In May 2009, Virgil Hooker, retiree, 74, was helping his daughter move furniture and fell backwards fracturing his vertebrae. Mr. Hooker was in excruciating pain and actually went to an urgent care center twice for consultation as they told him he had only sprained his back.
After seeking medical care advice from an ortho surgeon, Hooker was referred to Dr. Frank Fiola, board certified radiologist at Doctors Imaging Group, for a vertebroplasty.
Virgil Hooker stated, “My choices for treatment were dismal and the pain too great to live with—so I readily signed on to get treated with vertebroplasty.”
In the recovery room, Mr. Hooker expressed immediate relief from his severe pain. His wife reported that he is thrilled with the results and was back to his part-time job of bagging groceries at a local supermarket within a week of his procedure. He wants others to know that they don't have to suffer with back pain and that a vertebroplasty is a great option to consider.
Mr. Hooker stated, "I love people and I love my job so getting back to work was very important to me. Vertebroplasty helped make that possible.”
While vertebroplasty has a over 90% success rate in relieving severe spine pain, results will vary. For more information or to see if you or a loved one are a candidate for this procedure please refer to a specialist.