Kayvan Haddadan is a physiatrist and pain management physician, and president and medical director of Advanced Pain Diagnostic & Solutions, a multidisciplinary pain management practice in California that he founded in 2012. A physician and surgeon licensed by the Medical Board of California, he is double board-certified in pain medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation. He is also certified in controlled substance registration through the DEA and serves as a qualified medical examiner through California’s Department of Industrial Relations Division of Workers' Compensation.
Dr. Haddadan earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Alborz in Tehran, Iran, and his medical degree from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. He later received his Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates certification in Philadelphia, completed an internship in medical surgery at Loyola University Medical Center’s Stritch School of Medicine in Illinois, and finished his residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the same institution. He completed his fellowship in pain medicine at California Pacific Medical Center’s Pacific Pain Treatment Center and also trained in medical acupuncture for physicians at the University of California, Los Angeles David Geffen School of Medicine.
Dr. Haddadan has contributed to 29 research publications across multiple specialties, including pain management, cardiology, pulmonology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, and infectious disease. His work has examined topics such as hyperlipidemia in high cardiovascular risk patients, hyperuricemia and gout management, type 2 diabetes and hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma therapies, influenza treatment, irritable bowel syndrome, and opioid related complications in chronic pain care. His research has also included clinical outcome studies in spinal cord stimulation and award-winning presentations on neuropathic pain management and neuromuscular disorders.
As a practicing physician who also specializes in caring for patients injured in motor vehicle accidents, I’ve seen firsthand how complex and emotionally charged these situations can be. Over the years, I’ve treated people with devastating, life-changing injuries from crashes, as well as those with subtler but still very real problems like persistent pain, spinal issues, or concussions that develop over time. At the same time, I’ve witnessed the intricate …
Read more…
Uber’s personal injury lawsuits split doctors and lawyers
As California gears up for its gubernatorial primaries and debates, the familiar issues dominate the conversation: housing affordability, crime, taxes, and economic pressures. Health care surfaces, but rarely as a central priority with concrete, actionable solutions. Candidates offer broad strokes on affordability or protecting programs from federal changes, yet the crushing realities of escalating costs, physician shortages, regulatory burdens, and a system skewed against preventive, relationship-centered care receive little more …
Read more…
California’s governor race is missing a health care plan
As a pain physician treating injured workers daily as well as being a qualified medical examiner (QME) or Independent Medical Examiner (IME) providing independent opinions, and a business owner cutting checks for workers’ comp premiums, I see the system’s strengths and serious strains up close. It started with good intentions: a no-fault safety net, so workers get care and some income if they’re hurt on the job, without dragging employers …
Read more…
How workers compensation reform can cut litigation costs
As a practicing pain management physician in good standing in California, I’ve observed how accusations against physicians are actively encouraged, while meaningful accountability for false or exaggerated claims is largely ignored. This creates a system that rewards a “throw mud until something sticks” strategy for financial gain by patients, insurers, and other parties. This is precisely why I wrote the book Legal Mind in Medicine to highlight the legal …
Read more…
Doctors leave California over a tilted legal system
As a physician who has spent years managing patients with persistent pain, I often encounter the same frustrating cycle. A patient arrives with unrelenting back pain that has lasted for months. They describe not just physical discomfort but a deepening sense of hopelessness, fatigue, and withdrawal from life. Is the pain causing the depression, or did underlying depressive symptoms amplify an initially manageable ache into something chronic and debilitating? It …
Read more…
How to treat chronic pain and depression together
The 2016 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, aggressively promoted by former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price and CDC Director Tom Frieden, represents one of the most damaging public health missteps in recent U.S. history. Far from curbing the overdose epidemic, CDC guidelines triggered widespread, preventable suffering among legitimate chronic pain patients while leaving illicit fentanyl, the true driver …
Read more…
How CDC opioid guidelines harmed chronic pain patients
As a pain management specialist, I see patients every week who feel like they have tried nearly everything. They come to me after months, or even years, of battling chronic or refractory headaches. Their primary care doctor and neurologist have already walked them through the usual first-line options, yet the pain keeps coming back relentlessly. It steals their focus, disrupts their sleep, and robs them of the simple joys in …
Read more…
How pain management solves a refractory headache
You trained for years to become a physician so you could heal people. Yet every day, you find yourself fighting the very system that is supposed to support you. A patient presents with classic symptoms warranting a specific imaging study, medication, or procedure. You know what they need. The evidence is clear. But instead of moving forward with care, you are forced into a gauntlet of prior authorizations, peer-to-peer reviews, …
Read more…
Administrative burden is driving severe physician burnout
