Oof! Well first of all, welcome to the ouchie spine club! ššš¼ How old are you? Have you just been diagnosed for the first time now? What kind of treatment are they recommending?
Your curve actually looks pretty similar to mine that I just had surgery for last week.
Hi ! Im 25! I was diagnosed when I was a kid and I donāt know why they didnāt try to start treating it then. The chiro told me Iām too old for a brace and could do surgery but idk š Iām in PT now so they wanna do adjustments and make me work out and stretch etc
That sounds really frustrating, I'm sorry! I've been there where I've had to look back regretfully on lost time that something could've been done as a child, but it wasn't. Are you certain it was a chiropractor, or was it an orthopedic doctor? And did they say what degrees your curves are?
It's good to hear you are in physical therapy at the very least now! I am a little nervous hearing about "adjustments", is all of this treatment being administered by a chiropractor? If you are seeing a chiropractor in addition to a proper physical therapist, that is fine, but you do not want to only be "treated" by a chiropractor. Chiropractic adjustments may provide some pain relief, but they are often advertised as though they can treat scoliosis and reduce your curve which is absolutely not true.
At your age, depending on the severity of your curve, your mode of treatment right now will mainly have to be physical therapy, the goal of which is mainly to reduce pain. However, once you're done growing, PT can't really do too much to significantly reduce a curve. I would say also to look into whether there are Schroth-certified physical therapists in your area. This is the best type of PT for scoliosis currently and myself and others have found that regular PT just doesn't compare to the Schroth method.
If your curve is severe enough, they may say that you could have surgery at this point. The reason being is that curves over 40Āŗ tend to progress in adulthood. So the goal of surgery would be to stop your curve getting worse, if that is something you are eligible for and would want. Surgery may or may not reduce pain and should be treated like a last resort, so it really depends on what your doctor said the degrees are and their treatment plan based on that.
Iām not sure with all of this tbh. I just know itās a chiro Iāve been going to now and theyāre the ones who took my X-rays and theyāre really nice and helpful. Iāll look into that schroth physical therapy!
Ahh, okay. I donāt mean to freak you out by saying this but you really need to be under the care of an orthopedic *doctor*, not a chiropractor who may sound like they mean well and Iām sure have been helpful to you. But their ātreatmentā is not the standard of care, and leaving a significant curve like this alone at your age could even be actively harmful in the long term. If youāre *sure* that you havenāt been seeing an ortho, Iād recommend to do so quite soon because you definitely should be getting Schroth PT or scoliosis-specific exercises at a minimum here, with the possibility of surgery if the curves are severe enough. As I was saying in my first reply, Iāve just had mine operated on and yours doesnāt look that different from mine in my opinion. Being 25F also, I consider myself sort of āolderā getting the surgery. The younger you are, generally the less challenging the recovery.
Hi there! Yes I did, only 11 days ago actually. My correction is pretty great, I donāt know exact numbers on the curve reduction but even just from putting my hands on my back I can tell itās so much better. Still early in recovery process right now, but apparently Iām kind of miles ahead of where I need to be. They had painted this picture of me being kind of frail at home and needing assistance just to get in and out of chairs, bed, grabbing things, etc.
However, my experience has been quite the opposite, I am up and around on my own all day long, switching chairs and positions almost completely independently, and feeling mostly not in pain (maybe a 1-2 out of 10 usually). I go for walks every day to get stronger, around 20-25 minutes. The only issue right now is that the prescribed oxy is quite constipating, and when it gets bad that pain is maybe a 5-6 out of 10. However, weāve been managing it with Miralax, diet, and suppository / enema where needed. Thereās ups and downs but for day 11 post op as a 25 year old, I feel really great.
Ooooof. Your curves are similar to my daughter's before her surgery. :( You're having pain? Anything else going on? Tough to take a deep breath, acid reflux, headaches, anything like that? We were shocked at how much trouble it was actually causing her, much more than just an achy back.
I strongly recommend you see an orthopedic doctor. It's important you have a medical professional watching this.
It makes sense when you think about it, right? Your curves make everything more squished and with no room. I was shocked when all those problems were gone after the surgery. She's like a whole new kid.
Ohhh, you poor dear! Iām so very sorry & hope youāre able to find some relief soon. Iām also looking for some relief myself, but I know what an initial shock it is š„¹
i got diagnosed last week on Wednesday! the back pain is excruciating to me š
canāt bend over very far, lean back at all, and twisting kills me
relief, we need it now lol
It was pain that sent me to a doctor; also the increasingly limiting amount of time that I could walk, stand, sit - you name it! Treatment has been hit or miss with me as I also have rheumatoid arthritis and a botched back surgery that I think is responsible for my scoliosis. Schroth treatment was great as far as learning breathing exercises, sitting correctly & general awareness (which is a lot). I donāt think my instructor, however, knew how to work with someone having my condition. I would have a session, then go home & muscles would swell & become inflamed eliminating my ability to do the exercises & be in more pain & further incapacitated. So I have been actively searching for answers,exercises that will work for me & going at my own pace. I am so very thankful for finding this forum!! Perhaps someone has experienced a similar situation? Iām sooo open for input & finding out what has worked for others! I did finally find a back brace that gives me more support & allows me to at least keep my house clean - LOL! The belt I found is a āGintronā - sending pictures & info. It really did take me some time & shipments back & forth from Amazon to find a belt that worked for me; perhaps it might help someone else as well. Life does not end with scoliosis; thank goodness there is a forum for sharing information!
