Specialty Pain Management is a unique practice that specializes in the treatment of chronic pain. At the helm of Specialty Pain Management is Dr. Ajay Narwani. Dr. Narwani is a Diplomat and Double Board Certified in Pain Management and Anesthesiology by the American Board of Anesthesiology. He is also AZ Board Certified in Anesthesia and Pain Management, as well as a member of Arizona Pain Society.
In looking back, Dr. Narwani gravitated towards pain management back in his medical residency and has embraced it fully. “When I was in my residency for anesthesia, I did one that required one month rotation in pain management,” says Dr. Narwani. “I fell in love with it as soon as I started, and realized how much I missed connecting with people. I loved the patient interactions and the actual science and art of Pain Medicine. It felt very different than practicing anesthesia at that time. The whole field was very fascinating to me.” He chose to do another one month elective, and then yet another month, before completely falling in love with it and applying for a fellowship.
Dr. Narwani grew up in Southern California where he completed the majority of his undergraduate education. He then attended medical school in Bangalore, India where he did part of his early medical training. He took his boards and completed his residency at the University of Texas in Houston. Soon after, he did a fellowship at the University of Texas, Medical Branch, in Galveston, Texas. Dr. Narwani moved to Arizona when he discovered there was a tremendous need for qualified and trained pain providers.
“When I started my practice in 2008, there weren’t too many trained pain specialists in the East Valley, so I thought it was a good opportunity,” explains Dr. Narwani. “Even up until 10 years ago, I considered pain management to be just in its infancy. I think over the course of the last five to ten years, the field has come a long way in how physicians deal with chronic pain with our patients. The therapies that we offer to manage and alleviate pain, including the medications we provide for patients, have come in leaps and bounds. The interventional procedures we have to offer to our patients have also come a long way.”
Treatment for pain management at Specialty Pain Management is highly personalized as no two patients are exactly the same. “Managing pain with medications is never as easy as taking one pill,” says Dr. Narwani. “There are so many different aspects to pain. For example, nerve pain from a pinched nerve, or pain coming from muscle spasms, versus pain coming from general inflammation – all these different sorts of pain need to be addressed with different types of individual therapies which is what my training has taught me.” The psycho-socio aspect of pain management is yet another factor that is addressed in each patient, as well as the interventional/injection aspect. Here is a list of the various types of pain that are effectively identified and managed at Specialty Pain Management:
- Back and Neck Pain
- Typically, back or neck pain is a symptom of a muscle strain, injury, disorder or disease.
- Cervical Radiculopathy (pinched nerve)
- Damage or injury to a nerve or set of nerves, resulting from compression, constriction or stretching
- Coccydynia
- Pain in the coccyx, or tailbone area, ranging from mild discomfort to acute pain
- Degenerative Disc Disease
- A painful condition caused by the loss of fluids in the discs, tiny tears or cracks in the discs, or a sudden (acute) injury to the discs
- Facet Joint Syndrome (arthritis)
- There are more than 100 arthritic medical conditions, all of which affect the musculoskeletal system — specifically the joints
- Fibromyalgia
- A common syndrome causing long-term, body-wide pain and tenderness in the joints, muscles, tendons and other soft tissues
- Lumbar Radiculopathy (herniated or slipped disc)
- Occurs when all or part of a disc in the spine is forced through a weakened part of the disc — placing pressure on nearby nerves
- Sciatica
- Pain, weakness, numbness or tingling in the leg that is caused by injury or pressure to the sciatic nerve
- Metastatic Cancer
- Cancer that has spread from one place to other places within the body
- Migraine Headaches
- A form of vascular headache that are caused by the enlargement of blood vessels and arteries, which activate the sympathetic nervous system in the body
- Myofascial Pain Syndrome (muscle pain)
- Muscle pain, often referring to pain and inflammation in the body’s soft tissues
- Peripheral Neuralgia
- Damage to nerves of the peripheral nervous system, caused by diseases of, or trauma to, the nerve
- Phantom Limb Pain
- Pain appearing to come from the area in which an amputated limb used to be
- Post Laminectomy Syndrome
- Also known as failed back syndrome, a condition characterized by persistent pain after back or leg surgery
- Spinal Stenosis
- A narrowing of the spinal column that causes pressure on the spinal cord, or narrowing of the openings where spinal nerves leave the spinal column.
- Spondylolisthesis
- A bone (vertebra) in the lower part of the spine that slips out of its proper position onto the bone below.
- Arthritic Pain
- Pain caused by a joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints
Dr. Narwani is entirely committed to his patients and his practice at Specialty Pain Management. “I feel very passionate about improving the health and well-being of my patients” he says. “I receive tremendous satisfaction in taking the journey with my patients’ daily fight with chronic pain, and seeing them improve in time.” He sees the everyday struggle that patients coping with pain face and he makes it his mission to get them feeling better and back to their routine, or possibly even increasing their level of activity to what it was prior to their pain challenge.
Specialty Pain Management also has a convenient online patient portal where patients can retrieve billing information and other records. The practice accepts almost all health insurance plans. Specialty Pain Management is located at 3008 N. Dobson Rd., #2, Chandler. Visit www.specialtypainmanagement.com or call (480) 496-2699 for additional information.