Buzzy® by Pain Care Labs

Pain Care 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 vaccinations 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-funded research led to the discovery of widespread needle fear and an entirely new platform for drug-free pain relief. When a colleague used Buzzy® 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 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.