ABOUT THIS PRACTICE
An interventional neck pain practice in St. Louis. We examine the neck before we believe the scan, and we refine the diagnosis before anybody is sent anywhere.
What does an interventional pain doctor do for neck pain?
We are an interventional pain practice in St. Louis. The work is diagnostic first and procedural second. First we find which structure is generating a person’s pain. Then we treat that structure with the least invasive thing that will reach it.
For the neck, that means the facet joints, the nerve roots, the upper cervical segments, the muscles, and the peripheral nerves in the arm. Each has its own presentation, its own test, and its own treatment. Most people arrive having been treated for a category rather than a structure.
The physician
Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP is an interventional pain physician, addiction medicine specialist and obesity medicine diplomate, licensed in Missouri and Illinois. The combination is not an accident. Chronic pain, medication dependence and metabolic health interact constantly. Treating one while ignoring the others is why a lot of pain treatment stalls.
Every page on this website is reviewed by him, and the review date is printed at the foot of each one.
How we work, stated as commitments
- We evaluate and refine the diagnosis before referring. Nobody is sent straight to a surgeon based on a scan report and a symptom description. The exception is a genuine emergency, which goes urgently and without delay.
- We examine the shoulder and the arm at a neck appointment. The overlap is well documented. Telling the two apart from history alone is unreliable.
- We test before we treat. Where a diagnostic block will answer a question, we do the block rather than assuming the answer.
- We say what the evidence does and does not support. That includes where it is thin, and where a treatment we offer has limits.
What we do not do
We do not manage the dental or occlusal (bite) side of jaw problems. We do not perform spine surgery. We do not present procedures as cures where the research does not support that. Where somebody truly needs a service we are not, we say so, and we say why.
We also do not price treatment on this website. Cost depends on what is actually indicated after an evaluation. Quoting a figure before that evaluation would be guessing.
Where we are
12174 Natural Bridge Rd, Suite 302, St. Louis, MO 63044. Parking is at the door. The building is the three-story one with the lit entrance canopy.
We see patients from across the St. Louis region and from Illinois. The practice is licensed in both states.
What if physical therapy or a chiropractor has not helped my neck?
Most people arriving here already have a primary care doctor. Many have seen physical therapy, a chiropractor, a neurologist or a surgeon. None of that is a problem, and none of it is repeated without need. What we add is the diagnostic step that is frequently missing between a symptom and a treatment.
When physical therapy has stalled, the usual reason is that it was aimed at the wrong structure, not that it was done badly. Finding the actual generator often makes the same rehab work.
Will I be put on pain medication or opioids?
Medication has a role, and it is not the plan. Anti-inflammatory treatment matters where inflammation is the mechanism. Neuropathic agents (nerve pain medicines) matter where the pain is neuropathic. Both are more useful when aimed at a known problem for a set period. They are less useful when they pile up over years.
Long-term opioid therapy for chronic neck pain is not something we build a treatment plan around. When somebody arrives on it, the work is reducing the dependence while actually treating the pain generator. That is not a condition of being seen.
What that position looks like in published figures
This is not only a stated preference. In August 2026, on International Overdose Awareness Day, Dr. Padda published the opioid outcomes from his interventional practice. Patients typically arrive above 90 morphine milligram equivalents a day after more than two and a half years in pain. 21% are completely off opioid pain medication within 90 days of active treatment, and 34% within one year. Most of those who cannot be fully weaned are brought under 30 MME a day.
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.
Do you see patients from Illinois?
The practice is licensed in Illinois as well as Missouri. We see patients from across the metro east regularly. Nothing about the evaluation differs. The paperwork side does, and it is handled at booking rather than left for you to work out.
What people ask before booking
Do I need a referral?
Not to be seen. Bring any imaging and any prior nerve studies if you have them, and the list of what has already been tried. What happens at the first appointment.
Will I get an injection at the first visit?
Not usually. The first visit is an evaluation. Procedures follow a diagnosis; they do not replace one. How candidacy is assessed.
What should I bring?
Imaging on a disc or portal access, prior test results, a list of medications with doses, and a note of what has and has not helped. Where the practice sits in St. Louis.
How long is the first appointment?
Long enough to examine the neck, the shoulder and the arm properly, and to go through your history in detail. That is the appointment that decides everything after it. Where the practice sits in St. Louis.
What kind of doctor should I see for neck pain?
Look for a doctor who works out which structure is causing the pain before treating it. Neck pain can come from the facet joints, the discs, the nerve roots, the upper neck, the muscles or the nerves in the arm. Each needs a different test and treatment. Here the neck, shoulder and arm are all examined. The diagnosis is tested before anyone is referred onward.
What are the most common causes of neck pain?
Neck pain is not one condition. The facet joints, the discs, the nerve roots, the upper cervical segments, the muscles and the nerves in the arm all cause overlapping symptoms. More than one can be active in the same person. A large share of neck pain is muscular, postural or load-related and needs no procedure. Treatment aimed at the wrong one of these does nothing.
When is neck pain an emergency?
Signs that the spinal cord is being squeezed, a nerve problem that keeps getting worse, and suspected giant cell arteritis with changes in vision all need urgent care. Those go on without delay. They are the one situation where speed comes before refining the diagnosis. Everything else leaves time for a proper evaluation first.
Related reading
- What to expect at your first visit
- Am I a candidate?
- Neck pain doctor in St. Louis
- When a neck problem is urgent
- Why your MRI does not explain it
- Connect with us
Book an evaluation
The first appointment is where the diagnosis gets made. Everything after it depends on getting that part right.
12174 Natural Bridge Rd, Suite 302
St. Louis, MO 63044
Next to DePaul Hospital, just off the 270 and 70 junction, west of the airport.
Why the diagnosis gets so much of the attention here
Neck pain is not one condition. The facet joints, the discs, the nerve roots, the upper cervical segments, the muscles and the peripheral nerves in the arm all produce overlapping pictures. Several of them can be true in the same person at the same time.
Treatment aimed at the wrong one of those does nothing. And it does nothing in a way that is easy to misread as the condition being untreatable. A great many people who say they have failed everything have in fact had one thing tried again and again. It was aimed at a structure that was never the source.
Does every neck problem need an injection?
No. Being an interventional practice means we can put a needle exactly where a question needs answering or a treatment needs delivering. We do it under image guidance, with contrast dye confirming position before anything is injected. That is a real advantage over treatment delivered by inference (an educated guess).
It does not mean every problem gets a needle. A substantial share of what walks through the door is muscular, postural or load-related. It is treated without any procedure at all. Owning an intervention is not a reason to use it.
The standing policy on referral
We evaluate and refine the diagnosis before sending anybody onward. That applies to surgeons, and it applies to every other service too. The reason is simple. A referral made on a scan report and a symptom description sends the patient into a service that will treat the part it can see. The part it can see is not always the part that hurts.
The exception is genuine emergency. Cord compression signs, a progressive neurological deficit, or suspected giant cell arteritis with visual symptoms go urgently and immediately. Those are on a separate page. They are the one situation where speed outranks refinement.
On evidence, and on saying where it runs out
Several things we do have strong support. Some have moderate support. A few are reasonable clinical practice in groups that trials have largely left out. These are people with multiple problems at once, significant metabolic disease, or long-standing medication exposure. They tend to be screened out of the studies, and they are heavily represented in a real clinic.
Where that is the situation, we say so, rather than borrowing certainty from a trial that did not include anybody like you. It is the more useful answer, even though it is the less comfortable one.
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.
