Well, I realize it's been a while since my last post (over a month - yikes!), which means that I'm back in slacker mode. I haven't made any headway on my custom exercise program so there is nothing to report there hence the lack of postings. I'm still waiting for help on my initial self-assessment in order to truly customize the exercises so I guess that's part of the inactivity problem. The other part is, of course, the lack of inspiration on my part to truly take hold of my scoliosis and do something about it. There's no question that the mental part of the disease is by far the biggest struggle for me to overcome. It's so easy to give up on something that might be beneficial since the results are not immediate.
In any case, I'm hoping to have the program sorted out within the next few weeks and over Christmas since I have some time off coming then.
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Continued story
Once I finished school in Moose Jaw, I had decided to move to Calgary (where I still live today) since I figured my chances of getting a job in my field would be better there. Living in a bigger city, I thought I could get better access to people who were already working on new ways to deal with scoliosis. It took a while to get a regular doctor and in the meantime, I got x-rays done again and found that my curve had shifted again (for the worse). For some reason that I'm sure I'll never understand, every time I get a new doctor (with the exception of my newest one), they never retrieve my previous medical files to follow the progress of my scoliosis. It is by far my number one health problem and most of my previous doctors have all but ignored it.
In any case, based on recommendations from my first regular and now previous doctor in Calgary, I went to physiotherapy again to learn exercises to help me out on a daily basis. As previously mentioned, this is not something I'm good at keeping up with on my own so I figured I could buy the gym pass they offered and do the exercises at the clinic instead. However, without a vehicle, this became too difficult to manage time-wise. Regardless of my lack of commitment, the final straw for abandoning physiotherapy this time around was due to something that the head physiotherapist said to me once. She informed me quite abruptly after seeing my curve for the first time that I would definitely need surgery and sooner rather than later. This was the absolute first time anyone had ever said that to me and I was now around 22 or 23 having been diagnosed with scoliosis approximately 9 years earlier. It really upset me to think that surgery was my only option at that point.
Since then, I've tried various exercise programs such as yoga and pilates to help ease some of the daily stiffness as well as pain when it decides to strike. Again, being the lazy person that I can be, I have not kept up with them. I know that the biggest reason for my increased curves and subsequent pain is my lack of commitment to a beneficial exercise program. I would like to add however, that without the support of a doctor who has extensive knowledge of scoliosis or the foresight to obtain my previous medical records, it becomes difficult to convince myself that I need the help.
I haven't had x-rays done in a few years now and really have no idea how bad my curves really are. I don't know the angles whatsoever or whether my internal organs are being crushed by my misplaced back (although it certainly feels that way sometimes). So, with renewed commitment, I have decided that if my scoliosis is going to get better without drastic measures, then I must take it upon myself to find the cure, so to speak.
In so doing, I go to acupuncture every two months or so to help keep the pain away and I visit a chiropractor for active release therapy every few months. Active release therapy is wonderful for loosening my tight muscles (for me, at the base of my neck and in my shoulders is where it gets tightest) and reminding them of their proper function. Basically, it's a replacement for massage and much cheaper (although massages are great too, especially for the whole body).
My final plan is to design my own yoga program based on a great book I came across a couple of years ago. The book is "Back Care Basics: A Doctor's Gentle Yoga Program for Back and Neck Pain Relief" by Mary Pullig Schatz, M.D. There is an entire chapter devoted to scoliosis and how to adapt the exercises to your own particular needs. I'm just in the process of figuring out which exercises I will need to do and how often. I will keep my blog updated with my progress throughout this process.
In any case, based on recommendations from my first regular and now previous doctor in Calgary, I went to physiotherapy again to learn exercises to help me out on a daily basis. As previously mentioned, this is not something I'm good at keeping up with on my own so I figured I could buy the gym pass they offered and do the exercises at the clinic instead. However, without a vehicle, this became too difficult to manage time-wise. Regardless of my lack of commitment, the final straw for abandoning physiotherapy this time around was due to something that the head physiotherapist said to me once. She informed me quite abruptly after seeing my curve for the first time that I would definitely need surgery and sooner rather than later. This was the absolute first time anyone had ever said that to me and I was now around 22 or 23 having been diagnosed with scoliosis approximately 9 years earlier. It really upset me to think that surgery was my only option at that point.
