Scoliosis: Has the credit crunch affected your Scoliosis?

So, how does a credit crunch come about and why has this affected me?

Well, a credit crunch is more often than not caused by a long period of careless and inappropriate (in other words the banks have borrowed more money than they can afford) lending which results in losses for lending institutions and investors in debt when the loans turn sour.

A knock on effect of the credit crunch is the reduced availability of credit. The cost of accessing credit is increased and thus raising interest rates.

This loss in credit available is making times hard for everyone around the globe, the changing of money from business to business or person to person is dramatically affected and even sound businesses are finding that cash flow is become harder and harder each month, their bank loans are slowing down and generally everyone is feeling like the World is going to stop spinning - it's not is it?

The reason I am bringing this subject up on my Scoliosis blog is because a few months ago, paying for my alternative treatments or exercise classes wasn't really an issue, I knew each month how much money I needed to fund my treatments and that was it, there were no worries or thoughts of how we were going to pay our mortgage this month, we just paid what we wanted to pay for and got on wirth life, cash flow rolled in, new work was scheduled and life was ticking over pretty nicely.

All of a sudden one day we woke up (or so it seemed anyway) and the money just seemed to stop flowing, invoices started to pile up, UN-PAID, and then BAM, the bank is empty, our customers just stopped paying!

We found ourselves in a situation where we needed to kick back and have a re-think here, this was all of a sudden serious, only a few weeks previously were we saying "this credit crunch isn't affecting us", little did we realise just how much it was going to affect us - we just hadn't sussed out how!

My Pilates month is now over on Thursday and if I wish to continue I need to pay again - €85, now, €85 isn't a lot of money, especially when you consider that Pilates is twice a week for an hour a session, but hold on a minute, there is credit crunch, every penny now counts and we plan on saving as much as we can and still being frugle, we don't want to find ourselves in a situation where we don't have rainy day money again, so ultimately something has to give and unfortunately luxury items are the first to go, and yeah you may say that back care is not a luxury item but when it comes to a toss up between exercise and eating, everyone would choose eating right?

Now I am not saying I cannot afford Pilates but my plight here, is, should I? Should I pay out this money and then risk not being paid by clients and wishing I had that €85 in my back pocket because "€85 will buy a lot of food", I also have to consider the 2 hours driving in the week that is required to get to class and back, that is fuel consumption and in this dwindling crisis we find ourselves in I am even looking at where we can save money on travelling and only making necessary journeys!

Dear, o dear, how did we get here, through no fault of our own either and what sickens this issue even more is the people who have been at the head of these companies get a nice fat check to resgin and who pays that? The chuffing tax payer, so, let me get this straight, you cock it all up, get greedy, lend too much money and now cannot afford to pay it back and we bail you out? And then to piss people off even more, we give them half a million pounds worth of tax payers money so they can continue their "way of life" - excuse me, what about my way of life? Oh yeah, we don't matter do we, we just pay our tax and keep the country running...........

So yeah, the credit crunch has affected my Scoliosis in more ways than one, who is going to save me if my company fails and I have to get a job? Who is going to give me a payout so I can continue my way of life and afford to pay for my exercise? Who is going to home me when I lose my house because I can't pay the mortgage? Nobody that's who, the banks have been hiding their dirty little secrets for so long and now the cat is out of the bag and trust me it is spaying all over the chuffing place, us tax payers are not so dumb anymore and I really think this World is trying to force some kind of revolution, haven't we been pushed about for long enough?

Let's face it, the people who work make the World go round, if it wasn't for tax payers there would be no big fat checks for payouts!!!!

I think I have ranted enough about this subject but I wanted to share my thoughts with you and see how you are fairing the credit crunch and have you had to cut back on health care or luxury items because of the current climate?

Scoliosis: Keeping on Keeping on

I didn't go to Yoga/Pilates on Thursday, I woke with awful lower back pain, a bit like I have been experiencing over the past months, I struggled to walk and had shooting pains down my legs and shooting pains going across the lumbar, I had to prop myself up when getting from A to B.

