Greenbrook 'retirees' open Neurogenx office in Sarasota

Retired doctors Brent Rubin and Steven Weinshel were loving life on the golf course.

It was perfect. Well, not really.

The two Greenbrook residents and friends were bored.

"We retired, and this was two years later," Rubin said. "What are you going to do all day? I just don't have enough hobbies."

Both missed their work in the medical field. Weinshel, 57, had 30 years of medical practice and formerly was the chief of neurological surgery at David Grant USAF Medical Center in Fairfield, Calif. His specialty was as a neurological trauma specialist experienced in the treatment of peripheral nerve conditions.

Rubin, 62, was the former chief of podiatry for St. Anne Mercy and St. Vince Mercy in Toledo, Ohio. He has more than 30 years of podiatry experience with special expertise in wound care and diabetic foot care.

If they couldn't enjoy playing golf all the time, perhaps they would like to combine forces in business?

Neurogenx was thus opened in June at 2401 University Parkway, Sarasota, as the friends took on the roles of co-medical directors.

The two doctors basically split office coverage in their new facility, which offers "a breakthrough electromedical treatment proven to effectively alleviate the pain, tingling, burning and numbness resulting from neuropathy and chronic nerve conditions."

"I missed it," Rubin said before checking on a patient at his new office. "This gives us something to do and we both were in the neurological field."

Rubin said the two doctors like the fact they aren't competing against neurosurgeons. "We are providing Service X, then we send them back (to the surgeons)," Rubin said.

The Neurogenx treatment delivers a sophisticated electronic signal to the body's deep tissues via adhesive electrode patches. Rubin said electronic signals can be sent alone, or can be augmented with a low-dose anesthetic injection for immediate pain relief while waiting for the Neurogenx treatment to take effect.

The treatment is non-invasive and non-surgical and is performed in the office. Treatments last about 40 minutes and often are scheduled for two or three sessions a week. A treatment program can last, usually, from eight to 24 sessions.

It treats neuropathic symptoms resulting from diabetes, chemotherapy, fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel, plantar fasciitis and many more diseases. 

"Some of our patients have total numbness and some have extreme pain, usually in the extremities," Rubin said. "For some, that pain is annoying. For some, it can be debilitating."

Rubin said studies have shown the procedure to have success in more than four of five patients, reducing their symptoms such as pain, cramping, burning, numbness, hyper-sensitivity and tingling.

"This is medically drive, which means it is held to a higher standard (than some treatments)," Rubin said. "It actually has to work. And this is only the 10th center in the country. The technology is not new, but the franchising component is."

Now their equivalent of a birdie is watching one of their patients leave the office pain free.

"We like it," Rubin said.

For more information about Neurogenx, go to neurogenx.com/sarasota or call 894-1091.