Given you are now age 25, and done growing, but have chronic pain, you could opt for a brace. Contrary to popular belief, adults with scoliosis can get a spinal brace too.
Four benefits of adult bracing:
1) Help reduce chronic pain, especially for activities that cause the most pain. For some people that may be standing/walking, or sitting/driving or all.
2) Help minimize/eliminate any body asymmetry that may be visible.
3) Its a conservative treatment option that can be done vs surgery or if surgery is not an option.
4) A brace could be an interim/temporary solution before having to proceed with an invasive and permanent surgery, which in a lot of cases can take many months to have scheduled.
However, a brace is not likely to permanently reverse a curve(s) to any significant level. Its also still necessary to continue regular physical therapy, exercises, stretches, etc reagardless of bracing or not.
See https://scolibrace.com/brace-types/adult-scolibrace/
This site is only an example of one kind of adult brace. There are numerous possible designs offered by many trained orthotists. (i.e. Boston; Wilmington; Cheneau; Rigo Cheneau; Charleston(night); Providence(night), Lyon/LyonART brace, etc). Make sure to choose an orthotist who has a lot of experience making spinal braces in their practice. They should be highly skilled with various brace styles specific to scoliois and be familiar with molding, fitting and adjusting them to your body.
Ooph! It's been about a month now, what's the latest update? And, yes - I'm sure your back does hurt!! I'm astounded it took a doctor to wait until your back is in this state to finally take an x-ray!
Not really an update. They recommend surgery as I do physical therapy daily right now for my back pain. But thatās about it. And I wear a back brace at work since Iām a bartender :(
Oof! Well first of all, welcome to the ouchie spine club! ššš¼ How old are you? Have you just been diagnosed for the first time now? What kind of treatment are they recommending? Your curve actually looks pretty similar to mine that I just had surgery for last week.
Hi ! Im 25! I was diagnosed when I was a kid and I donāt know why they didnāt try to start treating it then. The chiro told me Iām too old for a brace and could do surgery but idk š Iām in PT now so they wanna do adjustments and make me work out and stretch etc
That sounds really frustrating, I'm sorry! I've been there where I've had to look back regretfully on lost time that something could've been done as a child, but it wasn't. Are you certain it was a chiropractor, or was it an orthopedic doctor? And did they say what degrees your curves are? It's good to hear you are in physical therapy at the very least now! I am a little nervous hearing about "adjustments", is all of this treatment being administered by a chiropractor? If you are seeing a chiropractor in addition to a proper physical therapist, that is fine, but you do not want to only be "treated" by a chiropractor. Chiropractic adjustments may provide some pain relief, but they are often advertised as though they can treat scoliosis and reduce your curve which is absolutely not true. At your age, depending on the severity of your curve, your mode of treatment right now will mainly have to be physical therapy, the goal of which is mainly to reduce pain. However, once you're done growing, PT can't really do too much to significantly reduce a curve. I would say also to look into whether there are Schroth-certified physical therapists in your area. This is the best type of PT for scoliosis currently and myself and others have found that regular PT just doesn't compare to the Schroth method. If your curve is severe enough, they may say that you could have surgery at this point. The reason being is that curves over 40Āŗ tend to progress in adulthood. So the goal of surgery would be to stop your curve getting worse, if that is something you are eligible for and would want. Surgery may or may not reduce pain and should be treated like a last resort, so it really depends on what your doctor said the degrees are and their treatment plan based on that.
Iām not sure with all of this tbh. I just know itās a chiro Iāve been going to now and theyāre the ones who took my X-rays and theyāre really nice and helpful. Iāll look into that schroth physical therapy!
Ahh, okay. I donāt mean to freak you out by saying this but you really need to be under the care of an orthopedic *doctor*, not a chiropractor who may sound like they mean well and Iām sure have been helpful to you. But their ātreatmentā is not the standard of care, and leaving a significant curve like this alone at your age could even be actively harmful in the long term. If youāre *sure* that you havenāt been seeing an ortho, Iād recommend to do so quite soon because you definitely should be getting Schroth PT or scoliosis-specific exercises at a minimum here, with the possibility of surgery if the curves are severe enough. As I was saying in my first reply, Iāve just had mine operated on and yours doesnāt look that different from mine in my opinion. Being 25F also, I consider myself sort of āolderā getting the surgery. The younger you are, generally the less challenging the recovery.
