Critical Care Medicine, Anesthesia & Analgesia, Dermatologic Surgery and Pain Physician. He reviews for PharmacoEconomics. He coauthored Next Level Your Life in 2023.
Seva, and why a pain clinic mentions it
The word seva means service given without expecting return, credit or exchange. That is the core ethic here. It is the reason for structures that carry no revenue. The Sevadar Foundation is a 501(c)(3), currently self-funded, with four program arms. CareGuard is a federally listed Patient Safety Organization. Valor Medica serves veterans and neighbors experiencing homelessness. IntellaRx works on opioid safety. Dwaraa works on deprescribing and dementia care in older adults. Medical missions to Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Board service with Exoneration Nation, Arise Veterans and the March of Dimes. From 2023 to 2026 he also sat on the boards of directors of two real estate development funds, Grocapitus Investments and UGRO.
In the clinic it shows up as a rule, not a sentiment. Medicine is a duty owed, not a transaction executed. In practice, we are obligated to fix what we can see, whether or not anyone is paying us to look at it. That is why the bloodwork gets ordered on a back pain visit, even though nobody came in for it.
How does Dr. Padda approach opioids?
This is harm reduction set against human frailty. It is not a rule applied to somebody the moment they walk in. Where pain is irreversible, zero is not the target. The target is the smallest exposure that works, with function held and damage kept off the table. Patients already on long-term therapy get help to reduce it with interventional treatment. That treatment lowers the input the medication is covering. They are kept out of withdrawal while that happens. Nobody is required to taper as a condition of being assessed. He applied the same thinking to himself after a highway injury in October 2026, and explains why a first opioid prescription for a back flare matters.
21% / 34%
of patients on long-term opioid therapy are fully weaned within 90 days and within one year respectively, under interventional treatment. Across our established population, fewer than 1% remain above 90 MME per day. Practice-reported figures from our own population, not trial outcomes, and individual results vary.
He publishes the numbers rather than describing them
On International Overdose Awareness Day in August 2026, he released his practice’s own opioid data instead of a position statement. The average new patient arrives after more than two and a half years in pain. They arrive above 90 morphine milligram equivalents a day. Within 90 days of active interventional treatment, 21% are completely off opioid pain medication. Within a year, 34% are. Of those who cannot be fully weaned, the large majority are brought below 30 MME a day.
The argument behind the numbers is the one this page has already made. A taper reduces a dose. Treating the structure generating the pain changes why the dose was there. Those are practice-reported figures from his own patient population, not trial outcomes, and individual results vary. Reported by AP News; the full release is here.
What that means for your appointment
Here is what that means for you. You will be examined, not triaged. Your imaging will be read against your exam, not instead of it. A candidate pain generator will be named out loud. The plan to test it will be explained before anything is done. If we are not the right people, you will be told that on the day.
BOARD CERTIFICATIONS, SOCIETIES AND AFFILIATIONS
For more information, our page on lumbar facet syndrome offers the free back guide. It explains your MRI report and your treatment options in plain English.
Our orthobiologics page explains the PRP, bone marrow and fat treatments he directs, and lists every condition we use them for.
Frequently asked questions
What kind of doctor is best for pain management?
Look for a physician who examines you instead of triaging you. That physician reads your imaging against the exam, names a candidate pain generator out loud, and tests it before treating. Dr. Padda is an interventional pain physician and anesthesiologist. He is board certified in anesthesiology, pain medicine, interventional pain management, addiction medicine and obesity medicine. So the structural and metabolic sides of your pain are read together.
How long has Dr. Padda been practicing?
He was Chief Resident in anesthesia at Washington University–Barnes in 1991–92. Then he spent seven years on the Saint Louis University faculty as an Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and of Pediatrics. He has been Chief Medical Officer of the Center for Interventional Pain Management since 2001. He has been Medical Director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine since 2004.
Will Dr. Padda take me off my pain medication?
Not as a condition of seeing you. Nobody is required to taper to be assessed. Where pain is irreversible, zero is not the target. The target is the smallest exposure that works, with function held. Patients on long-term therapy get help to reduce it with interventional treatment. That treatment lowers the pain the medication is covering. They are kept out of withdrawal while that happens.
Why does a back pain doctor order bloodwork?
Because a lumbar spine is a metabolic organ as much as a mechanical one. Insulin resistance and chronic metabolic inflammation glycate collagen (bind sugar to it). They impair the circulation that feeds a disc. They hold tissue in a state of breakdown. A workup that stops at the picture misses half the cause. The practice also holds that it must fix what it can see, even when nobody came in for it.
Related reading
- What happens at the first visit
- Back pain doctor in St. Louis
- The diagnostic block, explained
- Sleep and back pain
- Connect with us
The credentials are the easy part to verify. The method is the part that matters.
Examine, name a structure, test it, treat what was confirmed. If you want that applied to your back, that is what this practice does.
12174 Natural Bridge Rd, Suite 301
St. Louis, MO 63044
At DePaul Hospital on Natural Bridge Road, inside the I-270 and I-70 interchange, on the west side of the airport.
Published research. His peer-reviewed record is registered under ORCID 0009-0001-0166-3186 and indexed at PubMed, OpenAlex and Semantic Scholar. His biographical record is Wikidata Q141049117.
As Seen In
Our releases ran on AP News, The National Law Review, FOX 2 St. Louis and 570+ other news sites across the United States and Canada.
- 12press releases
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Distributed by EIN Presswire for Nectar Media Group.
In the press
- Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD: Trial Suggests PRP May Delay Knee Replacement for Patients Already on the Surgical List
EIN Presswire, October 12, 2026. A World Arthritis Day release on a knee trial, notable for how narrowly he reports it: PRP as a bridge before replacement, with no claim the cartilage grew back. - Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD Puts the New Low-Carb Guideline to Work in Pain Care: Medicines Change Before Pain Does
EIN Presswire, October 7, 2026. Why a back pain patient on several medicines should start a low-carb diet with a doctor watching, and what the new guideline says to adjust in the first week.
