SPOTLIGHT
“Our plan was to target it with steroids to calm down
the inflammation, reduce his pain and get him more
functional,” Dr. Essaff says.
Goodwater received two spine injections in July.
He felt better right away and even drove himself home
after the 20-minute outpatient procedure in Winchester.
Dr. Essaff says the steroid injections can reduce or even
eliminate back pain for months and even years. “My
pain was gone,” Goodwater says. “I can cut my 5 acres
of grass on my riding mower for two or three hours
now, then jump down and use the weed whacker. And
my wife and I are planning a road trip to Maine in our
mobile home next year. I’ve got my life back again.”
1 2 v a l l e y h e a l t h l i n k . c o m
Patient Jack Goodwater
enjoys working in his
yard again, thanks to
pain-relieving injections
he received in his spine.
BACK IN ACTION
Advances in interventional spine care help patients
regain their quality of life, without surgery
Tossing a 50-pound bag of chicken feed, Jack Goodwater felt a twinge that
meant an old back injury was acting up. Despite frequently popping overthe
counter pain relievers, he was unable to sit, walk or work for more than
20 minutes at a time last spring and early summer. “I spent a lot of time
lying down with an ice pack on my back,” says Goodwater, 77, a retired
construction worker and truck driver from Augusta, West Virginia. “When
I drove my wife to the grocery store, I’d lie in the back seat of the car until
she was done.”
Unwilling to undergo an invasive back procedure, Goodwater turned to
David Essaff, DO, medical director for Valley Health Interventional Spine.
A history and exam suggested a pinched nerve was causing Goodwater’s
back and leg symptoms. Imaging revealed narrowing of the spine, or spinal
stenosis, which can compress and inflame nerves in the back, causing back
and leg pain.
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