AZ CENTER FOR SPINE
Referring Physicians
Philosophy of Practice
Ours is a specialty Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) practice. We strongly encourage patients to obtain a referral here from their primary care physician or another referring specialty physician or surgeon.
While we do accept self-referral of patients whose insurance does not require referral, we emphasize to all patients that they must obtain a primary care physician. If they do not have one, we insist that they locate one.
Areas of Special Expertise
While we are trained to see a broad range of PM&R disorders, we have begun to limit our practice to disorders of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine, muscular strain injuries and localized chronic myofascial pain syndromes. While we are no longer accepting new patients with generalized fibromyalgia, we have had substantial success in treating localized myofascial pain that has been resistant to treatment and previously unsuccessfully treated by others for years or even decades. Because of our background as a physical therapist (Dr. Miriam Griggs), we have learned that therapists vary widely in their capability in dealing with these disorders. We therefore individualize physical therapy prescriptions sending patients to specific therapists whose expertise matches the patient's needs. By combining carefully selected physical therapy with needling techniques (carefully identified trigger point injections and in selected patients, medical acupuncture) we frequently succeed where others have been unable to help these patients. We especially welcome referral of these difficult chronic muscular patients.
Electrodiagnostic Studies
We perform Electromyograms (EMG) and Nerve Conduction Velocity (NCV) studies in a thorough and careful manner. We can arrange these studies and provide a report to the referring doctor usually in one week. If there is need for a more rapid report, please call for scheduling availability.