There was no way I could face the drive down to Marbella and back, the car always make my pains worse, it is not just the position that car seats force you to be in but the bumps and bangs on the road.

My muscles on the lower part of my back felt like they were going to go into spasm and that scares me the most because the pain is just un-bearable!!!

I wrote to Dr Ayllon to tell him that I wasn't going to make it, I didn't want him or the teacher thinking I couldn't be bothered, more like I couldn't get there on my own steam!

So far I have only managed to get to class once a week as every time I go to class, 2 days later I am in pain, most unusual.

I appreciate that I no longer have Scoliosis as such but I am still a Scoliosis patient and I do still have rods from T5 to L1 and they do give me trouble in life, this much cannot be denied.

Tonight we were doing an exercise where we had to lean forward and keep our spines straight, I had awful pulling up the top part of my back, it felt like my skin was going to split and the rod pop right out - not good, don't like that feeling one bit.

There is also another exercise where we have to lean on our sides, knees together and legs on top of each other, our arm bent at the elbow and the other arm in front of the chest, we breathe in and lift the knees off the floor to become straight, I have problems with this movement, I feel bad pressure on my lower spine and again the feeling like I am going to snap.

I spoke to the teacher after class for the first time tonight and explained all of these issues I am coming up against, she is going to speak with Dr Ayllon and see if they can help me further, next class she wants me next to her so I can tell her if it hurts and change the movements to suit my spine better. She felt the rod at the top of the back and called me "Robocop" - LOL!

I will see how I feel in the morning and Thursday morning and hope I can make the class twice this week for once.

Over and Out

Scoliosis: The Pain Again

Well I have had a good few weeks and as you know I am doing Yoga twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursday, Bowen has stopped for the time being while I concentrate on Yoga.

Tuesday's lesson went well and I got there early this time, managed to get off from work earlier and get there on time, meaning I could get a better spot on the floor, right in front of the teacher, I had been struggling to see what she was doing from the corner spot I had before.

The moves are getting harder and harder and I struggled to do what she asked on Tuesday and even had some pain during the lesson so I had to sit out, I can see the whole reason behind the classes and see that the ultimate goal is to strengthen the stomach muslces to help protect the spine, however, some of the moves require is us to have a round back, now I am sure the muscles do most of the work but with the make-up of my pinned spine I really struggle to round my back like the rest of the class does and I fear if I try and force this I will hurt myself.

Can a person with a rod from T5 to L1 round their back in this fashion?

Does a person's spine with instruments in behave in the same manner as those with normal spines? I doubt it does........

I woke this morning with pain as I had been in the months past, I hurt when I breathed and this is very similar to what was happening before and led me to go and see someone, although I still am not really sure what is causing this pain, we had discussed with the Dr the possibility of the disc. I was surprised to have this pain this morning as I have been good for so long, my husband noted to me that I am fine the day after Yoga but 2 days after the Yoga I complain of pain, I had not noticed this myself so I am glad he pointed this out to me.

As usual the pain subsides as I get moving so right now I am feeling a lot better, albeit very sore, Yoga class is again tonight and I just hope I can perform I am worried about being the only person in class who is struggling to do some of the movements.

I am now 6 pounds lighter than when I started all this 4 weeks ago, I have no doubts that this will help my spine and I do hope to lose more weight.

Anyone else out there doing a form of Yoga or Pilates, I would love to hear from you, how are you finding the moves, is there a point you get to where your stomach muscles are working to optimum and you can sit straight up from lying down?

Well, I must do some work now, be well all my Scoliosis friends and take care of your backs :)

Scoliosis: The Bra debate

Once again we have been discussing various topics on the Scoliosis Support Forum and one topic in common with many Scoliosis women is wearing bras.

I had a 76º Thoracic curve and my surgery was 7 1/2 hours and the result was a Harrington rod from T5 to L1, leaving me with a rib hump on my right hand side shoulder blade.

