Neurofunctional Pain Management®

The pain relieving effect that occurs in the tissue, particularly in pain neurons, is called sustained depolarization. In effect, the pain neurons become acclimated to a new homeostasis of being unpolarized and not reporting pain, creating a new normal of non-pain.

This also serves to reduce inflammation triggered by pain reporting neurons, thereby reducing the inflammation associated with pain conditions in a positive feedback loop. This positive feedback loop means reduced pain leads to reduced inflammation, which leads to reduced pain and so on.

Electroanalgesia is an effective pain relief treatment that can endure even after the treatment has concluded. The duration of pain relief is related to the sustained depolarization effect that accumulates over multiple treatments.

For instance, a single treatment may last a few hours to a few days, whereas a course of regular treatments over several weeks can endure for months after completion. This is the reason longer treatment courses are recommended, preferably with multiple treatments occurring each week to obtain the desired cumulative pain relief effect.

Neurofunctional Pain Management protocols consist of two electroanalgesia treatments per week for 8 weeks, accompanied by a routine series of IV hydration therapy once a week. This treatment combination and duration helps to create a relatively long-term pain relief effect that may last longer than most other methods of pain relief.

It has been a common occurrence for patients to experience relief for several months or even up to a year or more after completing their treatment. I have personally seen many patients experience long-term pain relief from a variety of chronic pain conditions, where the relief lasted over a year with no additional treatments or medications to prolong the effect.

Electroanalgesia is a specific and recognized medical term that is based on the electrical pulse per second capacity of the device used for the treatment, set according to the FDA clearance to perform that level of high pulsation.

Though many devices could be configured to reach the therapeutic pulse per second ranges of electroanalgesia, they are not authorized to be used in the market in this manner, nor would they be reimbursable if they are not FDA cleared. Extensive device trials are required for true FDA device clearance/approval in this treatment category, and to claim the ability to use the term electroanalgesia as a provider.

FDA device clearance for electroanalgesia is also required for Medicare and commercial insurance reimbursements, so any non-physician or non-medical providers offering cash only treatments likely aren’t using a true electroanalgesia treatment or device, but are instead using some lower power electrical device that can’t perform true electroanalgesia therapy or actually induce pain neuron depolarization.

Additionally, there is widespread confusion over what is, and what is not, an appropriate FDA cleared device for electroanalgesia treatment. Neurofunctional Pain Management® only uses 510k approved electroanalgesia devices that are FDA cleared for high pulse level therapy. This clearance allows the treatment program to be billable and reimbursed by Medicare and commercial payers.

Electroanalgesia devices are cleared to to modulate their cycles below electroanalgesia frequencies and back up, however non-approved devices are not allowed to do this. Instead, they must stay in the low power low pulse per second ranges where they are allowed to operate and only stimulate muscle and connective tissues, making them less effective at relieving pain.

For example, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) devices are low power low-pulse devices that are not capable of inducing pain neuron depolarization and are thus not capable of performing Neurofunctional Pain Management®. TENS units are not capable of reaching the pulse per second frequencies that qualify as electroanalgesia settings by the FDA, which means that their efficacy is limited to simple muscle stimulation.

Patients will often claim that they had a “similar” electrical treatment from their chiropractor or physical therapist. However, this is a misunderstanding of what has been offered. Chiropractors and physical therapists are not allowed to order Neurofunctional Pain Management, as they are not medical providers and cannot order this treatment model under their own license. This means that any non-medical provider attempting to offer a “similar” treatment is not actually offering the same thing, which means you will not receive the same benefits and outcomes. Unless there was a genuine medical provider ordering the Neurofunctional Pain Management program for you, you are not getting the same treatment and you will not receive the same outcomes and results.

Many non-medical providers have tried to imitate Neurofunctional Pain Management, however if they are not utilizing FDA cleared electroanalgesia devices they will officially not be allowed to claim that they are offering electroanalgesia therapy. This would be the litmus test for any patient wanting to know if they are getting true Neurofunctional Pain Management therapy. Ask your non-medical provider if they are using genuine electroanalgesia therapy. If they only have a TENS device they are not offering the same thing, and per FDA regulations, they will not be allowed to claim they are offering electroanalgesia.

In an attempt to offer a “similar” treatment and to circumvent the prohibited use of the official term electroanalgesia if the device has not undergone trials to achieve the title of electroanalgesia device, which is not allowed to be used to describe TENS treatment, non-medical providers and device manufacturers have obfuscated the industry with other terms that are not recognized but which sound like high-tech medical terms meant to impress patients.

Some of the terms used to circumvent the term electroanalgesia and impress patients with their complexity include electrical cell signaling, quantum specific resonance, frequency therapy, frequency healing, resonance therapy, and a variety of other terms using high-tech sounding words like quantum, frequency, and resonance. None of which are recognized terms that describe any approved type of electrical therapy by the FDA.

While these terms attempt to create mystery, depth, and significance, hoping to drive sales to unsuspecting patients, the devices are still only classified as TENS units by the FDA. You can dress a TENS unit up all day, but it’s still only a TENS unit and these non-medical providers will still be restricted from using the term electroanalgesia and Neurofunctional Pain Management.

Though a non-medical provider may still attempt to use these terms, they risk being reported to their licensing boards if they are offering treatments outside their scope of practice, or making claims for therapies that their devices can’t perform. These non-medical providers create their own risk by using these terms.

The rubber meets the road when non-physician providers attempt to use these devices for reimbursement with Medicare or other commercial insurance companies, only to be denied reimbursement and blocked by payers as the devices and mysterious terminology mentioned above are simply TENS units being described as something other than what they are. These non-medical providers can attempt to operate this way for a period of time, but eventually they will run into the reality that they are only offering a TENS unit therapy and not offering electroanalgesia or Neurofunctional Pain Management.

Though non-physician providers using TENS units will heavily advocate that their treatment is “identical” or “the same as” true electroanalgesia treatments, they are not the same, nor do they produce the same effect, nor are they recognized by the FDA as electroanalgesia devices with 510k FDA certifications.

If your non-physician or non-medical provider is claiming to offer a Neurofunctional Pain Management® treatment program, simply know that non-physician providers are not allowed to practice Neurofunctional Pain Management® as it is beyond their scope of practice. Instead, only seek authorized service providers of Neurofunctional Pain Management®. This is your first step in starting in the right place.