Patrick Joseph Polsunas, MD
Dr. Polsunas took a nontraditional path to his career in medicine. Looking to ease the aches and pains accumulated over years of participating in a variety of adventure sports, he discovered the practice of yoga, a passion for which led him to become a yoga teacher. In that role, he was privileged to watch people work through a variety of musculoskeletal and psychosocial ailments. It did not take long to realize that he wished to be more fully able to help people achieve their goals and a better quality of life as a physician.
Dr. Polsunas completed his undergraduate studies at Arizona State University and earned his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. While there, he worked to deepen his understanding of the musculoskeletal system, receiving an NIH T35 grant to study complementary and alternative medicine, authoring a publication on sacroiliac joint dysfunction, and studying range of motion in the cervical spine during yoga postures using positional sensors.
Dr. Polsunas completed his residency in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and continued with the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine for a fellowship in Interventional Pain Management. During his postgraduate training, he continued to publish academic work, worked on patient safety quality improvement projects, and gave dozens of lectures on a wide variety of topics in these fields, while developing and refining his skills in interventional pain management and musculoskeletal medicine. Dr. Polsunas prioritizes an evidence-based approach to care, recognizing that the most effective way to help patients with their pain is often multifaceted. He works to partner with patients to understand their goals and help develop and facilitate a plan to achieve those goals.
A native New Yorker, Dr. Polsunas has lived throughout the United States. He enjoys traveling, taking long distance bicycling trips, hiking, and discovering new food with his wife.