This rib hump makes the bra strap very un-even and rubs on the scar that I have down the centre of my back, after some time of wearing the bra I start to itch my scar, it becomes very sore and I have to take the bra off.



I bought a strap less bra some years ago and it sticks on the skin, it is a very strange looking bra as it is literally 2 cups that stick onto your boob and clip together at the front to create some kind of cleavage, it is very comfortable to wear and does not cause any discomfort for the Scoliosis patient as there is not straps over the shoulders and no strap around the back to cause distress to scars.

How this bra feels to the lady with bigger breasts, I wouldn't know. I am a 32B so I have a small chest and believe me I am glad about that, considering I have Scoliosis, I don't need the pressure of big boobs either.

Any Scoliosis patients out there with a large chest and find it more difficult because of the extra weight?

If I was to comment on the bad side of this bra I would say that in the summer they are practically impossible to wear, because the bra has a sticky inside it makes you sweat more than you would usually, allowing the bra to slide around and sometimes fall off altogether!

One of the group members said:
I was reading your e-mail about having trouble wearing bras over your scar. I have the same problem. If I wear a bra that hooks in the back and I have it on for a period of time it will start hurting my back and then everything starts hurting so I end up taking it off. I usually end up wearing camisoles. I find them to be the most comfotable but sometimes they can be bothersome too. I also wear bras that you can close in the front. They seem to be okay. Your right though it's very hard to find something that is comfortable and you can wear it all day long without bothering our backs.

Does Scoliosis cause pain?

We have been discussing this on the group and many patients have strong views about their scoliosis and the pain they are getting, especially when they go to see a Dr and he says, quite casually "scoliosis doesn't cause pain!".

So, let's get to the bottom of this debate.

The answer to the question in discussion is rather complicated, because it depends upon the amount of curvature of the spine and the amount of other degenerative changes, like arthritis, in certain parts of the spine. In general, most forms of scoliosis are not specifically painful.

It is common amongst Drs to believe that patients with curves that are less than 30 degrees should not have any more back pain in their life than someone who has a normal straight spine.

However, scoliosis does affect the whole body and larger curves over 30 degrees can cause significant changes in posture that can make it painful for the scoliosis patient to sit, stand or walk. Larger Scoliosis curves can have an effect on the lungs, heart, hips, jaw, throwing out of alignment and it is this that causes the pain.

Muscles in a person with scoliosis are constantly strained and become tired very quickly, the muscles are attempting to keep the scoliosis patient upright, this type of pain has been discussed as a dull and achy pain, constantly there and never feeling any better.

Scoliosis patients are just as susceptible to the same back problems as everyone else and these problems include degenerative arthritis, degenerative disc diseases, spinal stenosis, herniated and bulging discs. There are of course the conditions that are directly linked to scoliosis such as the intervertebral discs in the lumbar spine, for a patient who has lumbar scoliosis there is an increased biomechanical stress in these intervertebral discs, this can cause disc problems and they have a tendency to wear out quicker than those in a person with a normal spine.

Many scoliosis patients complain of pain after their surgery, especially those who have a Harrington rod that finishes beyond the L1 vertebrae in the Lumbar spine, classified as "Flatback Syndrome", the harrington rod was also known for "loss in the lumbar lordosis".

The intervertebral discs adjacent to the fused segment of the spine often wear out faster than they would in a person with a normal spine, this is very painful (it is happening to me and the pain is sometimes unbearable)

Scoliosis surgery carries a high risk (as do many surgeries) and failure of the surgery can result in many problems that cause pain for the patient.

Scoliosis patients tend to have the same aches and pains that affect the non-scoliosis patient, adding more stress and strain to the body and spine. Hips and knees can be affected.

I think we can safely come to the conclusion that Scoliosis DOES CAUSE PAIN and it is insensitive for a Dr to suggest otherwise, I think they should walk in our shoes for a day and then re-assess their medical advice or be more compassionate for the patient sat in front of them and DON'T patronise them by saying "Scoliosis doesn't cause pain", or at least explain the meaning behind the statement, especially when there is someone sat on front of them that has had pain on a daily basis.

