Fruita specialty practice strives to relieve pain

Kenneth Lewis

A Grand Valley physician offers a unique approach to treating pain, one that can forego the need for drugs that can become addictive or cause other health problems.

“There are better options than throwing a bunch of narcotics at them,” said Dr. Kenneth Lewis, a physician who works alongside other medical professionals and contracts with Family Health West in Fruita. “We find, diagnose and treat the source of the pain.”

Lewis runs Western Rockies Interventional Pain Specialists, which focuses on physical exams to identify what’s generating pain in a patient’s body.

Lewis sometimes uses a precision-controlled injection, heating a needle to kill a nerve that can be the source of pain.

At other times, he uses a spinal cord stimulator to work on the spinal cord. The stimulator runs off an external battery and patients wear it much as they would a pacemaker for the heart.

With the help of other professionals in his location in the Kokopelli Medical Clinic in Fruita, Lewis offers medication, physical rehabilitation and anesthesiology. Family Health West Hospital offers MRIs and cat scans if needed.

Lewis calls it a multi-disciplinary pain management group. “It’s amazing what we have here in Fruita,” he said.

Patients come from as far away as Denver and Salt Lake City. While the same kinds of services might be available in larger cities, Lewis said it’s uncommon to find them all under one roof.

And services offered at the Fruita hospital can be surprising to newcomers. “There’s the best overall surgical team in the valley,” he said.

And treatment of pain at his facility can be second to none, he added. “We can honestly look and say it will be the best pain care in the country.”