Interventional Treatments

Testimonial: Mark Johnson

It all began Father’s Day, 2001. Mark and his wife were stopped at a red light when they were suddenly rear-ended by a drunk driver. Mark sprained his back but little did he know that this was just the beginning of his spiraling pain.

Soon after the accident he started having lower back, hip and right leg pain that increased weekly. Mark began and failed a rigorous course of physical therapy. A former college athlete, “I lived by the old coach’s mantra of ‘you got to play hurt, or you can’t play’.” Despite his efforts, his pain worsened and slowly took over his life.

Over the next 3 years Mark would be referred to a seemingly endless list of specialists. They had no answers. For Mark, life had become a search for ways to cope with his pain. His world was quickly getting smaller. “I loved to spend time outdoors with my two sons camping, hiking and hunting. I was now too weak and in too much pain to even attempt it.” Soon, the unrelenting pain left him unable to walk without a cane. In the fall of 2004, he could no longer work and filed for disability. “I spent the next 10 months in bed, completely cut off from work, my friends and even my family.”

It was about this time that Mark’s general practitioner suggested that he be evaluated at Capitol Spine & Pain Centers. At the very first appointment, Mark immediately noticed a difference in the quality of care. The doctor spent time listening and getting the details about the accident. He watched the way I walked, the way I fidgeted in my chair in an effort to find some way to comfortably sit. He was the one who said, “Yes, you have a bad back, but I think that your SI joint is the source of your pain.”

It was determined that, in addition to disc and nerve damage, Mark also had a displaced SI Joint. Mark began a series of Prolotherapy treatments in an effort to stabilize the weakened joint and they inserted a spinal stimulator in his back to help alleviate the nerve pain in his leg. Finally, the pain started to recede and Mark was able to be weaned of the heavy narcotics that had become part of his everyday life.

Today, Mark’s life is on the right path. “I still deal with pain, but nothing like what I dealt with in the past. I’m back at work again and I now have high hopes that with continued treatment I’ll one day be pain-free! Today I can do things that I thought I would never do again. I can now go hunting with my son and take long walks with my wife. It all seemed impossible when I was laid up in bed. Anything’s possible now.”

Mark Johnson