Fair comment that the Scoliosis itself does not cause pain but there are many contributing factors that DO cause pain and in many cases this pain is a direct result of the Scoliosis in the patient, the surgery that has been carried out, or the curvature that has been left in the child that has now grown to be an adult and is bearing the weight of a scoliosis curvature over 50º.

Scoliosis comments from the group members:
I've been reading your e-mails on the doctor that said surgery is no big deal. I think he is totally wrong. I would get a second a opinion if a doctor told me that. I believe any surgery is a big deal and to hear that he was only going to keep the patient in the hospital for two days is really hard to believe. I had my surgery
in 2004. My doctor was very informative of the procedure and what would be happening while I was in the hospital. I had my surgery on a Monday and it lasted 12 hrs and that was only the first part.

I then went back down for the second part on the following Monday and that lasted another 8 hours. I was in the hospital a total of two weeks and from there I went to rehab for another week and a half. I came home and had alot of pain for a long time. It took me a while to get back into things. I was just getting use to the hardware in my back when I kept having pain in my back. In December of 2004 I ended up in the hospital with an infection and then I spent alot of 2005 in the hosptal with this infection and finally it went away. The doctor had to undo everything he did from the first surgery except the fusion. I'm finally recovering from it all but it has taken a long time. I also still have to be careful with things I do.

I don't want to scare anyone but I was told any back surgery is major surgery. I before my surgery check my doctor out and made sure he was qualify to do it. I would if I was you make sure the doctor knows all about scoliosis and see how many times he has done this surgery. My doctor still sees me to check how I'm doing and to make sure it isn't progressing. I made that mistake when I was young. I didn't have it check every year and it progress to 63 degrees. I tell people now to get it check and make sure you excecise. I hope this information will help anyone looking to have surgery. You really need to do alot of homework before making this big decision and could there be any alternatives to surgery. Thanks for this group I can finally let my feelings out.

Thank You

Calling for Scoliosis bloggers
Do you have Scoliosis, do you want to share your thoughts and feelings with the World, need to vent about your Dr and his practices? Come and join the ScoliosisNutty blog and be part of a team of Scoliosis patients, go on, change the World and let your feelings out!

Medtronic and SRS offer screening to 13,000 kids!

Medtronic and the Scoliosis Research Society launched Spine Check - a new program designed to help promote scoliosis screenings for middle school and junior high school students.

The Scoliosis Research Society (SRS), one of the world’s premier spine societies, and Medtronic are supporting the Spine Check program to help improve the overall spinal health of students. Because of a commitment to research and education in the field of spinal deformities, the organizations are working together to generate awareness of the condition, while offering resources to empower school nurses to perform screenings. Related content is also available to surgeons and other practitioners for use in facilitating community education.

“In the United States, less than half of the 50 states currently legislate school screening. The purpose of school screening is to detect scoliosis at an early stage when the curve is mild and may even go unnoticed,” said Lawrence Lenke, MD, Jerome J. Gilden Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and professor of neurosurgery at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, and vice president of the SRS. “As a child matures and becomes more modest, parents may have fewer opportunities to view the child’s back to notice a change.”

Scoliosis is a condition that occurs when the spine curves from side-to-side - often twisting the body. Of every 1,000 children in the population, three to five will develop some degree of scoliosis. i While most cases are minor, some 27,000 cases each year are so severe that surgery may be required to treat the condition. Yet experts say school screening is key to detecting scoliosis at an early stage when the deformity is mild and likely to otherwise go unnoticed. It is at this early stage that bracing programs may be effective at halting progression of the deformity and, in turn, at preventing the need for surgical treatment.

