About Balaji S. Charlu, M.D.

Balaji (Bobby) S. Charlu, M.D. is an Interventional Physiatrist who specializes in the non-operative management of musculoskeletal and spine related disorders. As an avid tennis and soccer player growing up in Michigan, Dr. Charlu was naturally drawn to sports and musculoskeletal medicine when choosing his medical specialty. “Physiatrists are experts in the rehabilitation of nerve, muscle, and bone injury. Treating injury, improving pain, and enhancing performance is the cornerstone of changing our daily movement and function. My goal is to offer any and all minimally invasive treatments to the sports and spine related pain outside of surgery.” In addition to performing basic spinal therapeutic and diagnostic procedures, Dr. Charlu brings a variety of advanced pain management therapies to Newport Orthopedics including radiofrequency ablation, discography, percutaneous discectomy, spinal cord neuromodulation, and regenerative PRP. He is currently active in Interventional Spine research, and is a teaching faculty member of the North American Spine Society.

Dr. Charlu is Board-certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) with sub-specialty Boards in Pain Management and Sports Medicine. Dr. Charlu attended Michigan State medical school and completed his residency in PM&R at the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Texas where he was Chief resident. He completed his fellowship training in Interventional Pain Management at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2006.

In his spare time, Dr. Charlu enjoys spending time with his wife and three children in Irvine in addition to his active participation in sports including tennis, running, biking and a new-found passion for triathlons.

Dr. Charlu also enjoys giving back to the community by serving as the team doctor for the University High School football team in Irvine.