Living The Red Life - Founder of Elite Pain Doctors: Ending Chronic Pain Without Opioids

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

David Segraves is the founder of Elite Pain Doctors, an interventional pain management group that provides non-opioid solutions for chronic pain sufferers.. Growing up in an Indiana town crippled by the opioid epidemic, David shares his personal struggles and subsequent triumph in creating a business model dedicated to offering non-opioid pain relief. Through strategic partnerships with medical experts and leveraging imaging technology, Elite Pain Doctors provide sustainable solutions for patients.The discussion extends to explore the sociocultural and economic factors contributing to the pervasive opioid crisis, particularly in the Midwest. David describes the systemic issues within the pharmaceutical industry and emphasizes his approach of radical transparency in patient care. His story is a testament to resilience and innovation in healthcare, as he expands his business model nationwide to tackle opioid dependency. Furthermore, David touches on the unique interdisciplinary nature of his practice, combining various healthcare professionals to ensure comprehensive pain management.Key Takeaways:Transformative Business Model: Elite Pain Doctors emphasize non-opioid pain relief solutions, making significant strides in chronic pain management.From Personal Struggle to Solution Provider: David's journey from an opioid-affected community to a healthcare innovator shows resilience and determination.Nationwide Expansion: Plans are in place to grow the model nationally, advocating for policy changes to support innovative pain management techniques.Interdisciplinary Approach: The incorporation of diverse medical professionals ensures holistic patient care and improved outcomes.Advocacy and Transparency: Radical transparency in interactions and educating patients on their treatment options is pivotal for patient empowerment and trust.Notable Quotes:"We're changing lives that way. We find exactly what is wrong with the person and then do a procedure to get them out of pain.""I grew up in a small town, Indiana, that was very much affected by the opioid epidemic and had my own struggles with that.""The community I grew up in is what I would say, we used to joke about our high school and call it the pharmacy.""It's a terrible situation, and when you get into those situations, it's gone so far.""We're taking this thing nationwide...a model that should be adopted by every state, especially the ones that had opioid epidemics."Connect with David Segraves:WebsiteInstagramElite Pain DoctorsConnect with Rudy Mawer:LinkedInInstagramFacebookTwitter

I came up in a small town, Indiana that was very much affected by the opioid epidemic. Oh, boy. I had my own struggles with that, and a lot of my friends and family did. And so I came from that, and now we're providing solutions to people to get them out of pain without the use of opiates that are actually more effective, better for the patient long term, and actually more profitable for your doctor. From four staff to 250 employees, wow, 5,000 awards. We're changing lives that way. We're actually able to go in with imaging and fluoroscopy and x-ray and MRI, go and find exactly what is wrong with a person, and then do a procedure to get them out of pain and create

a rehab window so that they're out of pain and then they can get the rehab that they need. It's fun when you're jumping into the addiction and you're always flying high, but then when you want to pull out and live this reality, it's far terrible. We're never like the first stop for these people, unfortunately. We're like the last stop. Wow. We're the stop before they go home and, you know, decide to do something. My name's Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Life podcast,

and I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week. If you're ready to start living the Red Life, ditch the Blue Pill, take the Red Pill, join me in Wonderland and change your life. Welcome back to another episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast, the Red Life Edition. Joining me today is another amazing legacy maker, David Seagraves. First of all, what an amazing names. You've been walking around live being called David Seagraibames. That's true.

God damn it. That's awesome. How are you, Bubba? I'm doing great. I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. Oh, for sure. Our pleasure.

You literally just finished filming your episode for Legacy Makers. How do you feel? That was awesome. It was very cool. You guys have a very professional team, and I really appreciate how smooth it was and making me comfortable and feeling good in front of a camera because that's not something I'm totally used to. Right on.

You should be on camera more often, sir? I agree. You clean well, very well. Thank you. What will we learn about you on your episode? You're going to learn about where I came from, very humble beginnings, and actually some pretty serious trials. You know, I came up in a small town, Indiana that was very much affected by the opioid epidemic. Oh, boy.

