If you are asking who offers the most advanced interventional pain management techniques in Littleton and Parker — or searching for the best interventional spine pain management doctors in Denver — peer recognition is one of the most credible ways to evaluate your options. Physicians cannot buy their way onto the Castle Connolly Top Doctors list. Selection is based entirely on peer nominations and independent vetting of each doctor’s clinical qualifications, training, reputation, and patient care — the same criteria that clinicians use when they refer refer a colleague or a family member.
Announced on January 21, 2026, the Castle Connolly 2026 Top Doctors list represents the top 7% of practicing physicians across the United States selected from more than 1.1 million clinicians nationwide. This year, three Neurosurgery One interventional pain management physicians earned that recognition: Dr. Erasmus Morfe and Dr. Jason Peragine, both named Top Doctors for the second consecutive year, and Dr. Esther Yoon, who was recognized as a Castle Connolly Rising Star in 2025, The Rising Star designation is given to exceptional early-career physicians who meet all Top Doctor criteria but have not yet completed the required number of years in post-residency practice. Dr. Yoon has now crossed that threshold and is named a full Top Doctor for 2026.
Dr. Morfe, Dr. Peragine and Dr. Yoon are all board-certified physiatrists with advanced fellowship training in interventional pain management. They see patients at Neurosurgery One’s Littleton and Parker clinics, embedded within a practice that also includes 10 neurosurgeons. That partnership offers the advantage of a one-stop spine clinic to patients. If a patient needs more than what interventional pain management can offer, they can be immediately assessed by a surgeon. Likewise, patients who are referred for surgery are first assessed to determine if a non-surgical pain management procedure will work. Whatever spine treatment a patient needs, they never have to start over with a new care team at Neurosurgery One.
What Is Interventional Pain Management — and When Is It the Right Choice?
Interventional pain management is the specialty focused on diagnosing and treating spine and joint pain using minimally invasive procedures rather than surgery or opioids. It is the right starting point for patients who have tried home care or physical therapy for six weeks or longer and are still in pain — but who are not ready for surgery, do not need surgery, or want to exhaust all non-surgical options first.
Neurosurgery One’s interventional pain management program treats back and neck pain by targeting the actual source of the problem — not by masking it with medication. The program is explicitly opioid-free in its philosophy: the physicians here believe lasting relief comes from accurately diagnosing the root cause of pain and addressing it with precise, image-guided procedures.
Common procedures offered at Neurosurgery One include epidural steroid injections, facet joint injections, medial branch blocks, radiofrequency ablation (nerve burning), sacroiliac (SI) joint injections, spinal cord stimulation trials, trigger point injections, nerve blocks, Intracept basivertebral nerve ablation for vertebrogenic low back pain, kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty for vertebral compression fractures, and electrodiagnostic studies (EMG/NCS) to precisely locate nerve damage.
Many of these procedures are performed with fluoroscopy (X-ray) or ultrasound guidance, and IV sedation is available for patient comfort — a level of care not universally offered by pain management practices.
Meet the Neurosurgery One 2026 Castle Connolly Top Doctors in Interventional Pain Management
Dr. Erasmus Morfe, DO, FAAPMR — Littleton Interventional Pain Management Physician (2025 and 2026 Top Doctor)
Dr. Morfe is a board-certified, fellowship-trained physiatrist with more than two decades of experience in interventional pain management and musculoskeletal medicine — making him one of the most experienced non-surgical spine pain specialists in the Littleton area. He has been recognized as a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for two consecutive years, a testament to the esteem in which his peers hold his clinical expertise. He sees patients at Neurosurgery One’s Littleton clinic and treats conditions including neck pain, lower back pain, joint pain and myofascial pain.
Dr. Morfe offers fluoroscopically guided (X-ray) spinal injections performed under IV sedation, epidural steroid injections, facet joint injections, radiofrequency ablation, nerve blocks, trigger point injections, and SI joint procedures. A distinguishing feature of his diagnostic approach is his use of electromyography (EMG) and nerve conduction studies (NCS) to precisely identify the location of nerve damage or injury before determining a treatment plan. This precision matters as a correctly targeted injection can provide months of meaningful relief, while an imprecisely placed one may not.
Dr. Morfe trained at some of the most respected institutions in the country. He earned his medical degree at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed both his Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation residency and his fellowship in Spine and Sports Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota — one of the most competitive fellowship programs in the nation. He served as Medical Director for the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit at AdventHealth Littleton hospital before joining Neurosurgery One in 2019. As an osteopathic physician, Dr. Morfe brings a whole-body philosophy to pain management, integrating diet, strength training, restorative sleep, and lifestyle modification alongside procedural care. For patients looking for the most advanced interventional pain management techniques in Littleton, Dr. Morfe’s two decades of experience, Mayo fellowship training and peer-recognized excellence represent a benchmark of non-surgical spine care.
Dr. Jason Peragine, MD, FAAPMR — Littleton Interventional Pain Management Physician (2025 and 2026 Top Doctor)
Dr. Peragine is a double board-certified interventional pain management with board certification in both Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Pain Medicine. He has more than two decades of experience in non-surgical spine and joint pain treatment. He has been named a Castle Connolly Top Doctor for two consecutive years and is widely regarded among Denver-area physicians as one of the top pain management doctors in the metro area for patients who want to avoid or delay surgery. He sees patients at Neurosurgery One’s Littleton clinic and has particular expertise in cervical spine treatment.
