Scoliosis: Life, Support & Friends

WOW! I can't believe it I have been doing this gym thing now for 4 weeks and my trainer Daisy Hudson is really starting to crack the whip with me and boy oh boy can I feel it! Now, as I mentioned before with my previous gym efforts, it had all gone very sour by now, simply because I had over strained something and the trainer didn't understand the mechanics of a twisted spine, however, this time round is very, very different. Daisy has listened to my tales of woe regarding my back, tried her best to understand what I can and cannot do due to the Harrington Rod and generally been a great support for my work-outs - I am starting to love it! As per usual I started off with the Power Plate session which lasts just 20 minutes, Daisy works a lot on my legs during this time and I carry out a lot of squat movements 1of which is a deep squat for 45 seconds - she has me laying on both sides for cellulite which is also a bit of a time out and relaxation. We then do some of the yoga mov...

The outcomes of scoliosis treatment are being evaluated continually in an attempt to optimise the results for each scoliosis patient. The two prinicpal goals of any scoliosis surgery are to limit further curve progression and achieve some degreeof deformity correction. The greater the focus on deformity correction, however, the greater the risk of procedure, with the most obvious risk being limitation of spinal cord function. Advances in surgical technique, instrumentation, and intra-operative monitoring of the spinal cord have allowed greater and safer deformity correction than that achieved with the Harrington rod , which is the correction I had in 1989. The Harrington rod is from the era of the 1960s and 1970s. Deformity correction both radiographically and with regard to trunk shape is important to many patients with scoliosis. The functional outcome after fusion is equally important and may be assessed using a variety of methods, including measurements of physiologic function, s...

It started so well, we casually gathered our belongings as we were heading down to the coast so my husband could play poker with his friends, stay at our townhouse and then get up the next day and finish off the last few bits before our guests arrive on Sunday for 3 months, from Canda. We spent a few hours at our friend's house, Chris played poker while I chatted to my girlfriend, Karen. I was comfortable while at their house, we were sat on a swing which has good support for the back and not too soft. This morning we went out for breakfast and I was fine, although feeling the effects of the bottle and a half of wine we drank each, hehehe. We then had to go to the shop and buy some curtain ends, nothing too exciting or over strenuous! Back at the house we put curtains up, checked the internet was on as planned and I cleaned the windows and did some light pruning in the garden, the plumbago and gazanias are amazingly large now so I cut them back and cleaned up after myself, s...

It all started off so well! Monday morning, get up, start the week with a great breakfast, cup of coffee, let the chickens out into their coop, grab the diary and work out the whens, wheres and whys of what needs to be done. So off I went into town as I had to post some Mobi orders out to Slovakia, so I parked outside the post office in my trusty diasbled spot, walked to the shop to buy my brown wrapping paper and bubble wrap, went to the bank and paid some bills - everything going OK so far, I have not done anything particularly strenuous, the bags I was carrying were not heavy and I was wearing flat shoes (as always!). I spent a good 20 minutes wrapping the items I needed to post and then a further 30 minutes in the queue waiting to send them! I then went from there and did some supermarket shopping, again nothing strenuous or stressful, I didn´t rush around the supermarket or lift anything over heavy, however, I was in and out of the car yesterday so I don´t think this helped, ...

Join our support group to meet other families and patients living with Scoliosis Scoliosis Journal report about the surgical treatment of Scoliosis in Smith-Magenis Syndrome Authors:  Athanasios I Tsirikos , Alexander D.L Baker and Claire McClean Introduction Smith-Magenis syndrome is a rare genetic condition associated with scoliosis in approximately 30% of cases. There is limited information in the literature on the treatment of scoliosis and the surgical outcome in patients with this condition. Characteristic features of the syndrome, such as the presence of congenital heart and renal disease, inherent immunodeficiency, as well as severe behavioural disorders may complicate the surgical treatment of patients. Case Presentation We present the case of an 11-year-old British Caucasian girl with Smith-Magenis syndrome who developed a severe, progressive thoracic and lumbar scoliosis measuring 85degrees and 80degrees, respectively. She had no cardiac or renal anomalies. Brace t...

TranS1 has pioneered a revolutionary approach to access. The AxiaLIF (Axial Lumbar Interbody Fusion) System includes surgical instruments for creating a safe and reproducible pre-sacral access route to the L5 - S1 vertebral bodies. The AxiaLIF technique features novel instrumentation to enable standard of care fusion principles, distraction and stabilization of the anterior lumbar column, while mitigating the soft tissue trauma associated with traditional lumbar fusion through open surgical incisions. Riley News, in the USA, recently ran a story about a 71 year old mean who had been treated using the less invasive X-Lif procedure. This procedure is done through small stab incisions on the sides to gain access.  Patinets lie on their side for this procedure, allowing the surgeon to remove the affected disc/s and replace with spacers, the surgeon will then lie the patient face down, to allow him to create small stab incisions where he can place screws and fuse the bones with rods. ...

ScoliosisJournal report that a specific scoliosis classification correlating with brace treatment: description and reliability Connect with Scoliosis patients on our Scoliosis Yahoo! support group Authors: Manuel D Rigo , Monica Villagrasa and Dino Gallo Background Spinal classification systems for scoliosis which were developed to correlate with surgical treatment have historically been used in brace treatment as well. There has previously not been classification systems developed specifically to correlate with brace design and treatment. The purpose of this study is to show the intra- and inter- observer reliability of a new scoliosis classification system correlating with brace treatment. Methods A novel classification system ("Rigo Classification") was developed in order to define specific principles of correction required for efficacious brace design and fabrication. The classification includes radiological as well as clinical criteria. The radiological crite...