“Girls achieve skeletal maturity about two years before boys do and are afflicted with scoliosis that requires treatment three to four times more frequently than boys. Ideally, spinal screening should be conducted annually during the adolescent growth spurt (ages nine to 15 years), but time and personnel constraints may prohibit yearly screenings. So, if scoliosis screening is undertaken, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Scoliosis Research Society, Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, and American Academy of Pediatrics all agree that girls should be screened twice, at ages 10 and 12 years (grades five and seven), and boys once, at age 13 or 14 years (grades eight or nine),” said Kathy Blanke, registered nurse, Spinal Deformity Service, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine.

“Parents and children are often scared when facing a scoliosis diagnosis. iScoliosis.com is a family-friendly Web site designed to provide parents and children with information about scoliosis in a warm, non-threatening format. The SRS also makes additional educational information and the latest research on scoliosis available at SRS.org,” said Dr. Lenke.

To learn more about the Spine Check program, or for nurses to request a kit for their schools.

About the Spinal Business at Medtronic
The Spinal business at Medtronic is based in Memphis, Tenn. It is the global leader in today’s spine market and is committed to advancing the treatment of spinal conditions. The Spinal business collaborates with world-renowned surgeons, researchers, and innovative partners to offer state-of-the-art products and technologies for neurological, orthopedic, oral maxillofacial, and spinal conditions. Medtronic is committed to developing affordable, minimally invasive procedures that provide lifestyle friendly surgical therapies.

Spinal Treatments Medtronic
Patient-education Web site,
iscoliosis
Maturespine
Neck Surgery

About Medtronic
Medtronic, Inc., headquartered in Minneapolis, is the global leader in medical technology - alleviating pain, restoring health, and extending life for millions of people around the world.

References
i - “National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
Questions and Answers about Scoliosis in Children and Adolescents.
Published July 2001. Accessed August 12, 2008.

ii - U.S. Census Bureau. U.S. Interim Projections by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin.
Published March 2004. Accessed August 12, 2008.

iii - National Inpatient Profile. Chicago, IL: SMG Marketing Group Inc; 2000.

Medtronic, Inc

Scoliosis: A session in Spine School

I went to Spine School last night, I wasn't looking forward to going after a hard day's work but I will do what my Dr has requested.

I had to be there for 7:30 start so I left home 30 minutes before and headed off to Marbella, got there on time but then the receptionist took forever to put my payment through so I ended up having to wait ages and then I was the last person to join the class and I hate walking into a room where everyone is waiting for me, they turn and stare at you.

So, basically the class was Yoga but concentrating on the lumbar spine, as a person who has done Yoga for many years it was all new to me and I was surprised by this, there were many new moves that I had never done before, some of the moves I really struggled to do and just couldn't get up like she wanted me to so I had to get up from the floor as I would normally.

The instructor was Spanish and the class was all in Spanish so I struggled a bit there, I have a good understanding of the Spanish language but they talk so quick sometimes so I miss sections of sentences, I did learn some new words though so that is always a bonus!

To get up from the floor after being laid down I roll over get up onto my knees and then stand up that way, she wanted me to grab my knees, gently rock and then in one strong movement get up onto my feet.

The session was for an hour and we also used a hoop with pressure pads on each side, that too was new to me but I enjoyed those exercises, my legs did start to wobble a bit though, a good sign that I need to do more exercise!

We did a lot of leg exercises while laying on the floor and extending one leg and then swapping legs as we bend to the knee and then straighten the leg to the ceiling.

I go back on Tuesday for another hour so we will see how I get on, no doubt I will get stronger as each week rolls on by.

I did feel a bit worse when I got back last night and I was expecting to have further pains this morning but I feel better than I expected, although I have had a pain killer.

On a good note I am now 5 pounds lighter and feeling a lot better for that, I am hoping to lose a stone and if I can a bit more than that, my Dr said the ideal weight for me is 11 stone but I like to be 10 stone 6 pounds, I feel a lot sexier at that weight and I look much better in clothes, my face has dropped most of the weight and I am not so hamster looking anymore :)

Anyone else out there doing Yoga or some form of Physio, how is it making you feel?