Pain management practitioner passionate about helping patients be active again

When family medicine nurse practitioner Sommer Ayers moved to the Flathead Valley in 2020, she was tired of prescribing people pain medication and not seeing any long term resolution for their discomfort.

Now, her team of three people at Flathead Pain and Regenerative Health deliver some of the newest pain management and rehabilitation treatments available in the state to patients of all ages. They use regenerative therapies such as stem cell injections and electric cell signaling therapies.

“We use people's own blood products, platelet rich plasma, or PRP, we use a product called purified amniotic fluid which has exosomes in it and is all cell signaling. So basically, what we're doing is we're signaling cells in the body that basically need a jumpstart to generate healing in the body,” Ayers said.

These products help a variety of conditions, like acute issues, chronic issues, sports injuries and arthritis, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Electric signaling therapies also help with neuropathy, or nerve damage.

“We're really trying to hone in on what the body can do and maximizing the body to get it to heal itself. Also, using a functional medicine approach to help the body inside as well to work on getting inflammation out so that we can accelerate people's improvement in their pain,” Ayers said.

She prefers these methods over other forms of pain management because it has provided successful outcomes for patients for many years now, but hasn’t been made available widely because of financial barriers. There aren’t many clinics that offer these therapies and insurances generally do not cover the cost.

“It's definitely science-based, absolutely. I mean, I've got so many sources with patient evidence of healing with regenerative therapies,” Ayers said.

Many of her patients in the Flathead Valley are looking to get back to an activity they enjoy, like skiing or hiking.

“That’s my favorite part — from the time they walk in here and seeing whatever their issue is to watching them improve and leave here happy, with less pain, if not pain free — and better mobility, better quality life,” Ayers said.

Ayers didn’t always want to be in the medical field. When she was in her early 20s she wanted to be a chef, so moved to Burlington, Vermont to go to culinary school. She only completed one out of two years of courses when she realized it wasn’t for her.

“I just knew that was not what I wanted to do, that was not where my heart was. So, at the time I had some friends that were working with mentally and physically challenged adults in their homes. So, I got a job doing that and loved it — absolutely loved it,” Ayers said.

Soon, she was even visiting her patients on her days off.

Ayers' heart for helping others would soon manifest itself into diving head first into the medical field. She soon became a Certified Nursing Assistant, then a Registered Nurse, going back to school to get her bachelor's degree. She attended nurse practitioner school and went on to get a Masters of Science in Nursing.

“I’m a business owner and provider, and I never thought I would be both at the same time,” Ayers said.

As a nurse practitioner, she’s able to get any kind of certification through continuing education. She learned the majority of the pain management techniques employed at Flathead Pain and Regenerative Health when she moved to the valley.

It’s sometimes nerve-wracking, but she said it feels good to be able to be able to work for herself and control the environment, as well as practicing in ways she feels are most beneficial for the patients.

Recently, a 65-year-old man came in for PRP injections in his hands to help with arthritis in his knuckles. After the first of three injections, he said his hands felt 30 years younger.

“After his third injection, he said he just couldn't even believe how much better he felt. So, that was pretty awesome,” Ayers said.

It’s one of many success stories she sees at her clinic, with the goal of getting people out of chronic pain cycles and back to doing what they love.

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached at tinman@dailyinterlake.com.