Knee osteoarthritis (OA) remains a leading cause of chronic pain and reduced mobility, affecting millions of adults worldwide, particularly those over age 50. As cartilage deteriorates and inflammation increases, patients often face pain, stiffness, swelling, and limitations in daily activities. Although no cure exists, a structured, escalating treatment plan can significantly alleviate symptoms, preserve function, delay disease progression, and help many individuals avoid or postpone surgery. Current guidelines from the …
Read more…
Knee osteoarthritis demands layered pain management
If you have nagging pain deep in your lower back or one buttock that never seems to settle, you are not alone. Many people chase answers through discs, nerves, or muscles, yet the real source turns out to be the sacroiliac (SI) joint. This connection between the base of your spine and your pelvis is built for stability with just a hint of motion. When it becomes irritated or unstable, …
Read more…
How to treat sacroiliac joint pain effectively today
Imagine a 54-year-old construction worker named Mike living with debilitating chronic lower back pain after years on the job. His doctor recommends a targeted epidural steroid injection and a short course of physical therapy combined with a non-opioid medication that has helped many patients in similar situations regain function and avoid surgery. But the insurance company says no. First, Mike must try cheaper generic pain pills that barely touch his …
Read more…
How prior authorization and step therapy harm pain management
Picture this. You finish another long day caring for patients who need you. You head home exhausted but fulfilled. Then the worry creeps in. Will another complaint land on your desk tomorrow? Will your take-home pay cover the mortgage in this state? You love California. You trained here. You built your life here. Yet more and more of us are scanning job postings in Texas, Florida, or Arizona, not because …
Read more…
How high taxes and the California Medical Board fuel the physician shortage
As a physician who treats people with chronic pain, stress-related illnesses, and the lasting physical effects of emotional trauma, I have begun seeing a deeply troubling pattern in my exam room. Parents arrive exhausted, anxious, and physically unwell. Their symptoms rarely come from one obvious injury or disease. Instead, they stem from an ongoing emotional battle taking place right inside their own homes: their teenager’s struggle with online gambling addiction. …
Read more…
The hidden health crisis of teenage online gambling
In the thick of the opioid epidemic, there is this widespread fear called “opiophobia,” which basically means people, including patients and doctors, are scared to use opioids even when they are really needed for serious medical issues. This fear comes from the idea that even a short stint on opioids for acute pain, like after surgery, often leads to addiction or worse. John A. Bumpus’s 2025 review in ACS Pharmacology …
Read more…
The truth about short-term opioid prescribing and opioid use disorder
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) continues to be a solid option for people dealing with chronic pain that just will not budge with the usual approaches like medications, physical therapy, or injections. It is a minimally invasive way to deliver low-level electrical pulses through electrodes placed in the epidural space near the spinal cord, helping to change how pain signals reach the brain and often providing relief in areas like the …
Read more…
How spinal cord stimulation offers relief for chronic pain
The real magic in chronic pain care isn’t just the pills or the procedures, but it’s the connection between doctor and patient. When a physician shows genuine empathy and truly listens, patients feel seen, trust deepens, and outcomes improve in ways that often outshine standard treatments. Take this striking study: Among more than 1,400 people with chronic low back pain, those cared for by highly empathic doctors ended up with …
Read more…
Why patient-centered care transforms chronic pain management
A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Westlaw, LexisNexis) and gray literature were searched from January 2010 to November 2025 using terms related to medical board discipline, pain management, and overreach. Eligibility included studies, legal cases, and reports on disciplinary actions, due process violations, or consequences for physicians/patients.
Findings of 1,847 records, 42 were included (28 journal articles, eight legal cases, six reports). Key abusive …
Read more…
How punitive board tactics are harming pain management physicians
As a pain physician with over 20 years of experience treating patients with chronic pain, I hear the same plea almost every day: “Doctor, it hurts, please help.”
As an author and patient advocate, I wanted to verbalize the daily reality of chronic pain.
Chronic pain affects an estimated 24.3 percent of U.S. adults (approximately 60 million people) as of 2023, with 8.5 percent (about 21 million) experiencing high-impact chronic pain that …
Read more…
Chronic pain management: Balancing relief and regulation
In Northern California and beyond, health care systems are rapidly integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools to transform how pain is recognized, measured, and managed. From algorithm-guided assessments to wearable sensors and predictive analytics, these tools promise to augment clinical decision-making and improve patient outcomes. Yet significant controversies remain, including concerns over algorithmic accuracy, bias, data privacy, and the extent to which technology should complement or potentially displace human …
Read more…
AI in pain assessment: Balancing innovation with patient safety
As a pain physician, I spend my career advocating for patients who struggle to access appropriate pain management. I write often on hurdles like restrictive opioid policy, excessive regulatory scrutiny, prior authorization, and administrative burdens that detract from patient care. Yet nothing prepared me for the visceral reality of being the patient on the other side of the system.
From physician advocate to patient in the system
My recent experience, unrelated to …
Read more…
Why doctors struggle with health care system delays
