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He's back in the game

With a balloon, some cement and a guiding hand, a new back surgery takes hold. For most of his 72 years, he's worked as a maintenance man. He's always enjoyed working with his hands and breaking a sweat.

By CHANDRA BROADWATER
Published January 30, 2007

SPRING HILL - Henry Wooten likes to move.

For most of his 72 years, he's worked as a maintenance man. He's always enjoyed working with his hands and breaking a sweat.

"I don't like to sit around here and look at these walls," Wooten said recently at his Spring Hill home, while speaking in his Georgia drawl. "I stay active."

But severe back pain from a spinal compression fracture left him nearly bedridden until a new, minimally invasive back surgery, called kyphoplasty, helped Wooten get on with the physically demanding life he loves.

Despite spending more than 40 years at companies including Keebler, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Tropicana, Wooten still works part-time welding in Spring Hill.

"When the doctor said my back was broken," Wooten said, "I asked him what we were going to do."

While the technology for the procedure has been around for several years, Dr. Michael Higgins, a Spring Hill Regional Hospital orthopedic and spinal surgeon, is one of few doctors in Hernando County to perform it.

Because kyphoplasty is not invasive, patients have quicker recovery time and see faster results. The surgery not only helps to relieve pain, but also adds stability to the spine and can restore the height some have lost to hunched backs.

"It's very good for people with osteoporosis," said Higgins, who arrived in Hernando two years ago. "Though most people who have this are women, men have the procedure, too. One in three women over the age of 50 have osteoporosis, and one in eight men have it. But it's very important that people realize that not everyone is a good candidate for this."

In Wooten's case, his fracture was recent enough, having occurred in the six months before he went to see Higgins. X-rays and scans showed that one of his vertebra was compressed, or flattened, and the discs on each side of it were grinding together.

The cushion that had been there between them most of his life was gone.

The 45-minute procedure includes making a couple of small incisions along the sides of the spine. Special instruments are used to insert a tiny balloon into the sandwiched area, which is then inflated.

The expanded balloon creates a cavity that helps to restore the area to its former mass. Next the balloon is deflated and removed, and then orthopedic cement is pumped into the cavity. This helps fill in the area of formerly compressed bone, bringing it closer to its original shape before the collapse.

Higgins explained that usually the procedure is repeated on both sides of the spine. Sometimes tumors or other obstructions only allow one side to be done.

As Wooten's doctor, and as he does with all patients, Higgins first tried alternate routes of pain management before deciding to operate.

But back braces and medication did not relieve the shooting pain from Wooten's back. In mid December, he decided to have the surgery.

At 7:30 a.m., he was wheeled into an operating room at Spring Hill Regional. By 10:30 a.m., he walked out with his wife, Pat, to go home.

And for the first time in months, the pain was gone.

"It was pretty amazing," Wooten said. "I'd tell anybody to have this surgery. Even though I'm old, I'm still pretty active. I wasn't ready to die just yet."

Chandra Broadwater can be reached at cbroadwater@sptimes.com or 352 848-1432.

[Last modified January 29, 2007, 20:16:32]