Scoliosis: Life, Support & Friends

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...

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 Scol...

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 ...

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...

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 o...

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 o...

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 lan...