I have my own struggles with that, and a lot of my friends and family did. And so I came from that, and now we're providing solutions to people to get them out of pain without the use of opiates that are actually more effective. better for the patient long-term and actually more profitable for your doctor. Yeah, I always go to that movie, oh man, with Jared Leto, and it's the terrible movie with

Rec Room for a Dream. Every time I think of drug addiction, I always think of that film because it's fun when you're jumping into the addiction and you're always flying high, but then when you want to pull out and live this reality, it's far terrible because I'm sure you can talk about it. It's when you're releasing

that toxin from your body, something your body's so used to and it's no longer there it's quite a painful journey it's brutal yeah absolutely brutal and you know i did it um there's different ways to go about that you know obviously everybody has their own path and for me it was cold turkey and um that was a brutal experience and then you're very much as soon as you're through the the physical withdrawals there's the emotional oh yeah aspect of it and there's really dealing with is what i find and and this is with other people that I've talked to that have gone through the same kind of struggles, is you find that you were doing something to replace confronting your problems or your life.

And so instead of maybe dealing with something that's hard, you did this other thing. And now when you don't have that other thing as a crutch, now you got to re-deal with all the hard things that you were avoiding. And so that's its own journey as well. do you find this journey to be common among men versus women or is it very equal among the you know very equal especially where i'm from i mean it was just so widespread you know that area of the country specifically there was a lot of car companies and car manufacturing that's on ohio indiana all very similar and all that manufacturing at a certain point left the country for cheaper labor yeah so when that happened the people didn't necessarily leave so then they were left without a job and if that population stays

what do they turn to? Well, they turn to drugs to cope with their problems, and then they turn to it to handle money, you know, and have an income source. And then it just compiles. And I've absolutely seen the destruction of my hometown. Well, and to the point where we now have Netflix episodes and things like that on drugs, Inc.

And, you know, it's not, it's not pretty. So it's not, and someone's making money off of that pain. And it's the cycle continues. Billions and billions of dollars. You wouldn't believe how much. advertising dollars, these drug companies have spent selling that to you and selling it really not just to the end user, but also to the doctors, that then you are supposed to trust and then they sell it to their patients. And we do get into the episode on breaking down why that is

a systemic problem. Because there's some things that we're trying to do. And on our team, we're very much about radical transparency. Everything that we do, we make sure that the patient is informed. We make sure that it is, we found the source of the problem. and we're addressing that. And so changing lives, really are. How are you changing lives? How hands-on are you? Is it essentially an intervention?

Is it a Zoom call? What's the level of interference here? So we deal with people that are suffering from chronic pain. So a lot of people, especially baby boomers this day and age, are suffering with diabetes. It's a growing issue for that era because they grew up on ultra-processed food. Yep. They grew up on the fast food era. So there was all kinds of, like, media all the time pumping that this was a good thing.

and a convenient. They also had, you know, the commercials where they're smoking cigarettes, and that was, you know, advertised as healthy and cool. I just did my second watch of Mad Men, so I'm very familiar. All right.

So that's that era. Well, they're all suffering now. And they're diabetic and they're overweight. Sorry, Don Draper R.R.P. Don Draper's like up to here. Like, oh, what am I up to my life? So we deal with a lot of older patients that are now suffering with neuropathy

because of diabetes were because they've had cancer or other complications. So they're in chronic pain. So a lot of times these guys, we're never like the first stop for these people, unfortunately. We're like the last stop. Wow. We're the stop before they go home and, you know,

decide to do something horrible. And it's like far more permanent. We're changing lives that way. We're actually able to go in with imaging and fluoroscopy and x-ray and MRI, go in, find exactly what is wrong with a person, and then do a procedure to get the, them out of pain and create a rehab window so that they're out of pain and then they can get the rehab that they need. So they're not suffering. So that is what we're doing. And it is pretty

miraculous in how we're going about that. I love how you're framing these moments of some folks don't go into these interventions because they're thinking, oh, someone's going to give me a hug and take some notes. No, you're packaging it. You're making it feel real like it's a substantial thing. Talk about that process and about you built this curriculum. Absolutely. So basically, you know, over time, so I grew up in a family full of doctors and physicians. And so I went to business school. I did not want to go that route, but I still came back to, at the end of the day, I want to help people.

And though we're not doing necessarily drug rehab, what we are doing is providing a solution to get people off of the medication. So they get out of pain. doing the procedures and they're able to then start weaning down and getting back to the life that they really want to live, which I think is important and that's, you know, nobody wants to be miserable. And I can tell you

horror stories about some of these people with neuropathy. They can't feel their feet. Oh, boy. They can't tell the difference at a certain point between the gas pedal and the brake. Wow. So they end up a lot of times you'll hear about somebody, well, somebody drove through the restaurant that they were trying to park at or we've even had events

where somebody went through a glass window at the event because they couldn't feel the difference. And when you- My grandma passed out on the highway because she was diabetic and she was just, and if it wasn't for the almighty Lord, she would have struck someone. Right. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, it's a terrible situation. And when you get into those situations, it's gone so far, they start to lose their independence because they're going to lose their license.

