A Brief History of MSKexperts.com, the Therapeutic Needling Institute, and its Founder, Navid Mahooti, MD, MPH
Navid Mahooti, MD, MPH is a Sports Medicine physician at the Mass General Brigham and Founder of MSKexperts.com and the Therapeutic Needling Institute. He is Board Certified in both Sports Medicine and Family Medicine. For several years he was the only physician on Boston’s north shore to serve as both a primary care physician and a non-operative orthopedic & sports medicine specialist. His hybrid practice model gave him a unique perspective on the challenges faced by primary care physicians and specialists in their quest to provide world-class medical care synonymous with Boston.
In 2018 he transitioned to a full-time Sports Medicine, Lifestyle & Wellness practice and simultaneously developed a group-based wellness program that helped hundreds of patients implement lifestyle changes to optimize health and prevent the development of chronic diseases.
He has written peer reviewed articles and chapters in medical textbooks, and has been invited to lecture at local, regional, national, and international medical meetings. Along the way, Navid developed a fascination and curiosity with myofascial pain and trigger points. As a traditionally trained sports medicine physician, Navid offers a variety of minimally invasive, non-operative treatments including ultrasound guided injections, platelet rich plasma (PRP), as well as advanced nerve and fascial plane hydrodissection techniques. As Navid treated hundreds, thousands, and now tens of thousands of patients with Therapeutic Needling – an empirically developed amalgam of trigger point injection, dry needling, and acupuncture – he witnessed more people get better faster than ever before, oftentimes immediately, when compared to traditional and emerging approaches.
Navid’s experiences compelled him to develop educational resources and instructional materials – but where to begin? He considered publishing case reports and designing formal research studies, but his busy clinical practice, non-academic appointment, and the inherent limitations of describing procedural techniques (as the saying goes, see one, do one, teach one – not read about one…) led him to ponder alternative means to communicate his ideas. He started posting cases on an email listserv composed of hundreds of colleague sports medicine physicians, many of whom are recognized experts in various domains of sports medicine,, and encouraged his colleagues to consider myofascial pain as a factor.
As colleagues began to implement needling and saw remarkable results, many reached out to Navid asking about educational resources and where to learn more. In 2019 Navid presented a well-received Instructional Course Lecture (ICL) on Myofascial Pain and Trigger Point Injections at the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) Houston. In 2021 Navid presented an acclaimed virtual lecture that led to an invitation to present a paradigm-shifting podium talk at AMSSM 2022, Austin (click here to watch the lecture). He also served as Chair of the inaugural Therapeutic Needling preconference workshop that drew over 125 attendees, and has chaired subsequent preconference Therapeutic Needling workshops at AMSSM Phoenix 2023 and AMSSM Baltimore 2024 (along with Foundational Members Garry Ho, MD and Todd Shatynski, MD), and also was invited to lead a Therapeutic Needling workshop at American Academy of Family Physicians national conference: FMX Chicago in 2023 and Phoenix 2024.
The positive feedback and support Navid has received from his colleagues and patients led him to take a step of faith and personally fund MSKexperts.com: a one-of-a-kind interactive, web-based platform designed to help physicians and other musculoskeletal clinicians seamlessly teach and learn from one another. MSKexperts.com features the Therapeutic Needling Institute’s premium instructional resources. Additional premium materials will be added over time in order to fulfill the vision of MSKexperts.com: to become the most clinically relevant musculoskeletal educational resource ever developed. He is hopeful the platform transforms the way physicians and allied health clinicians learn from and teach one another – and he is especially excited to introduce the magic of Therapeutic Needling to more of his colleagues and their patients.
Navid lives with and enjoys spending time with his wife and two teenage children on Boston’s north shore, where he serves as Team Physician at his alma mater, Gordon College. He currently serves on the advisory board for the LaVida Center for Outdoor Education at Gordon College, The Faith & Sports at Baylor University, and previously served a nine year term on the board of the local YMCA. He loves to cook for friends and family (usually smoke or grill large quantities of meats and vegetables), play sports (he can still hit the J, on occasion), and travel.
Todd currently serves as a team physician for Triathlon Australia, University at Albany, College of Saint Rose and Columbia High School and also serves as medical director for the Mohawk Hudson Marathon. Over the years, he has often worked in the medical tent of Ironman Lake Placid and multiple mass participation events. Annually he teaches at the AMSSM Ultrasound Course in Ithaca, New York and lectures regionally and nationally.
A long time member of AMSSM and AAFP, he continues to serve on multiple committees and advisory panels. Todd continues to evolve his practice and has a particular interest in procedures such as ultrasound diagnostics and interventions, orthobiologic procedures, alternative methods of pain management, care of challenging cases and surgical failures as well as care of athletes from endurance and contact sports. As a masters athlete himself, Todd continues to compete in triathlon and running races and thus specializes in the care of masters athletes ranging from the armchair quarterback to the industrial athlete to those competing in world class competitions.
Todd became a Foundational Member and accepted an invitation to serve as an advisor to MSKexperts.com because I feel this is the most effective avenue for collaboration of novel ideas, best practice evaluation and distribution of new evidence and will become the most respected site of sports medicine providers who are looking to evolve and broaden their practice and care of patients.
