Interventional Pain, Sports Medicine, Rehabilitation & Precision Medicine
Dr. Eric Y. Chang is an interventional physiatrist subspecializing in the treatment of pain, sports, and wellness. His practice offers a variety of treatments for neuropathic, musculoskeletal, and neuromuscular pain conditions. He treats non-operative neck and low back pain, spasticity, myofascial pain, scoliosis/kyphosis, compression fractures, sciatica, and neuropathic pain conditions. Dr. Chang performs a multitude of interventional procedures in the neck and low back along with advanced procedures such as spinal cord stimulators and intrathecal drug delivery pumps. He also brings his knowledge of precision therapies (Plasma Rich Platelets, Stem Cells Therapy) for osteoarthritis and chronic injuries. He is also trained in electromyography. His special clinical and research interests are neuropathic pain, spasticity, arthritis, and spinal disorders. He is also currently developing clinical studies to investigate interventional and non-interventional strategies for the treatment of chronic low back pain.
Dr. Chang completed his undergraduate at Yale University in New Haven followed by his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York with a distinction in musculoskeletal disorders. He completed his residency in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the UCLA/Veterans Administration Greater Beverly Hills Healthcare System. He then completed an Anesthesia-based ACGME Pain Medicine fellowship at UC Irvine to pursue his interest in neuropathic pain and spasticity among patients with spinal disorders. He was an Assistant Professor In-residence in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Orthopedics, Neurosurgery, Anesthesiology & Perioperative Care, and faculty in the Reeve-Irvine Research Center from 2011 until 2015.
Dr. Chang’s basic science research interests are in investigating the pain mechanisms of low back pain and sciatica. Low back pain is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the world and impacts considerably on the economy through loss of work, cost of health care, and societal support for the affected individual and their family. A common cause of back pain is from degenerative disc disease which may present with radicular pain. Currently, low back pain secondary to degenerative disc disease is not well characterized and imaging studies do not correlate with the extent of pathology. In addition, little is known about the mechanisms associated with the actual progression of degenerative disc disease and radicular pain. As a result, these patients have limited diagnosis and treatment options for their pain and disability . He received a K12 mentored career development award through the National Institute of Health and National Institute of Child Health & Human Development to study behavioral hypersensitivities of low back pain, using rodent models to correlate advanced degenerative disc disease and the biochemical mediators of pain in the spine.