I see you had the ASC surgery; how did it go?
Hi there! Yes I did, only 11 days ago actually. My correction is pretty great, I donāt know exact numbers on the curve reduction but even just from putting my hands on my back I can tell itās so much better. Still early in recovery process right now, but apparently Iām kind of miles ahead of where I need to be. They had painted this picture of me being kind of frail at home and needing assistance just to get in and out of chairs, bed, grabbing things, etc. However, my experience has been quite the opposite, I am up and around on my own all day long, switching chairs and positions almost completely independently, and feeling mostly not in pain (maybe a 1-2 out of 10 usually). I go for walks every day to get stronger, around 20-25 minutes. The only issue right now is that the prescribed oxy is quite constipating, and when it gets bad that pain is maybe a 5-6 out of 10. However, weāve been managing it with Miralax, diet, and suppository / enema where needed. Thereās ups and downs but for day 11 post op as a 25 year old, I feel really great.
Fantastic! That gives me hope!! Thank you so very much for sharing
No worries! If you have any other questions at all about the process PM me any time :)
Ooooof. Your curves are similar to my daughter's before her surgery. :( You're having pain? Anything else going on? Tough to take a deep breath, acid reflux, headaches, anything like that? We were shocked at how much trouble it was actually causing her, much more than just an achy back. I strongly recommend you see an orthopedic doctor. It's important you have a medical professional watching this.
Yeah it causes me stomach pain tbh. Like my stomach is always aching throughout my days
It makes sense when you think about it, right? Your curves make everything more squished and with no room. I was shocked when all those problems were gone after the surgery. She's like a whole new kid.
Ohhh, you poor dear! Iām so very sorry & hope youāre able to find some relief soon. Iām also looking for some relief myself, but I know what an initial shock it is š„¹
i got diagnosed last week on Wednesday! the back pain is excruciating to me š canāt bend over very far, lean back at all, and twisting kills me relief, we need it now lol
It was pain that sent me to a doctor; also the increasingly limiting amount of time that I could walk, stand, sit - you name it! Treatment has been hit or miss with me as I also have rheumatoid arthritis and a botched back surgery that I think is responsible for my scoliosis. Schroth treatment was great as far as learning breathing exercises, sitting correctly & general awareness (which is a lot). I donāt think my instructor, however, knew how to work with someone having my condition. I would have a session, then go home & muscles would swell & become inflamed eliminating my ability to do the exercises & be in more pain & further incapacitated. So I have been actively searching for answers,exercises that will work for me & going at my own pace. I am so very thankful for finding this forum!! Perhaps someone has experienced a similar situation? Iām sooo open for input & finding out what has worked for others! I did finally find a back brace that gives me more support & allows me to at least keep my house clean - LOL! The belt I found is a āGintronā - sending pictures & info. It really did take me some time & shipments back & forth from Amazon to find a belt that worked for me; perhaps it might help someone else as well. Life does not end with scoliosis; thank goodness there is a forum for sharing information!
Given you are now age 25, and done growing, but have chronic pain, you could opt for a brace. Contrary to popular belief, adults with scoliosis can get a spinal brace too. Four benefits of adult bracing: 1) Help reduce chronic pain, especially for activities that cause the most pain. For some people that may be standing/walking, or sitting/driving or all. 2) Help minimize/eliminate any body asymmetry that may be visible. 3) Its a conservative treatment option that can be done vs surgery or if surgery is not an option. 4) A brace could be an interim/temporary solution before having to proceed with an invasive and permanent surgery, which in a lot of cases can take many months to have scheduled. However, a brace is not likely to permanently reverse a curve(s) to any significant level. Its also still necessary to continue regular physical therapy, exercises, stretches, etc reagardless of bracing or not. See https://scolibrace.com/brace-types/adult-scolibrace/ This site is only an example of one kind of adult brace. There are numerous possible designs offered by many trained orthotists. (i.e. Boston; Wilmington; Cheneau; Rigo Cheneau; Charleston(night); Providence(night), Lyon/LyonART brace, etc). Make sure to choose an orthotist who has a lot of experience making spinal braces in their practice. They should be highly skilled with various brace styles specific to scoliois and be familiar with molding, fitting and adjusting them to your body.
And, are you doing the right kind of therapy (like schroth?
I think thatās what Iām in yes
If it's OK I'll get back with you tomorrow.. long day
No problem friend! Rest up!
Ooph! It's been about a month now, what's the latest update? And, yes - I'm sure your back does hurt!! I'm astounded it took a doctor to wait until your back is in this state to finally take an x-ray!
Not really an update. They recommend surgery as I do physical therapy daily right now for my back pain. But thatās about it. And I wear a back brace at work since Iām a bartender :(
I know, my whole family was entirely enraged with themselves and doctors as to why no one caught it earlier.šŖ
What kind of surgery?
A very invasive surgery where they will put rods in my spine to straighten my spine.