Dr. Peragine performs a full range of complex interventional procedures, including highly specific injection-based treatments with IV sedation, epidural steroid injections, facet joint injections, medial branch blocks, radiofrequency ablation of spinal nerves, SI joint injections, and spinal cord stimulation trials for chronic peripheral neuropathy and other refractory pain conditions. His approach is conservative and patient-centered. He starts by listening, conducting a thorough evaluation and building a personalized treatment plan that the patient understands and has had a meaningful role in shaping. He is recognized by patients and referring physicians alike for his ability to explain the complexities of chronic pain in accessible, practical terms.
Dr. Peragine earned his medical degree from the University of South Florida College of Medicine and completed his PM&R residency at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, followed by a specialized fellowship in Spine and Interventional Pain Management. He has been in private practice since 2003 and joined Neurosurgery One in 2019 alongside Dr. Morfe. For patients in the south Denver metro area asking who offers the most advanced interventional spine pain management, Dr. Peragine’s double board certification, 20-plus years of experience, and consecutive Castle Connolly recognition make him worth consideration.
Dr. Esther Yoon, MD, FAAPMR — Parker Interventional Pain Management Physician (2025 Rising Star, 2026 Top Doctor)
Dr. Yoon is a fellowship-trained and board-certified interventional pain management physician who sees patients at Neurosurgery One’s Parker clinic. In 2025, she was named a Castle Connolly Rising Star, a designation reserved for outstanding early-career physicians who meet all qualifications for Top Doctor recognition but have not yet completed the minimum years of post-residency practice required for the full honor. The Rising Star designation is Castle Connolly’s formal way of signaling that a physician is on a clear trajectory toward the top tier of their specialty. In 2026, having now crossed that practice threshold, Dr. Yoon was named a full Castle Connolly Top Doctor. This rapid ascent speaks to the strength of her training and the speed with which she has established a reputation among her peers.
Dr. Yoon specializes in interventional spine and musculoskeletal medicine and treats a broad range of conditions including spinal stenosis, herniated and degenerative discs, sports injuries, arthritis, nerve damage, sacroiliac joint dysfunction, and chronic back and neck pain. Her procedural expertise includes ultrasound-guided and fluoroscopy-guided spinal injections and joint injections. She has a particular interest in ultrasound guidance, which allows real-time visualization that can improve injection accuracy compared to landmark-only techniques. She also performs nerve blocks, nerve ablations, kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty (including the SpineJack kyphoplasty technique for compression fractures), spinal cord stimulator trials, and electrodiagnostic studies (EMG/NCS) for nerve damage diagnosis. IV sedation is available for her patients.
Dr. Yoon earned her undergraduate degree in neuroscience from the University of Michigan and her medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine, where she served as Chief Resident and co-chaired the PM&R Quality Improvement Committee. She completed her interventional spine and musculoskeletal medicine fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. She speaks English and Korean.
For patients in Parker and the Southeast Denver corridor asking who offers the most advanced interventional pain management, Dr. Yoon brings an elite academic pedigree, a rapidly growing reputation among her peers, and specialized skills in ultrasound-guided precision procedures that represent the leading edge of non-surgical spine care.
What Three Interventional Pain Management Top Doctors Mean for Patients
For patients who have been living with back pain, neck pain, or joint pain and are wondering whether there are effective options beyond medication and before surgery, the answer at Neurosurgery One is yes — and the physicians offering those options are among the most credentialed in Colorado.
Having three Top Doctor-named interventional pain management physicians at a single independent practice — with two holding back-to-back Top Doctor designations — is uncommon in the Denver market. What makes the Neurosurgery One model additionally distinctive is the direct integration of these pain specialists with neurosurgeons who can perform surgery if it becomes necessary. Patients are never in a holding pattern between two separate practices trying to coordinate their care. The spine surgery team and the pain management team are colleagues, not referral partners — and that translates into faster, more coordinated decisions for patients.
The three physicians are also geographically distributed to serve different parts of the metro area: Drs. Morfe and Peragine see patients at the Littleton clinic, and Dr. Yoon sees patients in Parker. Patients in the south Denver suburbs have access to nationally peer-recognized interventional pain care close to home.
In addition to these three interventional pain management physicians, seven Neurosurgery One neurosurgeons were also named Castle Connolly 2026 Top Doctors. Read about those honorees in our companion blog post.
How to Get Started with Interventional Pain Management at Neurosurgery One
Neurosurgery One’s interventional pain management program is offered at all six of its Denver-area clinics and can see new patients within 5 days. If you have had back or neck pain that has not responded to home care or physical, an evaluation with one of our pain management physicians is an appropriate next step. No surgery referral is needed.
Request an appointment online at neurosurgeryone.com or call 720.638.7500. If you are unsure which type of care is the best fit for your condition, we will schedule you for our Back & Neck Pain Clinic where you will receive a rapid evaluation and receive the most appropriate care.
