Scoliosis: Life, Support & Friends

I am supposed to be on holiday but as per usual clients don't leave us alone and I am looking forward to actually going away and leaving the house on Saturday so I don't have to look at my laptop again! I had Bowen again yesterday and Chris had it also for his RSI, our therapist wanted to see him before he went away on holiday so that his arms get chance this time to relax and rest and try to recover, usually he has his therapy and then continues to work and the body doesn't get much of a break, this sesions should help him a lot more than it has done in the past - providing he doesn't work - watch this space, I bet he does!!!!!!! I had Bowen and I am feeling a little worse for wear this morning, my therapist tells me she can feel that I am better than last week but I sure as hell don't agree, I feel as crap this week as I did last week, although I did get 7 hours in bed last night compared to my usual 3, it is still the lower discs and my memory foam bed really is...

Assessment of the centre of pressure pattern and moments about S2 in scoliotic subjects during normal walking Authors: Nachiappan Chockalingam, Surendra Bandi, Aziz Rahmatalla, Peter H Dangerfield and El-Nasri Ahmed Background Research employing gait measurements indicate asymmetries in ground reaction forces and suggest relationships between these asymmetries, neurological dysfunction and spinal deformity. Although, studies have documented the use of centre of pressure (CoP) and net joint moments in gait assessment and have assessed centre of mass (CoM)-CoP distance relationships in clinical conditions, there is a paucity of information relating to the moments about CoM. It is commonly considered that CoM is situated around S2 vertebra in normal upright posture and hence this study uses S2 vertebral prominence as reference point relative to CoM. Purpose To assess and establish, the asymmetry in the CoP pattern and moments about S2 vertebral prominence during level walking and its re...

I’ve just been offered some extra work, 3 hours a week. Lucky me! But it’s doing something I don’t want to do – language teaching to kids. That’s the way of it in the topsy-turvy land of Judith World at the moment, apply for something you don’t want. I’m not even a teacher, I’m a scientist, but I am bilingual and it’s a matter of needs must if you’ve got transferable skills and the recession bites. If being able to say “Shut up or I’ll chuck a board duster at you” or “Put that knife away” counts as a skill. I have a feeling you’re not allowed to do the former (not like it was in my day) and being able to run is probably better in the case of the latter. Oh dear, I don’t know whether to accept, I worked for the same bunch about 8 years ago and it felt like I was going into battle every week. But the few quid I’d end up with might keep the wolf and the HSBC a few inches further from the door. Maybe, instead, I can get a medical journal to pay me for publishing a paper I could write, call...

Authors: Hitesh N Modi, Seung Woo Suh, Hae-Ryong Song, Jae-Hyuk Yang, Hak-Jun Kim and Chetna H Modi Differential wedging of vertebral body and intervertebral disc in thoracic and lumbar spine in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis- A cross sectional study in 150 patients. Background Hueter-Volkmann's law regarding growth modulation suggests that increased pressure on the end plate of bone retards the growth (Hueter) and conversely, reduced pressure accelerates the growth (Volkmann). Literature described the same principle in Rat-tail model. Human spine and its deformity i.e. scoliosis has also same kind of pattern during the growth period which causes wedging in disc or vertebral body. Methods This cross sectional study in 150 patients of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis was done to evaluate vertebral body and disc wedging in scoliosis and to compare the extent of differential wedging of body and disc, in thoracic and lumbar area. We measured wedging of vertebral bodies and discs, alon...

Lung function asymmetry in children with congenital and infantile scoliosis Clinical Study Authors: Gregory Redding, Kit Song, Steve Inscore, Eric Effmann and Robert Campbell Abstract Background context Progressive scoliosis alters lung function by reducing chest wall compliance and excursion and rotating intrathoracic contents, producing an increasingly asymmetric lung size. The effect of this distortion on regional lung perfusion and ventilation has not been described in children with congenital and infantile forms of scoliosis. The severity of scoliosis is often described by the Cobb angle of the spine, but the relationship between Cobb angle and lung function asymmetry between concave and convex lungs has not been described in this group of children. Purpose To describe the frequency of asymmetric lung perfusion and ventilation among children with congenital or infantile thoracic scoliosis before surgical treatment and the relationship between Cobb angle and asymmetry of lung funct...