Since then, I've tried various exercise programs such as yoga and pilates to help ease some of the daily stiffness as well as pain when it decides to strike. Again, being the lazy person that I can be, I have not kept up with them. I know that the biggest reason for my increased curves and subsequent pain is my lack of commitment to a beneficial exercise program. I would like to add however, that without the support of a doctor who has extensive knowledge of scoliosis or the foresight to obtain my previous medical records, it becomes difficult to convince myself that I need the help.
I haven't had x-rays done in a few years now and really have no idea how bad my curves really are. I don't know the angles whatsoever or whether my internal organs are being crushed by my misplaced back (although it certainly feels that way sometimes). So, with renewed commitment, I have decided that if my scoliosis is going to get better without drastic measures, then I must take it upon myself to find the cure, so to speak.
In so doing, I go to acupuncture every two months or so to help keep the pain away and I visit a chiropractor for active release therapy every few months. Active release therapy is wonderful for loosening my tight muscles (for me, at the base of my neck and in my shoulders is where it gets tightest) and reminding them of their proper function. Basically, it's a replacement for massage and much cheaper (although massages are great too, especially for the whole body).
My final plan is to design my own yoga program based on a great book I came across a couple of years ago. The book is "Back Care Basics: A Doctor's Gentle Yoga Program for Back and Neck Pain Relief" by Mary Pullig Schatz, M.D. There is an entire chapter devoted to scoliosis and how to adapt the exercises to your own particular needs. I'm just in the process of figuring out which exercises I will need to do and how often. I will keep my blog updated with my progress throughout this process.
Monday, October 17, 2005
More about me
So to continue on my previous post, I have tried many different treatments over the years to make my scoliosis easier to live with. After I was diagnosed, I went to a chiropractor usually once or twice per week for about three years. I finally decided, just before Grade 12, that it wasn't really making a difference so I stopped going and haven't been to one since. I had also seen a physiotherapist at the local hospital who gave me exercises to work on at home. I believe I only saw her a few times and I'm terrible at keeping up exercise plans on my own so I eventually stopped those as well.
Once I arrived at university in Guelph, I wasn't doing anything to make the scoliosis better and I eventually developed some sciatic nerve pain on my left side. After going to the health centre on campus, I was referred to the sports medicine clinic. There, with the help of kinesiology students, I received a variety of treatments including massage, electric muscle stimulation and more exercises. I would go to the sports medicine clinic usually twice a week and eventually, the sciatic pain went away.
I had also been referred to one of the hospital's in Guelph for some new x-rays. For the first time, they took x-rays of my legs and discovered that the reason for my scoliosis was due to my right shin being 1 cm shorter than my left shin. I had been wearing a heel lift since my chiropractor days but it fell apart regularly. So they made me a new one that I still wear today although I'm not sure how effective it really is anymore.
I left university after my second year because I decided it wasn't for me and eventually wound up in Moose Jaw to go to tech school. Once in Moose Jaw, I didn't see any doctors regularly and therefore, my back went unchecked while there.
I'll continue the story in the next post.
Once I arrived at university in Guelph, I wasn't doing anything to make the scoliosis better and I eventually developed some sciatic nerve pain on my left side. After going to the health centre on campus, I was referred to the sports medicine clinic. There, with the help of kinesiology students, I received a variety of treatments including massage, electric muscle stimulation and more exercises. I would go to the sports medicine clinic usually twice a week and eventually, the sciatic pain went away.
I had also been referred to one of the hospital's in Guelph for some new x-rays. For the first time, they took x-rays of my legs and discovered that the reason for my scoliosis was due to my right shin being 1 cm shorter than my left shin. I had been wearing a heel lift since my chiropractor days but it fell apart regularly. So they made me a new one that I still wear today although I'm not sure how effective it really is anymore.
