I am a Consultant in Pain Medicine and specialise in the management of neuropathic pain, low back pain, sciatica, nerve pain, neck pain, persistent pain after operation among other types of acute and chronic pain. I am also an expert in Interventional Pain Management (Pain Injections) and teach on multiple courses in the UK and abroad. I believe the best way of managing chronic / persistent pain is by using multimodal therapies
Some of my Responsibilities and Achievements include:
I am an Elected Board Member of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, London.
I am a Member of the Professional Standards Committee of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, London.
I founded the Multidisciplinary North England Pain Medicine Group in 2008 with the aim of promoting multidisciplinary approach to managing chronic pain, promoting local talent and to provide a platform to network to help provide better patient care and professional support to colleagues. I am currently the Chairman of the group.
I am a Committee member of the Interventional Pain Medicine Special Interest Group of the British Pain Society.
I was the Educational Meetings Advisor to the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, London from 2011 to 2017.
I was the Regional Advisor for Pain Medicine for the Yorkshire Region from 2010 to 2016.
I was appointed an Examiner for the Fellowship Examination of the Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, London from 2012 to 2018.
I Chaired the Low Back Pain and Radicular Pain Pathway published by the British Pain Society and the Map of Medicine. For the first time early management of neuropathic pain was included in pain pathway. The pathways also included a time based escalation of management for patients with low back and lower limb radicular pain. The National pathways were developed to streamline management of spinal pain by promoting multidisciplinary, evidence based, patient centred approaches to decrease chronicity & optimize resource utilization. Some of the ideas used in the pathways have now been adapted by other national pathways.
I Chaired the Good Practice Guidelines for Medial Branch Block and Radiofrequency Denervation for Low Back Pain published by the British Pain Society and the Faculty of Pain Medicine.
I am Editor of the five pain medicine books. Our book “Practical Management of Complex Cancer Pain” published by Oxford University Press won the British Medical Association Medical Book of the Year award in 2015 (a total of 630 medical books were considered for the award).
1 of the 3 UK pain specialists invited to develop 2 International Comprehensive Evidence-Based Guidelines for Interventional Techniques in Chronic Spinal Pain which was published in the international journal “Pain Physician” published by the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians.
Co-authored 9 Systematic Reviews on Lumbar Facet Joint Pain Management, Sacroiliac Joint Pain Management, Cervical Facet Joint Pain Management and Epidural Injections for low back pain and sciatica. All published in Pain Physician (High Impact Factor of 4.76).
Described and published a new technique of performing sacroiliac joint injections and consider myself an expert in the field of diagnosing and managing low back pain and sacroiliac joint pain which is often poorly managed.
I was the first to publish a new technique of performing epidural steroid injection for radicular pain / sciatica: Pre-Contrast Injection Multiple Needle Placement Technique: An Alternative Method for Performing Challenging Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injections for Radicular Pain. This technique will improve the chances of delivering the steroid at the target site for patients with sciatica / radicular pain. The manuscript will be published in IPM Report soon.
Advised on Pain Medicine related matters to the National and International professional bodies including National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE); British Pain Society; Faculty of Pain Medicine; Spinal Intervention Society, USA; American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, USA.
Director of the “European Imaging and Investigations in Pain Medicine” and “Surgical Skills for Neuromodulation” courses.
Co-Director of the Leeds Cadaver Course for Pain Interventions and also on the Faculty of the European Spine Intervention Society (SIS, USA) cadaver courses.
I was the International Advisor for the “Global Update in Pain” meetings conducted every three years in Mumbai, India between 2001 and 2015.