Shahrukh Bengali, MD

About

Dr. Shahrukh Bengali was first drawn to the pain management field because it is one of the few specialties that emphasizes a shared decision-making model between patient and physician.

“The field has really accelerated in terms of options for treatment over the past decade and I am excited to offer a lot of these therapies to patients,” he said.

Dr. Bengali joined the National Spine and Pain Centers in the summer of 2024 after completing a multidisciplinary pain medicine program at the University of Florida and completed an Interventional Spine subspecialty track.

Dr. Bengali completed his undergraduate and medical school training at the University of Florida through a competitive 7-year combined BS/MD program. He started his anesthesiology training at University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, TX and transitioned to the University of Florida where he graduated as a chief resident for the anesthesiology program. During training, Dr. Bengali earned multiple awards including Outstanding Senior Resident, Chair’s Award for Best Resident, and Outstanding Achievement in Pain Medicine.

“I enjoy having the opportunity to help get patients back to what they love doing and improving their pain so that they can enjoy life without having chronic pain be the focus of their life,” he said.

With the ever-expanding landscape of pain medicine treatments, Dr. Bengali is excited about several procedure advancements especially spinal cord stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation. He notes the technology has advanced to offer good options for patients suffering from nerve-related pain.

He is also excited about closed-loop spinal cord stimulation. Previous spinal cord stimulation technology only relied on patient feedback which relied on medical professionals to make manual changes to the device. “With closed-loop stimulation, the device receives feedback from the spinal cord itself and can make rapid changes to fine tune the stimulation,” Dr. Bengali said.

When working with patients, Dr. Bengali uses medication management as another tool available for patients to improve function and daily living. “Typically, I try to explain the risks, benefits, and alternatives of medications to help make an informed decision,” he said. “Often, we can improve pain and function with interventional techniques and avoid some of the side effects from medications. Our approach is that each treatment plan is individualized to a patient based on history, physical, and imaging.”

Dr. Bengali knows patient-centered care is an important aspect of pain management. “I like to emphasize a shared decision-making model when making a patient’s treatment plan,” he said. “With pain management, the goals of a treatment plan are always set by the patient and it is the physician’s job to help a patient towards that goal as much as possible. By informing a patient of what options they have, an individualized treatment plan can be made and constantly re-evaluated.”

Away from the office, Dr. Bengali can be found on the basketball or volleyball courts playing games with his friends and family. In the winter, he likes to ski.