Our Providers | Abilene Pain, Abilene TX

Care decided in the room, with you.

Standing outside a large corporate hospital system means we answer to our patients rather than to a system. It lets us spend the time it takes to listen, understand what you want your days to look like, and build a plan around that — without red tape in the way.

You deserve honesty, time to be heard, and a provider who works for you. We listen with intention, evaluate without pressure, and look for every avenue that can improve your pain, your movement, and your quality of life — even when a cure isn't possible.

Your goals guide our decisions. Your wellbeing is the center of every plan we create.

A vision rooted in experience.

All of our providers are accepting new patients, at both Abilene locations.

Nicolas C. Pugh, MD

Owner & Founder · Interventional Pain Management · Emergency Medicine

Dr. Pugh was born in Austin, Texas, grew up in South Austin, and graduated from Bowie High School. He completed his undergraduate business degree at Texas State University and began a career in healthcare information technology at eClinicalWorks before earning his medical degree at Texas A&M.

He completed his internship at Vanderbilt and his Emergency Medicine residency at LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, followed by a fellowship in Interventional Pain Management at Texas Tech — training under world-renowned physicians Dr. Miles Day, Dr. Bolkar Sahinler, Dr. Shiraz Yazdani, Dr. Ethan Dalley, and Dr. John Hirsch. He founded Abilene Pain as an independent, physician-owned private practice so that decisions about a patient’s care are made in the room rather than by a system.

Procedures include

Neuromodulation — spinal cord, dorsal root ganglion, and peripheral nerve stimulation · basivertebral nerve ablation · vertebral disc injections · nerve blocks and nerve ablations (RFA) · kyphoplasty · epidural steroid injections · PRP and stem cell regenerative medicine · joint and musculoskeletal injections · Botox for migraine and muscle dystonia.

Adrianne Anders, FNP-C

Founder · Advanced Practice Provider

A West Texas native, born and raised with a deep appreciation for the values of hard work, integrity, and community — values that guided a career in healthcare and continue to shape the care she provides.

Adrianne has practiced in interventional pain management for years, caring for patients with chronic spine, nerve, and joint pain here in Abilene — many of whom she has followed through years of treatment. Her clinical background also includes extensive experience in Level I trauma and surgical intensive care, cardiovascular intensive care, and nursing leadership at major regional medical centers, which allows her to approach pain with a comprehensive, whole-patient perspective.

Approach

Listen, treat with compassion and evidence-based care, and help patients regain function, comfort, and confidence in their daily lives.

Lacy Connally

Founder · Practice Administrator

Lacy serves as Practice Administrator, bringing extensive experience in medical operations, compliance, and patient-centered practice management.

With a proven background managing multi-provider clinics in West Texas, she oversees all aspects of practice operations — clinical workflows, staffing, revenue cycle management, regulatory compliance, and strategic growth.

Focus

Designing efficient systems that improve access to care while supporting providers and staff, so the clinic prioritizes safety, quality, and continuity of care for every patient.

Ted Chaka, PA-C

Advanced Practice Provider · Pain Management

Ted needs no introduction in the Abilene community. A dedicated resident of Abilene for 20 years, he brings a wealth of clinical expertise and a distinguished background in military service to the practice.

A veteran of the United States Air Force who served during the Gulf War, Ted transitioned to medicine after attending Angelo State University and the University of North Texas Health Science Center, where he earned his Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies on a Texas Rural Outstanding Scholarship.

Fifteen years of practice

Interventional spine and musculoskeletal care across multiple specialties — emergency medicine, orthopedic surgery, and interventional pain management. “Patients deserve compassion, honesty, and high-level competency. Listening is just as important as the treatment itself.”

Your whole care team is in this building.

Dr. Nicolas Pugh with clinical staff in the Abilene Pain in-office procedure suite

We built this practice so that as much of your care as possible happens in one place, with people who live here. Most procedures are performed right here in our own in-office suite — and when a procedure calls for a hospital or surgery center, we coordinate that for you and stay involved throughout.

When you call, an Abilene person answers. The staff handling your authorization, your scheduling, and your bill work down the hall from your doctor — not at a call center in another state. If something needs attention, you deal with a real person here who can act on it — not a call center in another state.

On site

Full procedure suite

The majority of our image-guided procedures are performed here in our own suite, with our own equipment and staff — the same team every visit. When a case is better suited to a hospital or surgery center, we arrange it and remain your physicians throughout.

Clinical

In-office clinical staff

Nurses and medical assistants who know your history, prepare you for procedures, and follow up afterward.

Front office

A local person answers

Scheduling, records, and referral coordination handled here in Abilene — not routed to an outside answering service.

Authorizations

Prior authorization in house

Our own team submits and tracks insurance approvals, appeals denials, and tells you where things stand instead of leaving you to chase it.

Billing

Billing and RCM on staff

Claims and revenue cycle managed internally, so a billing question gets a real answer from someone in this office.

Leadership

Management is here too

Practice management sits in the same building as the exam rooms, which is why decisions get made for patients rather than for a corporate parent.

The people you will actually see.

Front office, clinical staff, prior authorizations, and billing — all local, all in our offices. You will recognize the same faces from your first call through every follow-up.