Chronic Pain
Functional medicine support tailored to uncover the root cause of complex symptoms.
Consult with our care team to understand next steps and build a personalized plan.
Serving Denver Metro, Fort Collins, and Colorado Springs.
About This Condition
Chronic pain is persistent or recurrent pain lasting beyond the expected period of tissue healing (commonly defined as >3 months) and is associated with meaningful distress or functional impairment. It may arise from ongoing nociceptive input, neuropathic injury, or altered pain processing within the nervous system, and often persists even after the initial injury or disease has resolved.
Patients may describe constant or intermittent pain that can be dull, aching, burning, shooting, or electric in quality. Chronic pain frequently coexists with fatigue, sleep disturbance, mood and anxiety symptoms, cognitive complaints, and reduced physical activity. It affects work, relationships, and overall quality of life, and can contribute to deconditioning and social withdrawal.
Chronic pain is conceptualized as a condition in its own right rather than simply a symptom of an underlying disorder. Evaluation focuses on identifying potentially modifiable nociceptive or neuropathic drivers, detecting red flag features for serious pathology, and recognizing central sensitization and psychosocial contributors. Management is typically multimodal and longitudinal, combining education, physical and functional rehabilitation, psychological interventions, and judicious use of pharmacologic and interventional therapies.
Common Symptoms
- •Persistent or recurrent pain lasting longer than 3 months, often described as aching, throbbing, burning, stabbing, or electric
- •Pain that may be localized to a specific region (such as low back, neck, or joints) or more widespread
- •Exacerbation of pain with physical activity, prolonged positions, stress, or sleep disruption
- •Fatigue, low energy, or non-restorative sleep associated with ongoing pain
- •Mood changes, irritability, anxiety, or depressive symptoms related to or exacerbated by pain
- •Reduced participation in work, exercise, social activities, or hobbies due to pain and fear of flare-ups
- •Heightened sensitivity to touch, pressure, or other stimuli in some individuals, consistent with central sensitization or allodynia
Conventional Treatment Options
Movement plan
Anti-inflammatory strategies
Mind-body approaches
Our Functional Medicine Approach
Pain that won't quit needs more than another prescription
Most patients arrive having tried the usual cycle — NSAIDs, gabapentinoids, opioids, injections, physical therapy. Some helped briefly. Many came with side effects or stopped working. Chronic neuropathic pain in particular is rarely a problem of the body part that hurts; it's a nervous system that has learned to amplify signals and won't let them go.
Spire's approach pairs Axon Therapy — a non-invasive, FDA-cleared magnetic peripheral nerve stimulation device — with the upstream work most pain programs skip: inflammation, blood sugar, sleep, and the metabolic factors that quietly keep the nervous system inflamed. The Axon device reconditions how the central nervous system processes pain signals; the rest of our pathway gives the body the resources to actually hold the change.
What that looks like in practice
Sessions are painless and run about 13.5 minutes. Standard protocol is three sessions in the first week, weekly through the first month, then monthly maintenance. Average pain reduction in responders is 87% in the manufacturer trials, with a 51% average drop in opioid dependence under medical guidance. We pair the device work with labs, nutrition, and lifestyle support so improvements stick.
Who this is for
Adults with chronic neuropathic pain — post-surgical, post-traumatic, or other intractable nerve pain — who have tried conventional options and want a non-opioid, non-invasive path that addresses the nervous system, not just the symptom.