I left university after my second year because I decided it wasn't for me and eventually wound up in Moose Jaw to go to tech school. Once in Moose Jaw, I didn't see any doctors regularly and therefore, my back went unchecked while there.
I'll continue the story in the next post.
Friday, October 14, 2005
A little more about me...
Well, I've never had a blog before or even posted a message on anyone else's blog so please bear with me as I figure out how everything works.
I decided to start this blog since I have scoliosis and although there are a lot of scoliosis blogs out there, most seem to revolve around people who have had surgery and/or wore a brace to improve their curve. As for myself, I was too old (i.e. was not going to grow enough) when I was diagnosed with scoliosis (kyphoscoliosis to be exact) to make wearing a brace useful. I have not had surgery and I don't intend to either. None of my doctors have ever recommended that I even see a specialist, except when I was diagnosed at age 14, or even seem to be too concerned with my ever-increasing curve and subsequent pain. The most I've ever been told is to exercise more, particularly yoga, to help ease some of the pain.
I'm not usually in pain however, every few months, my curve seems to move a little causing what I call 'back attacks'. This is by far the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced whereby it rips across my rib cage in the back and then comes through my chest such that I have difficulty breathing. I always know when an attack is about to occur since I get shooting pain along my right jaw line. I have Naproxen which I use only when I feel an attack coming on, and if I catch it soon enough, I can usually avoid the attack altogether. If I don't stop it in time, the attack can last anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour or more. Afterwards, I feel very drained and I'm very careful not to move too much in case I set it off again.
I started seeing an acupuncturist just over a year ago since the attacks had been increasing in frequency and I couldn't handle the pain anymore. Acupuncture has done a world of good for me and I can't say enough about it. I had been going twice a week in the beginning and slowly, after a few months, reduced the visits to once a week, then every two weeks, then every month. As with most things I do to make my scoliosis easier to live with, I got used to the treatments and found they weren't as effective any longer. So, I decided to stop for around 2 months to see what would happen. Now, I go every couple of months or so and it's enough to keep the pain away for the most part.
Anyway, that's just a little about where I'm at right now. I'll write more soon.
I decided to start this blog since I have scoliosis and although there are a lot of scoliosis blogs out there, most seem to revolve around people who have had surgery and/or wore a brace to improve their curve. As for myself, I was too old (i.e. was not going to grow enough) when I was diagnosed with scoliosis (kyphoscoliosis to be exact) to make wearing a brace useful. I have not had surgery and I don't intend to either. None of my doctors have ever recommended that I even see a specialist, except when I was diagnosed at age 14, or even seem to be too concerned with my ever-increasing curve and subsequent pain. The most I've ever been told is to exercise more, particularly yoga, to help ease some of the pain.
I'm not usually in pain however, every few months, my curve seems to move a little causing what I call 'back attacks'. This is by far the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced whereby it rips across my rib cage in the back and then comes through my chest such that I have difficulty breathing. I always know when an attack is about to occur since I get shooting pain along my right jaw line. I have Naproxen which I use only when I feel an attack coming on, and if I catch it soon enough, I can usually avoid the attack altogether. If I don't stop it in time, the attack can last anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour or more. Afterwards, I feel very drained and I'm very careful not to move too much in case I set it off again.
I started seeing an acupuncturist just over a year ago since the attacks had been increasing in frequency and I couldn't handle the pain anymore. Acupuncture has done a world of good for me and I can't say enough about it. I had been going twice a week in the beginning and slowly, after a few months, reduced the visits to once a week, then every two weeks, then every month. As with most things I do to make my scoliosis easier to live with, I got used to the treatments and found they weren't as effective any longer. So, I decided to stop for around 2 months to see what would happen. Now, I go every couple of months or so and it's enough to keep the pain away for the most part.
Anyway, that's just a little about where I'm at right now. I'll write more soon.
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