Pain Management Doctors in Lakewood, CO

Non-surgical pain care on South Union Boulevard, a block off West 6th Avenue. Two chiropractors, a physical therapist and a pain management team work out of the same suite, so the conservative options and the interventional ones are separated by a corridor rather than a referral.

What Happens at Your First Appointment on Union Boulevard

The first visit is diagnostic. Nobody books you for a procedure before anyone has examined you.

Your provider takes a history, examines you, and orders imaging only where the exam findings justify it. That sequence is deliberate: pain is frequently produced somewhere other than where you feel it. A lumbar disc can present as hip pain. An L5 nerve root can present as knee weakness with no back pain at all. Upper cervical joints can produce a headache that behaves like migraine and is treated nothing like migraine.

Treat the site instead of the source and you get a run of injections that each work for a fortnight. That is the failure mode we are trying to avoid, and it is why the first appointment is a conversation and an examination rather than a needle.

Why Two Chiropractors Sit Down the Hall

Most pain management practices refer chiropractic and physical therapy out. At the Lakewood clinic both are in the building, which changes what happens on day one.

Francisco Ramirez, DC and Ricky Roope, DC cover chiropractic here — an unusually deep bench for one clinic, and it means adjustment capacity is available same-day rather than next-week. Krystal Flynn, DPT handles physical therapy. When the exam points to a joint restriction or a movement problem rather than a structural one, you are treated that day by someone who has already read your chart.

The reverse also holds. If manual care is not the right answer — if the examination finds a nerve root under pressure or a facet joint that needs a diagnostic block — the pain management team is in the same suite and you are not starting the intake process again somewhere else.

The Pain Problems We See Most in West Denver

Low back pain and sciatica. The commonest reason people book here. The work is identifying whether the pain is discogenic, facet-mediated, sacroiliac or muscular, because each responds to something different. Facet pain that worsens on extension is not managed like a disc that hurts on forward flexion. Where the exam and imaging agree on a level, a diagnostic medial branch block or transforaminal epidural both confirms the source and treats it.

Neck pain and cervicogenic headache. Headaches that begin at the base of the skull are routinely treated as migraine for years. We look for the upper cervical joints and muscles that reproduce your headache before assuming it is primary. Cervical radiculopathy with arm and hand symptoms is a different problem again, and is treated differently.

Hip, knee and shoulder pain. Joint pain in the west metro skews toward the mountains — Golden and Morrison trailheads, ski season, and the deconditioning that follows a winter of it. We are looking for whether the joint itself is the problem or whether it is referred from the spine, because the answer changes the treatment entirely.

Your Lakewood Care Team

Pain management at this clinic is delivered by Megan Kern, PA-C, Brittany Dunn, PA-C and Rachel Cole, PA-C, working alongside the chiropractic and physical therapy providers named above and supported by our medical directors.

You will generally see the same provider across an episode of care. Continuity matters more than it sounds: the person who examined you at intake is the person who knows whether the second injection is worth doing.

When Conservative Care Is Not Enough

Most pain treated at this clinic never needs a needle. Therapy, manual care, activity modification and time resolve the majority of it.

When it is warranted, the interventional options here include epidural steroid injection, medial branch block and radiofrequency ablation, sacroiliac joint injection, and peripheral joint injection. Each is diagnostic as well as therapeutic — if a medial branch block relieves your pain, that tells us which structure is generating it, which determines what comes next.

We will tell you when we do not think a procedure will help. That is a more useful conversation than the alternative.

Insurance, Referrals and Cost

Our Lakewood clinic accepts Aetna, ASH, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield (Pathway), Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, OptumCare, Optum Physical Health, Humana, Medicare, Colorado Medicaid, Devoted Health, First Health, Columbine, Tricare, ATA Holista, workers' compensation and auto/lien cases.

No referral is required to book. Some plans require one for coverage rather than for access — we check that when we verify your benefits, before the first visit, so you know the cost in advance. Call (720) 749-5599 and we will confirm while you wait.

Getting Here

165 S Union Blvd, Suite 400, Lakewood, CO 80228 — just south of West 6th Avenue, with parking on site.

Open Monday to Thursday 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM and Friday 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

We serve Lakewood, Golden, Wheat Ridge, Morrison and the west Denver metro. For walk-in adjustment and same-day chiropractic, see chiropractic care in Lakewood. Full clinic details, directions and the provider list are on the Lakewood clinic page.

Lakewood Pain Management FAQs

Do I need a referral to see a pain management provider in Lakewood? No. You can book directly. Some insurance plans require a referral for coverage rather than for access, which we verify before your visit.

Will I be given an injection at my first appointment? Usually not. The first visit is for diagnosis. If a procedure is appropriate it is scheduled once we know what we are treating.

Do you take Colorado Medicaid? Yes, along with Medicare, Tricare, workers' compensation and auto/lien cases.

How quickly can I be seen? Most patients are seen within the week. Call and we will tell you the first available appointment rather than the first available slot that suits the schedule.

What if I need a chiropractor rather than a pain physician? Then you will see one, in this building, generally the same day. Having two chiropractors on site is the reason we can say that.

Can you treat me after a car accident? Yes. We handle auto and lien cases and document injuries for your claim.