Tag Archives: scottsdale pain management

Pain Management Scottsdale AZ Clinic Has 12 Pain Treatments

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When you are dealing with a chronic pain problem, it can seem as if there’s no hope to get it under control. Maybe it’s chronic neck pain after a car accident, or a pain management scottsdalefailed back surgery. At times, sciatica can persist from spinal stenosis, and surgery is a last resort you want to avoid.

Arizona Pain Specialists has pain management Scottsdale doctors who have over 12 treatment options to help you get out of pain and avoid surgery. It is extremely unusual to see such a comprehensive Scottsdale pain clinic, but that’s the model put together by Arizona Pain.

Here’s a list of what types of treatments are available with the Scottsdale pain management doctors:

  • Medication Management
  • Back or neck bracing

    Facet Injection

    Facet Injection

  • Joint Injections for hip, knee, ankle, etc.
  • Stem Cell Injection Study for Low Back Pain
  • Facet or epidural injections
  • Spinal cord stimulator
  • Radiofrequency ablation
  • TENS Units
  • Chiropractic Treatment
  • Spinal Decompression Therapy
  • Acupuncture
  • Behavioral Therapy

The pain doctors at Arizona Pain are Double Board Certified and Fellowship trained. You will be in the best hands! The clinic also has an Open MRI machine on site along with a chiropractor Scottsdale.

The  nonoperative success rate at Arizona Pain is well over 90%. Call Today to get started at (480) 535-7370.

New Research Shows Swearing Helps Reduce Pain

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Anyone who has ever banged their funny bone or accidentally put a hand on a hot stove knows how common it is to use a four letter word. When individuals experience acute pain, they often swear out of frustration. New research out of Britain actually is now showing that using expletives will decrease pain.pain management mesa az

In a study at Britain’s Keele University, 64 students at the college participated by sticking their hands into buckets of water for several minutes. Students were then placed into two groups. The first group was allowed to curse at will, and the second had to use a word that was not in any way shape or form an expletive.

The end result of the study was that using swear words allowed them to keep their hands in the ice longer, and also the pain intensity perception went down. The lead author of the study, Richard Stevens, said “swearing increases your pain tolerance.” In the beginning, the hypothesis of the study was that swearing would actually make the situation worse. The study results actually showed the opposite, that swearing makes pain more tolerable and helps a lot!

In all likelihood, swearing evolved as a primitive reflex over thousands of years. Humans have been able to put it into a verbal contact with language whereas animals simply let out a sharp yelp if for instance, the person steps on the dog’s tail. The area of the brain that is responsible for the urge to swear is very deep, suggesting that it does come from a primitive source.

One of the things that was found in the study is that in those who were able to use swear words, the heart rates were consistently higher than in the control group. The theory is that pain management glendale azthe emotional response of swearing is actually responsible for the pain reduction. While both men and women experience pain reduction with swearing, women had a stronger reduction. The authors hypothesize this was because overall, women use swear words less so as it is more of a shock to their system when a painful response occurs and a swear word comes out.

Therefore, if individuals refrain from using curse words during normal activities of life, it’s quite possible that if a swear word is used when pain occurs, it may have more of a pain reduction effect. If you are living in pain in the Phoenix and Scottsdale metropolitan area, Arizona Pain Specialists can help you.

All swearing aside, the board-certified and award-winning pain management doctors in Arizona and Phoenix chiropractors at the various AZ pain center locations offer over a dozen treatments to help get rid of your pain. For instance, if you need the best pain management Mesa AZ, then Arizona Pain has a convenient office in Chandler.

Call 602-507-6550 to get started today at the best pain clinic in Arizona.

Medicare Will No Longer Reimburse for TENS Units

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Recently, the Center for Medicare Services announced that it will no longer cover TENS unit therapy. Tens unit, which stands for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, is a low-cost and low-risk therapy for alleviating pain.

The memo that was released by CMS stated “tens is not reasonable and necessary for the

TENS units

TENS Unit

treatment of chronic low back pain,”. In addition, the memo stated that tens units will only be reimbursed when the patient is part of a randomized, controlled trial looking at the effectiveness of the treatment.

The units are about the size of an iPod and patients can wear them on their belt. The units emit slight electrical impulses to go through foam pads on the skin for the purpose of providing a low risk method of relieving many types of pain. While it has been known for some time that the effectiveness of tens units has been inconclusive, the report a couple years ago from the American Academy of Neurology found the treatment not to be effective.

Interestingly, when most Arizona pain doctors and chiropractors are interviewed they say that their patients get great results from using TENS units. There are plenty of anecdotes of patients seeing excellent results from tens units, for instance at pain management Scottsdale clinics. However, CMS based its decision on formal clinical studies to draw its conclusion.

The issue with tens units are that they have not worked exceptionally well in larger studies. And unfortunately that is what CMS is looking at in this cost-saving mechanism by cutting the coverage.

Arizona pain centerWhen you consider how big of a problem opioid overdosing is these days, any type of low-cost and low risk device that can reduce the need for narcotic pain medications should be kept in place. In fact, it appears that further research studies should have been conducted prior to this decision being put forward.

An online petition while CMS was considering the move collected over 10,000 signatures asking for coverage to be continued. the decision to simply rely on research studies which may in fact have some bias and other flaws discounts significant judgment of medical providers and a considerable amount of positive patient experiences.

It is an ironic outcome against a low risk technology that has in fact shown benefit to many patients in a time of need. Reducing the need for narcotics in acute flareups of low back pain is what TENS units are very good for and now the cost for these will fall on the patient. Thankfully over the last decade the cost of TENS units for the patient has dropped a considerable amount. Most tens units can be obtained at cost of less than $100.

For a patient who wants a fast acting answer to their pain with no potential for addiction and minimal sedation, TENS units are great.

The end result is not a ban on TENS units thankfully, but a shifting of the cost of tens unit treatment for the patient. Private insurance companies for the moment will still be able to pay for tens units if it is part of a person’s coverage. If you lived in Arizona and suffer from chronic pain or acute pain such as sciatica or your “back gave out”,  Arizona Pain Specialists can help you.

These AZ pain clinics have locations all over the valley serving Phoenix, Scottsdale, Glendale, Chandler, Mesa, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Queen Creek, Surprise, Goodyear, Peoria and more.

Call 602-507-6550 for scheduling and to get your TENS unit today.