Pain Care Labs (a dba of MMJ Labs) was established in 2006 by pediatric emergency physician and pain researcher Amy Baxter. Distressed by other doctors’ indifference to preventable needle pain, Dr. Baxter decided to make lab draws and vaccination easier for moms and children. With an effective vibrating ice prototype, she decided to “take a year or two” to study and develop the technology formally. Her NIH funding confirmed the frequency blocked pain, and led to the discovery of widespread needle fear and an entire new platform for drug-free pain relief. When a colleague used her Buzzy device to avoid opioids for a knee replacement, in 2016 she began to invent and research full-time. She is currently NIH NIDA funded adapting her technology to reduce opioid use for low back pain. With new discoveries about how the brain processes pain, and how to leverage harmonic interactions of thermomechanical stimulation, she and her amazing team are out to change the world and eliminate unnecessary pain - AND opioid use.
Initial R&D was funded by the Mayday Foundation. The frequency Dr. Baxter used to create Buzzy® is now proven to inhibit pain better than TENS, improve muscle soreness, blood flow, recovery and more. Since its May 1 2009 launch, Buzzy® has controlled needle pain for over 114 million procedures in 28 countries, and been statistically significantly effective in 80+ independent peer reviewed studies. Buzzy is now in over 5,000 hospitals and clinics, with over 400,000 units sold.
For physical therapy, ice + vibration VibraCool®’s M-Stim pain relief was 2-3.4 times better than electrical stimulation (TENS); another study demonstrated VibraCool users took 35% fewer opioid tablets after knee surgery. DuoTherm for low back pain reduced pain 57% in its Phase 1 trial, and the definitive clinical trials for opioid and surgery reduction will conclude in 2024.
Eliminate unnecessary pain
We are moms and people who know healthcare can do better. Through a deep understanding of science, we create easy-to-use devices to address suffering and fear, giving Power Over Pain.
- Accountable to our customers and each other – if it’s not right, we make it right.
- Rigorously science-based – we won’t lie or use hyperbole. This is why we say “Buzzy Helps” and refused on Shark Tank to say, “eliminates pain!”
- Sustainability - We conserve resources. When we can recycle, we do; if we can make something reusable, it is.
- Passionate about our mission.
MD, FAAP, FACEP / Inventor, Founder, and CEO
Dr. Baxter directs innovation, invention, operations and strategy for Pain Care Labs. After graduating from Yale University and Emory Medical School, as a double boarded pediatric emergency physician Dr. Baxter founded PEMA Emergency Research while also founding Pain Care Labs (initially called MMJ Labs).