I haven't posted for a while about my Bowen therapy, I am still having that every week and feel I cannot live without it. Unfortunately, my pain is still there and when I wake after being laid down on my memory foam bed for a few hours, I wake, really stiff and can hardly move, I end up in the spare bed packed up with pillows and a roll pillow under my knees, leg spread as far apart as I can get them just to get some relief. I do not understand it because I wake up feeling really awful and I struggle to move about with increased amounts of shooting pains across the lumbar, I have to move really slowly just to get out of bed and then I walk bent double to get to the spare room - this happens every single day and I tell you what - it is starting to wear me down. Not only do I have this pain in my lumbar but I have pain in my shoulders that I cannot seem to shift, I feel it coming and then the pain starts to build, gets really sharp and then fades away again, I am always rolling my sh...

I would like to extend a warm welcome to Judith from our Scoliosis Yahoo Group , who has decided to join me in blogging on the ScoliosisNutty blog . A little background on Judith: "I first realised I had scoliosis when I was about 15 in the mid-1970s", and she said to her father "I go in more on one side than the other". He said "you've got scoliosis" but that was the end of the matter, nothing done, no medical advice. Judith has actually had back pain for as long as she could remember, and says "but only when I had to sit on something without a back and it wasn't that bad. I think in view of the problems people who had surgery at that time see to have now, I am quite glad". Fast forward to 2006, when her daughter Laura pointed out that she seemed to have one hip bigger than the other. Judith says "We went to our GP and he referred her to our local hospital, who in turn referred her to the RNOH at Stanmore. She had surgery there in ...

Just got back from an "Introduction to Sewing Machines" workshop. Along with 7 other people whose cumulative age was probably less than mine! "machine - Judith, Judith machine". Now make an apron. And I did! I finished first as well. This might have been something to do with the fact that the chairs were the usual scoli-rib unfriendly sort and I spent the whole time fidgeting, so I went as fast as I could! "Granny's finished" I shouted and they all looked at me blankly. Better than working, though. I've had a whole week off, doing all sorts of things I can't usually, like meet up with my best friend from primary school. I hadn't seen her for 30 years (don't try doing the maths - we last got together when we were in our twenties). Got my hair cut on Friday, the hairdresser tried to sell me a "product" every time I mentioned anything that was less than perfect. Perhaps if I'd stayed long enough (fidget fidget) he'd have ...

Ugly Betty star Vanessa Williams has Scoliosis. Before Vanessa became a famous star through her seasons of Ugly Betty she was to be a dancer. Vanessa was recently nominated for an Emmy for the 2nd time for her role as the wicked diva Wilhelmina Slater in Ugly Betty. For those of you who have not heard of Ugly Betty, it is an ABS comedy hit show dedicated to Mode magazine and the world of fashion. Vanessa Williams wanted to be a professional dander with the Joffrey Ballet until those plans were cut short by Scoliosis. (curvature of the spine) Vanessa is reported to have said "It derailed me for a while,". "It was so severe I had to have a spinal fusion where they put 8-inch metal rods and screws in my spine. I just took off one year where I didn't do any physical activity. But then, of course, I was terrified. It's so strange … It felt like having an operation and then healing and going back to your real body. It was really like having a new center of gravity and ...

Hey everyone, I have just come back from a short break, we left the morning after my last blog post actually. We drove down to Barrosa Beach in Cadiz and stayed in the Iberostar hotel - Andalucia Playa - it was lovely, we slept for 2 days thereabouts. We were so tired and really needed a break, moving house, working hard, furnishing another house, organising it for rent, fighting daily pain with Scoliosis and a host of other activities, putting it mildly - bushed! I would rather have gone without the car journey but once we had arrived I was in heaven, first time we had gone to a hotel that served buffet style food every night but we soon got used to that and worked out the rules and regulations surrounding how to eat buffet! ;) We had cocktails during the day around the pool, lounged on sunbeds all day long and every now and then we went for a walk on the beach and a play in the sea, Cadiz is on the Atlantic coast so the waves are alot of fun. I had a Thai Zen facial which was an expe...