Complex Regional Pain Syndrome & Spinal Cord Stim

Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

Joshua P Prager, MD, MS, is an internationally recognized expert in complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and neuromodulation, specializing in the implantation of devices in the nervous system to control pain and spasticity, including spinal cord stimulation. He manages an active ketamine infusion program and coordinates a comprehensive interdisciplinary functional pain rehabilitation program. A Harvard and Stanford-trained physician, Dr. Prager holds four board certifications: internal medicine, anesthesiology, subspecialty pain medicine, and pain medicine. He has held faculty positions at Harvard Medical School at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and at UCLA, where he served as director of the UCLA Pain Medicine Center. In the field of CRPS, Dr. Prager was elected to two consecutive two-year terms as chair of the CRPS group of the International Association for the Study of Pain, the largest organization of pain researchers and clinicians in the world. As chair he organized two international symposia on the diagnosis and treatment of CRPS the diagnostic criteria of the International Association for the study of pain for diagnosis of complex regional pain syndrome (otherwise known as the Budapest criteria) are the only statistically validated set of diagnostic criteria in the medical literature and therefore are used for diagnosing complex regional pain syndrome. DR. PRAGER IS RECOGNIZED FOR HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUDAPEST CRITERIA. He received three awards from organizations related to CRPS for his contributions to the field, and his patient care currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association RSDA, the largest patient organization dedicated to CRPS globally. Dr. Prager has lectured extensively on multiple continents and has authored numerous journal articles and textbook chapters in highly regarded peer-reviewed publications on various CRPS topics. Regarding spinal cord stimulation, Dr. Prager has published extensively on patient selection mechanisms and the use of spinal cord stimulation to treat various pain conditions, including CRPS. He was appointed by the governor of California to the medical evidence evaluation advisory committee, tasked with writing pain guidelines for injured workers in California. He is a founding member of the North American Neuromodulation Society, the society of physicians who implant devices to control pain and movement disorders. Dr. Prager served two elected terms as president of the society, and he received both the lifetime achievement award and distinguished service award for his contributions to neuromodulation. Additionally, he served for a decade as senior advisor to the executive board of the society throughout his career, and he has implanted over a thousand spinal cord stimulators from various manufacturers. 1/3 of his implant practice involves revising stimulator systems that were improperly functioning, implanted by other physicians. In the legal arena, Dr. Prager has been active for over 30 years serving as an expert for over 30 years, serving as an expert for the Attorney. Gen. of California is Dist. Attorney of the County of Los Angeles and the city attorneys of Los Angeles, Santa Monica Long Beach, among other municipalities. Helso provides expert services for numerous corporations and hotels. Qualified in federal court, he has testified in over a hundred depositions and at least 50 court proceedings on behalf of both plaintiff and defense. His expertise and credibility testimony have contributed to excellent outcomes in mediations and arbitrations. An avid pickleball player and windsurfer, Dr. Prager resides in Los Angeles with his three sons treasures his award from the House of Blues in Chicago for best performance by an amateur for his blues harmonica playing.