Nicole Chitnis, MD

Dr. Chitnis started her training in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation as well as Pain Medicine in the 70s at University of Washington, home to the world’s first multidisciplinary pain clinic, which opened in 1961 and became a world model for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain. This ignited her passion for pain management. During the next several years, while in private practice, she continued training in interventional pain procedures with various spine specialists around the country and also worked as the Co-Director of a Spine Clinic in Pacific Northwest.

After seeing the limitations of traditional medical approaches, in the 90’s, she went on to study numerous alternative/integrative medical modalities including acupuncture, manual medicine, cranio-sacral therapy, nutritional medicine, cognitive behavioral therapy etc. and incorporating them into her practice and this resulted in significantly improved outcomes. Instead of using strong medications such as opioids and steroids which helps temporarily, she was able to provide long-lasting pain relief using natural and safe modalities.

Her focus has always been on not just treating the injury, but treating “the whole patient”. She moved on to helping patients and athletes with wellness, prevention and peak performance. She worked with many professional as well as amateur athletes helping them with not just prevention and treatment of injuries but also to help them achieve peak performance. This included guidance regarding nutrition and stress management and other mind-body medicine techniques.

In 2001, she brought her unique approach to California and in 2005, Dr. Chitnis began working as a Qualified Medical Evaluator for the Division of Workers Compensation in the State of California.

Dr. Chitnis is a highly trained and experienced Physiatrist and is available for medicolegal evaluations throughout Central and Northern California. She is well known and highly respected in the QME world for her impartial medical opinions, her professionalism and delivery of timely reports.

Please refer to her website InjuredWorkerCA.org that she has created to educate the injured workers about chronic pain and provide them with self-care tools to enhance their pain management, thus improving their quality of life.