And that is devastating to our older population. And so trying to provide a solution that gets them out of pain, gets them back to living, the rest of their years at the highest possible level. So what's next for you after you leave Miami? Like, what's your next big step? We're continuing to expand and grow. We're taking this thing nationwide. Right on.

And basically, we've got a model that I do believe will be adopted by the pain industry in full once these doctors really believe in seeing it. We're already in multiple states. And that is continuing to grow without giving away too much strategy. Right on. But we are taking it. nationwide. And this is a model that should be adopted by every state, especially the ones that had opioid epidemics, because it should be more profitable for the state as well. You've got

these Medicaid programs and things like that. And unfortunately, a lot of times those programs in only a handful of states really cover the procedures that we do. But when they do cover them, we get better results. And we don't end up with addicts. And so that's, what needs to change. And so I'm really trying to expand that nationwide. I'm trying to spread the message through a podcast that we launched as well, called Edison Uncensored, where we're interviewing doctors and interviewing experts. And you really, I think it's important that people get to know their physicians on a personal level.

And we see that we get better results when somebody actually connects with their doctors. And that's what we're trying to do. It's funny because of the age of social media, there's a level of like transparency, authenticity. And there's also like a level of being a gypsy. You're faking it. But as that generation, our generation just grows older and wiser, we want more transparency. We want to know more. We don't want to be told, here's how this works.

I'm like, no, why, but why, but why? I think that's actually a but why. That actually asks the question, like, but why? So I'd love to know, how does, I got to go back, you mentioned a family of doctors. How does one, and you mentioned a moment of your addiction with opioids, how does someone come from family doctors and still find a path into opioids. Community that I grew up in is what I would say. You know, I grew up in a very odd place.

And it is when I went to school, we used to joke about our high school and call it the pharmacy. Wow. Because you could literally go in there and get any kind of pills. Somebody had pain pills. Somebody had muscle relaxers. Somebody had Xanax, et cetera, so on. And so that was how we grew up from an early age. And people were doing it because they came from nothing and they were poor.

and they had to make money. And so that's how they went about it. And so, you know, I do think that people, to a large degree, can end up becoming a product of their environment. Luckily, I got out of that. Unfortunately, it has destroyed so many lives in that community and others just like it all across the Midwest. So I'm just going to ask you, point blank, elite pain doctors.

What is it? Just give me the pitch. And then I'm going to go through, pull some questions from your actual script that we use for your interview because I love some folks if you're watching this part of the format to get to know more of your journey. Elite pain doctors. We're an interventional pain group that gets people out of pain without the use of opioids. Fantastic.

So from four staff to 250 employees, wow. 5,000 awards. I'm sorry, can you name of some of your milestones? Yeah, absolutely. So I started this thing in 2018 when I simultaneously started it while I was helping my father sell his clinics off. private equity sale. And so started this clinic with a totally different vision. We were delivering all elective procedures, regenerative medicine, very cutting edge stuff. It has evolved further to where we can service many more patients and a more insurance-based model that is still providing

minimally invasive procedures. And we've grown, grown, grown. In 2020, we exploded. We went from one location to three. And in 2023, we added the interventional pain component to where now we've added in double board certified pain specialists and anesthesiologists. Wow. Really expanded our scope of what we can treat in terms of pain. This is real, huh? This is the real deal. Absolutely.

And like I said, we're in multiple states now, and that is going to continue to grow. And I'm in touch with legislators and senators and things like that and trying to make some movement on some policy changes across the country. Are you the only person in this space, or is a lot of folks kind of fighting for top of the hill here for the solution of fighting against opioids. Are you the only person in this space? I'm the only person in this area that has brought together double board certified pain specialist and anesthesiologists with chiropractors, massage, PT, nurse practitioners, PA's on and on. And so we treat a whole wide range of anything pain.

David, I got to ask if someone makes a Netflix special about you, is that a good thing or a bad thing? we'll find out man it was such a pleasure to meet you and talk to you but I hope you had an amazing experience here at Insight Success how can people find you and follow your journey

you can find us at elite pain doctors or excuse me elite doctor.com you can also find me at medicine dot uncensored on Instagram medicine dot uncensored great name David Seagraves such a pleasure my friend

that concludes another episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast the Red Life Edition for Insight Success I am Ray Gutierrez.