Bob Morrison is a retired child therapist who enjoys restoring old cars and furniture, building drone-sized flying models, and hang gliding. Bob has a “very, very bad back,” that was initially the result of hang gliding. Hang gliding is similar to skydiving, he says, but you have much more control. Hard landings after tactical flying left Bob with damaged and abused vertebrae. The back pain he suffered led to a referral to Dr. Hopkins by his friend, a pain management doctor.
Upon his first visit, Dr. Hopkins suggested that Bob have NO surgery. After multiple scans and thorough research of Bob’s back, Dr. Hopkins said there was too much potential for further damage with surgery. Bob’s odds were better without surgery than with it. So, instead of surgery, Dr. Hopkins has been following up with Bob for years keeping a close eye on his back and helping with non-surgical treatments. This is one of the things Bob says makes Dr. Hopkins a “tremendously good doctor. I am really impressed by the fact that he isn’t surgery-happy.”
Bob describes his spinal scans as “a disaster.” He still occasionally deals with pain, but only if he doesn’t follow the doctor’s orders. “He taught me simple techniques to avoid putting stress on my back.” These things include never bend from the waist, always use your knees and a simple technique for rolling over in bed. “He taught me to do something called log rolling where you roll your entire body at one time so you don’t put any stress on any of the injuries in the back.” Bob says those two simple techniques are what has “taken care of me all this time.”
He continues to refer his friends and says he has “probably referred 20 people over the years,” all who had “great outcomes,” like his daughter. “My daughter has gone to him [Dr. Hopkins] over the years, and she’s had to have surgery. The outcome was tremendously good.” Bob and the people he has referred all say they are “enthusiastic” about how Dr. Hopkins not only treats them medically, but how he treats them as people. “His patients really like him and appreciate the fact that he takes the time to listen and show compassion.”