Not all pain clinics are specialists. While many facilities offer general pain treatment, Desert Pain Specialists focuses exclusively on diagnosing and treating chronic pain using advanced, evidence-based interventional care. Their board-certified physicians work to help patients find lasting relief and regain control of their daily lives.
Living with chronic pain can be a relentless and debilitating struggle. Through specialized treatment plans tailored to each patient, Desert Pain Specialists aims to restore function, improve mobility and help people return to the activities they enjoy most.
In Southern Utah’s growing medical community, Desert Pain Specialists was built intentionally around board-certified physicians, interventional pain medicine and clear collaboration with referring providers. The practice works closely with primary care physicians, orthopedic surgeons, spine specialists, urgent care providers and hospital teams to ensure patients receive expert, coordinated care.
“We know that pain is really hard on your life and makes it difficult for families,” Dr. Court Empey said. “It affects the ability to sleep, enjoy things and be active. Our goal is to get you back to functioning. It’s so gratifying when I’m out on a hike, and I see a patient that says thank you, and they’re back out playing pickleball and the things they love to do.”
Desert Pain Specialists treats patients experiencing both acute and chronic pain throughout the body. Empey said the most common issues include pain in the neck and back, as well as sciatic pain and compression fractures.
Older women often seek care for osteoporosis, which can lead to compression fractures in the spine and cause severe pain. In these cases, Empey said it is especially gratifying to treat patients with a procedure called kyphoplasty, in which bone cement is placed into the fracture, often providing rapid pain relief and improved mobility.
Whether pain stems from car accidents, arthritis or chronic neck and back conditions, Desert Pain Specialists treats patients from their teens into their 90s and beyond. From those experiencing sudden shoulder pain to individuals who have lived with arthritis or spinal pain for decades, the goal remains the same: lasting relief.
Physicians at Desert Pain Specialists diagnose and treat painful conditions using advanced image guidance, typically fluoroscopy, X-ray or ultrasound. These tools allow specialists to guide needles into precise areas of the body, targeting the source of pain while avoiding more invasive surgery.
The practice is led by five physicians whose training includes undergraduate education, medical school, four years of residency and an additional year of fellowship training in interventional pain medicine. Four specialize in anesthesiology, while one focuses on physical medicine and rehabilitation.
Empey attended medical school in Washington, D.C., at George Washington University, completed his anesthesia residency at the University of Utah and his pain fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. Other physicians at Desert Pain Specialists were trained at institutions including Dartmouth, the University of Utah and programs in Texas.
Having physicians with diverse training backgrounds allows the specialists to collaborate on complex cases and deliver a comprehensive approach to care.
Supported by 12 nurse practitioners and physician assistants, the team at Desert Pain Specialists focuses on four pillars of pain management: interventions, medications, physical therapy or modalities such as TENS units and surgery. While they collaborate closely with local surgeons, their goal is to help patients improve without surgical intervention whenever possible.
Desert Pain Specialists is the longest-standing pain specialty practice in the area and takes pride in its local roots, with physicians, nurses and staff who live in and care deeply about the community, Empey said.
He maintains direct communication with local primary care providers, emergency room physicians, orthopedists and spine surgeons to ensure coordinated, well-rounded care.
“The area is big enough to have a lot of specialties, but we’re also small enough that we all know each other and go get lunch and talk about patients or even go mountain biking,” he said. “It’s a unique medical community.”
Empey said pain clinics are sometimes misunderstood as being focused primarily on prescribing medications, but that perception does not reflect modern interventional pain care.
“Many would be surprised at the percentage of patients that don’t want opiates or tolerate them, or are on very small doses for appropriate conditions,” he said.
Desert Pain Specialists emphasizes responsible prescribing practices and has access to controlled substance records in Utah, Nevada and Arizona, allowing providers to review a patient’s prescription history over the past five years.
For Empey, the work is deeply rewarding. He recalled countless meaningful moments with patients, including one involving a man in his late 80s whom he had long admired.
For more than a decade, Empey treated the man and his wife. His wife died about six months ago. A recent interaction with the patient left a lasting impression.
“He said, ‘Thanks for helping me. You’ve been such a good friend,’ and he gives me a hug,” Empey said. “And I’m like, here’s this total 360. Here’s this guy that I grew up thinking was just so awesome, and now he’s thanking me and telling me to appreciate my wife every day. It’s a lot of sweet interactions. The patients recognize that we really care about them and do our best to alleviate their pain and listen to them and take care of them.”
Take the first step toward a brighter, pain-free future by scheduling a consultation with Desert Pain Specialists. With a comprehensive, patient-centered approach and a commitment to restoring function and improving quality of life, the practice helps individuals return to the activities they enjoy most and live with greater comfort and confidence. Learn more at desertpainspecialists.com.
“We’re from this community,” Empey said. “This community is home for us forever, and we want to take care of you. We want to listen to you. We’re here to stay.”
- Desert Pain Specialists | Telephone: 435-216-7000 | Email: stg@desertpainspecialists.com | Website.
- Locations:
- St. George: 617 E. Riverside Drive, Suite 301.
- Hurricane: 48 S. 2500 West, Suite 110.
- Cedar City: 1760 N. Main St., Suite 220.
- Beaver: 68 N. Main St.
- Panguitch: 200 N. 400 East.
- Kanab: 348 N. 300 West.
- Fillmore: 700 S. Highway 99, Suite 3.
- Richfield: 1000 N. Main St., Suite C.
- Richfield: 245 N. Main St.
- Mesquite, Nevada: 340 Falcon Ridge Parkway, Suite 603.
- Overton, Nevada: 475 N. Moapa Valley Blvd.
