Dr. Andrew Hummel is an anesthesiologist with more than a decade of experience in the field. He is trained in approaches like ultrasound-guided peripheral nerve blocks, neuraxial anesthesia, and Iovera° cryoneurolysis. As a board-certified anesthesiologist, he integrates multimodal, opioid-sparing protocols in cases where general anesthesia can be risky, and opioid dependency must be avoided.
Key Takeaways
● Multimodal analgesia targets multiple pain pathways simultaneously, reducing opioid consumption and side effects.
● Dr. Andrew Hummel, an anesthesiologist, underwent specialist training in peripheral nerve blocks, neuraxial techniques, and Iovera° cryoneurolysis.
● Opioid-sparing does not mean inadequate pain relief, but smarter and more targeted analgesia designed around individual patients.
The opioid epidemic did not entirely begin on the street. Much of it started in recovery rooms. For decades, opioids were heavily prescribed for postoperative pain management as a default. Side effects like nausea, dependency risk, delayed recovery, and respiratory depression were seen as acceptable.
Dr. Andrew Hummel, American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) Diplomate, is leading the shift from opioid-based to opioid-sparing techniques. His approach is built around the conviction that patients deserve to recover without being sedated into dependency. The tools exist. But it is the physician’s training and ability to use them that matters. They must also be capable of using the tools to build an individualized plan for patients.
If you want to learn about Dr. Hummel’s multimodal, opioid-sparing protocols in regional anesthesia, then keep reading.
What Is Opioid-Sparing Anesthesia?
Opioid-sparing anesthesia does not mean that you will lie awake in pain. It means targeting pain at multiple levels, using different drug classes and techniques simultaneously. As a result, the opioid component will be minimized without sacrificing your comfort.
Now let's talk about multimodal analgesia. Rather than flooding your central nervous system with a single opioid agent, multimodal protocols will address your pain through several parallel pathways. So, it will help you achieve meaningful relief with lower doses and fewer side effects. You will recover faster as well. It is a smarter model, and the clinical evidence behind it is growing.
Regional Anesthesia: Blocking Pain at the Source
The logic of how regional anesthesia works is straightforward. There is no need to suppress the entire central nervous system when you can interrupt pain signaling before it even reaches your brain. Dr. Andrew Hummel uses two primary regional approaches.
Peripheral nerve blocks, guided by ultrasound, are administered preoperatively for upper and lower extremity surgeries. This includes shoulder arthroplasty, knee procedures, and foot and ankle cases. You will wake up from the surgery with the surgical site already numbed.
Neuraxial techniques, like epidurals and spinal anesthesia, are used for obstetric patients going through labor, delivery, and a cesarean section. These provide dense, titratable analgesia without placing a systemic opioid stress on the mother or newborn. If you place them correctly and manage them actively, they are among the most effective pain interventions available today.
Both approaches align with the ASA 2026 Practice Guideline on perioperative pain management using regional analgesia. The approaches place regional techniques at the center of opioid-sparing care.
Iovera° Cryoneurolysis Before the First Incision
Most patients have never heard of Iovera° largely because most anesthesiologists are not trained to offer it. However, Dr. Andrew Hummel, MD, is.
Iovera° is a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved, non-opioid treatment that involves the use of precisely controlled cold to temporarily block peripheral nerve transmission. A sub-dermal cold zone will be delivered to your targeted nerve, which will interrupt pain signals without causing damage to surrounding tissues. The effect will also completely reverse as your nerves regenerate. The relief is immediate, and the effect can last up to 90 days.
Dr. Hummel has found Iovera° extremely effective as a pre-operative intervention for Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA). If applied before a surgery, it can significantly reduce postoperative pain burden, thereby facilitating faster recovery and lower opioid prescribing during the critical, early healing phase. Moreover, Iovera° is office-based. So, no general anesthesia is required to administer it.
ERAS and the Case for Multidisciplinary Pain Planning
Multimodal analgesia works best within an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) framework. It is a multidisciplinary protocol that begins in the pre-operative stage and extends through recovery. Within ERAS, the anesthesiologist is not just a passive technician present only for the procedure. They are the person responsible for your pain management plan.
Dr. Hummel coordinates ERAS and individualized planning strategy across all three phases, working directly with surgeons, nursing teams, and pharmacy from the start. This is also evident from a real case successfully handled by Dr. Hummel.
An 87-year-old with aortic stenosis, a pacemaker, and a hip fracture was flagged as high perioperative risk by doctors. His family was told that he might not survive surgery. So, instead of going for the default general anesthesia, Dr. Hummel chose a carefully titrated spinal, coordinated closely with cardiology, and prepared a clear pressor support protocol. The outcome is that the patient was able to avoid the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) entirely. Moreover, the patient’s rehabilitation also began within 48 hours.
What You Deserve After Surgery
Your recovery should not be defined by opioid prescriptions and post-surgical fog. It should be defined by how quickly and safely you return to yourself. This is what Dr. Andrew Hummel builds his cases around. He will ensure that anesthesia planning for your case starts long before the surgery day. The plan will also be heavily individualized based on your medical history, medication and supplement intake, and recovery goal.
Dr. Hummel brings more than a decade of clinical experience to the operating room. He follows a philosophy in which recovery is treated as seriously as the procedure itself. His credentials are verifiable on Healthgrades and through the ABA directory at theaba.org.
You can visit the website to learn more about his approach to opioid-sparing and individualized acute pain management. If you have been his patient, consider leaving Andrew Hummel, MD, a review on Healthgrades to help other patients evaluate him.