When you don't like modern medicines solutions, take 100% responsibility for your health

I have been very intrigued about the latest treatment options for scoliosis patients and so I attended a Scoliosis Foundation conference a few weeks ago. What I got was alot of information about scoliosis surgery and pain management options (through injections) available to scoliosis sufferers. The options they were presenting scared me so much that I sat crying through the entire presentation. It seemed so invasive yet so common in the states. I couldn't believe that this was the FIRST resort for many patients and pain sufferers.

So what I really got out of the conference was how I needed to step up my game and take control of my health....it was time to get serious about looking after myself. Not that I've been lazy and haven't been doing anything for the past 10 years: I've taken Yoga training and received my 200 hour certification, started a regular program at the chiropractor since 2008, gone to physio therapy classes for sore knees and hips (all results of my scoliosis), taken countless pilates, dance and other gym classes, become a regular swimmer and completely changed my eating habits to incorporate more raw fruits and veggies and did alot of reading on superfoods and supplements. But I know that there is so much more I can do, and if I really want to be feeling fit and flexible now and at 70 I had to find something else.

So for the month of March in my spare time I will concentrate souly on building a health program that I do regularly. I'm going to incorporate all the things above every week to rebuild my body: strengthen my core with pilates and weights (to hold up my spine), regular cardio through swimming (to increase my lung capacity which is often inhibited with the pressure of scoliosis), take Yoga regularly (for stretching and flexiblity of the back as well as balance training) and targeted physio exercises (that were designed for me when I came out of my brace 14 years ago).

I'll supplement this with the best foods and supplements I can find to nourish my bones and muscles in the process.

Looking after Scoliosis as an Adult

Ten years later at the age of 27, I started to notice the signs of aging on my spine with tightness, shallow breathing, constant colds and flu’s as well as overall tiredness. And so my journey began to treat my scoliosis as an adult and create a plan for living a healthy future by maintaining my scoliosis. I didn’t want it to stop me doing all the things I wanted to do in life - I have too many things to do here and I need to be fit and healthy to do them.

So I started to take responsibility for my own back health....which meant getting real about the current state of my back, understanding that I had scoliosis but that it wasn't who I was, and making a commitment to do everything I could to make a difference for me and in turn hopefully others.

My History with Scoliosis

In the early 90s, Scoliosis screenings in Australia occurred at the age of 12 in public schools. Unfortunately moving to a private school at that age caused me to miss the mandatory routine school screening and my scoliosis went unnoticed for another 3 years. I was not diagnosed until 15 when my mother took me shopping and noticed the difference in my leg length while trying on pants and could see that one of my hips was considerably higher than the other. She immediately took me to the doctor who referred me to a Specialist and diagnosed me with scoliosis. Scoliosis is diagnosed through xrays and the measurement of the angles of degrees the spine curves from one side to the other (if you are looking at the patient from the back). It is recognizable when one hip is higher than the other, a shoulder blade petrudes out and also causes one shoulder to be higher than the other. Forward head posture is also another sign of scoliosis.

I was put into a body cast for 3 weeks while my brace was being made. With the seriousness of my curve I wore the brace for 2 years until I stopped growing to try and avoid having my spine fused together. It was the scariest and most humiliating time of my life, a time when I was trying to be a teenager and fit in with everyone else.

Luckily bracing and physical therapy during those last few years of growth stopped the progression of the curve enough to satisfy surgeons and I avoided spinal fusion surgery. A procedure that is well known to not only cause limited mobility in the spine, but render many patients disabled from the inability to touch their toes. WIthin ten years it is likely the curve will revert to its former position.