About Us

Our goal is to help you feel better so you can live better.

Our Mission

Spine & Pain Associates, PLLC is committed to providing compassionate care to patients suffering from chronic or acute pain. We strive to provide the best diagnostic services and to offer a comprehensive range of non-surgical treatment options that support the highly personalized pain management plans we develop for our patients.

Co-founders Dr. Bhat and Dr. Dhaliwal are experts in pain management who can deploy a broad spectrum of treatment services to improve patients’ quality of life. In addition to the wide variety of treatment options they personally administer, the doctors devise treatment plans that may include other modalities (physical therapy, chiropractic care, acupuncture, massage, behavioral health and more) as needed to provide pain relief to patients as quickly as possible. By maintaining a network of allied specialists, Spine & Pain Associates is able to define comprehensive, personalized pain treatment plans that are focused on the patient rather than on the convenience for the practice.

Our staff shares our compassion to treat. You will notice the difference on all your visits. At Spine & Pain Associates, PLLC, our mission is to provide the high level of exceptional care that we would want for our own family members.

Dr. Jasbir Dhaliwal

Co-founder Jasbir Dhaliwal, MD is a double board-certified and fellowship-trained interventional pain medicine physician. While his medical training and experience included surgical skills, he opted to specialize in non-surgical approaches to patient rehabilitation and pain management. As a fellowship-trained interventional pain specialist, his philosophy is to use the most innovative techniques to deliver quality pain management. Dr. Dhaliwal is dedicated to the comprehensive care and treatment of acute and chronic pain including arthritic, spinal and nerve pain and many other conditions. His breadth of medical training serves him well in determining the most appropriate types of treatment (rehabilitative, medication, surgical) for each patient.

Dr. Dhaliwal graduated from State University of New York at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and Biochemical Pharmacology. After receiving his medical degree at Ross University School of Medicine he completed a year of General Surgery internship at Albert Einstein School of Medicine in the Bronx. He completed a residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at SUNY Upstate Medical Hospital in Syracuse, New York where he served as Chief Resident during his final year of residency. After residency, Dr. Dhaliwal completed a one-year ACGME accredited pain management fellowship with the Department of Anesthesiology at SUNY Upstate Medical Hospital in Syracuse, NY.

Dr. Dhaliwal is a member of American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Spine Intervention Society, American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians and North American Neuromodulation Society.

Leisure interests include spending time with his wife and two sons as well as playing basketball and golf.

Dr. Dhaliwal performs kyphoplasty/vertebral augmentation, fluoroscopically-guided epidural steroid injections, facet and sacroiliac joint injections, medial branch blocks, radiofrequency ablation, spinal cord stimulator trials, peripheral joint and trigger point injections, peripheral nerve blocks, sympathetic ganglion blocks, ultrasound guided nerve and joint injections, prolotherapy, BOTOX injections, EMGs and independent medical exams.

Dr. Krishna Bhat

Co-founder Krishna Bhat, MD is dedicated to providing compassionate care to those in acute and/or chronic pain caused by a variety of conditions. He has been in private practice and board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation since 2006. With his open communication style, Dr. Bhat both informs and makes patients comfortable with the personalized treatment plans he develops. His communication skills and experience have also aided the practice in establishing its strong network of allied healthcare professionals (physical therapists, chiropractors, massage therapists, acupuncturists, etc.) that are often included in the comprehensive treatment plans he develops for patients. He enjoys sharing his experiences and knowledge of pain management with office colleagues as well as patients. He enthusiastically represents the practice at medical events and health fairs.

Dr. Bhat graduated from University of California, Davis in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences. He completed medical school at the American University of the Caribbean in 2001. During his final year of residency in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, he served as the Chief Resident for the program. He was instrumental in advancing the training program for the residents and thrived in his mentorship role.

Dr. Bhat is an active member of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Pain Society of the Carolinas, Spine Intervention Society and American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine.

Leisure interests include traveling, spending time with his family and young daughters and playing golf, basketball and billiards.

Dr. Bhat performs fluoroscopically-guided epidural injections, facet and sacroiliac joint injections, medial branch blocks, radiofrequency ablation, sympathetic nerve blocks, spinal cord stimulation trials, peripheral joint and trigger point injections, BOTOX injections, EMGs and independent medical exams.

Dusty Graham, MSN, FNP-BC

Dusty Graham, MSN, FNP-BC, is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner at Spine and Pain Associates.  She began working at Spine & Pain Associates in May 2019.  She is managing patients with the same philosophy and passion as the owners/physicians of the practice.  Before becoming a family nurse practitioner, she was a critical care nurse working in the Med-Neuro intensive care unit at Moore Regional Hospital for over eleven years and before that in the cardiac critical units at the Eastern Carolina Heart Institute for more than two years.

She initially attended Sandhills Community College and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, pursuing a degree in Applied Social Sciences and Psychology. Dusty then pursued her interest in Nursing Science, graduating with honors with her: Associate at College of the Albemarle in 2006, Bachelor at Winston-Salem State University in 2015, and masters at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, as a Family Nurse Practitioner. She completed all her education while working full-time as a nursing assistant during her associate degree and as a critical care nurse in the intensive care unit.

Dusty is an active member of several professional organizations, including the American College of Nurse Practitioners, North Carolina Nurses Association, and was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau, the International Honor Society of Nursing.

Dusty, her husband, Ansol, and their three children, son Avery and twins, son, Justus, and daughter Journey, reside in Seven Lakes, North Carolina. In addition to caring for her patients with passion, she also enjoys traveling and spending time with her family, being at the lake, kayaking, drawing, painting, gardening, cooking, reading, and learning.