Late Fall

So, as you may have guessed from my lack of entries lately, progress is going a bit more slowly – which I think is a good thing. I’ve settled into a more long-term routine.

I went in to see Dr. W two Tuesday’s ago – the 24th of November. Things went well, and he decided that I could come in two weeks later! This was exciting for a few reasons – first of all, it means that things are going well and that my adjustments are staying in a lot better, and secondly it means one less thing to do every single week. All in all it takes about 2 hours between driving and the actual visit to see Dr. W, which is a lot to add to my week.

But as the week went on, I started feeling very out of whack. I had slept on the couch for a few nights (thanks to painting my bedroom – I didn’t want to sleep with all the paint fumes), and who knows what else threw things out (probably stress from Thanksgiving travels), but I could definitely feel it. My right shoulder blade area gets kind of sore, and it was more intense than usual. The right side of my hips also gets stiff, and I could feel that also. So I went in on Thursday of the following week – I made it a little over a week, which I suppose is progress.

When I went in on Thursday he said that things were out of whack, but he did the adjustments and said that I would be good to go for two weeks (unless I started feeling that my adjustments were out again). So, although my adjustments were out, I think that there’s still progress being made. And as of now, I’m not feeling like my adjustments are out, which is a good sign.

Then on Friday I treated myself to a massage! How wonderful! My friend is a massage therapist, and told me that my spine feels more like a C curve than an S curve, and that the top curve seems less noticeable (and I know that it’s not solid proof of progress but it’s encouraging!). The massage loosened me up quite a bit, and I think will help keep the adjustments in place (I think part of the issue is that my very tight muscles, which are confused about the changes being made, pull things out of place). I plan to stretch more to help my back loosen up.

So, I’ll be going to see Dr. W again in two weeks, and hopefully my adjustments will still be in!

Mid October

There haven’t been any big/new developments regarding my spine lately. No miraculous straightening, as far as I can tell. I’m hoping to get some new x-rays before too long to see where things are at. I’m really, really hoping to see some improvements. I am a little worried that I’m getting my hopes up a bit much, but I’m trying to stay positive and keep in mind that even if I’m not seeing huge results, at least I’m being proactive.

I had kind of a strange week. The other night I was laying on my neck pillow at the end of my exercises, and I found myself thinking “This is so, so ridiculous. My SPINE isn’t straight? How stupid. What a dumb bodily problem. Come on, spine. Straighten up.” Which I guess characterizes a lot of the frustration I’ve felt around my spine – it’s curvy from side to side, instead of just the three normal healthy curves we all have?? Are you kidding me?

At the same time, it’s hard not to feel guilty for feeling so let-down by my own body. So many other people deal with much bigger health issues. I do exercises for a while each day. Other people have to give themselves injections, alter their diets, or refrain from certain activities. All things considered, I’m very lucky. Maybe I have to avoid jogging, but I can still ride my bike. And I never liked jogging all that much to begin with. Maybe I shouldn’t pop my back whenever I want, but I can still eat a piece of chocolate when I feel like it.

So, that’s where I’ve been lately. But I also think that it’s important that I not let myself diminish this experience. I have a crooked spine – yes things could be worse, but this is something that does change my daily life. It’s not the worst thing that could happen, but my feelings are legitimate.

One of the changes that is new as of last week is that I have a new prop! Now when I do my exercises, I end by laying on my neck pillow and a smaller cushion that goes under the right side of my spine (the area where my spine is curved). And, instead of just doing that for 20 minutes, it’s now 30 minutes.

Here are some pretty low quality photos. First, my trusty neck pillow:

My new cushion (which is very much like a pool noodle cut in half, basically):

And here’s how the two look when they’re on the floor when I lay on them – an overhead view:

And, because I was feeling like it, I made a very crude doodle to give an idea of how my spine looks and where those pillows are placed – you can get the idea of how the little pillow pushes my spine in the direction it needs to go:

September

The end of the summer has been pretty uneventful, scoliosis wise. I’ve gotten into a definite routine with my exercises, and it feels pretty normal at this point. I’ve continued with weekly visits to the chiropractor to do exercises, adjustments, and to keep checking up on things. All in all, like I say, things have been pretty low key.

There have been a few times that I’ve skipped exercises for various reasons. Sometimes it’s so easy to talk yourself in to just getting in to bed early, or sleeping in for a few extra minutes… But I have made a point to make up any exercises that I miss, and try not to skip exercises more than once or twice a month. I would say I’m doing pretty well, all things considered!

One thing that has come up involving my exercises is that some muscles in my back are starting to change in ways that I can feel. Unfortunately, that translates to some of my exercises being a little uncomfortable. For instance, when I do this exercise, there is a spot that feels pretty sore right around my left shoulder blade:

It doesn’t hurt, but it does signify that some changes are taking place. It is almost a pinching feeling in that area, but adjustments in that shoulder blade area really help to keep things loosened up and feeling good.

A few mornings ago, I was doing my exercises before school. I was towards the end of my set, in the middle of doing this exercise:

when all of the sudden something in my neck just didn’t feel quite right. You know the feeling when you turn your head to the side a little quickly and all of the sudden a muscle just locks up? And then for the rest of the day, it kind of hurts to turn your head to the side? That was the feeling that I had, but a bit more intense. Also, the pain extended from around my right shoulder blade area to the right side of my neck. Pretty painful, but manageable. It hurt worse when I turned my head or looked down, and felt MUCH better when I applied heat (or icy hot).

After 24 hours or so (I had really been hoping the muscles would loosen up after a some massaging, icy hot, and a good night’s sleep) I went in to see my chiropractor. First I had some electrical stimulation with heat to loosen up the muscles. It definitely tingles, and sometimes it felt like I had no control over my muscles – sometimes it would make my muscles contract and my whole shoulder would move a little bit! It felt good though, and even after just that things felt a lot better. This is what electrical stimulation looks like – small pads are placed on the area that needs treatment, and an attached machine controls the strength of the stimulation:

Then the chiropractor did some adjustments, and I got a massage from the massage therapist in the office – which was absolutely incredible. After 10 minutes on an ice pack, I was feeling great and ready to go.

When I got home, I applied ice and heat a few more times. Although my neck is still bothering me, it’s feeling much better. I’m definitely taking it easy on the exercises that work those muscles in my neck, but hopefully things will be back to usual before too long.

Monday, July 13th

On Monday I went in to visit Dr. W. I did my regular exercises (the wobble chair with the head weight on and traction), but after my adjustments we did something different – we used a shoulder weight.

Dr. W has explained that using a shoulder weight could go really well, or not that well. If we put a shoulder weight on my left shoulder, it could cause my body to hold that shoulder higher, pulling the curve out of the middle of my back, or I could sink under the weight, accentuating the curves. If we put a shoulder weight on the right shoulder, that could either push my shoulder down and help straighten out the curve in the middle of my back, or my hips could pull to the right to support the extra weight. We can’t predict how my body will react to the weights, we can only wait and see what happens.

So, on Monday I used a shoulder weight on my left side. I stood for 6 minutes on a vibrating food pad (which basically shook my whole body – I could even feel it in my ears!) with the shoulder weight on, and then we took x-rays to see how that had effected things.

While the results were very positive, they’re a little hard to see in the x-rays, so bear with me. Essentially, with the shoulder weight, the curve in my upper spine decreased to about 25 degrees (down from 34 degrees, a nice change!), and the curve in my lower spine didn’t get worse. So, the shoulder weight on the left side was essentially a success! While those changes aren’t permanent, what this means is that eventually those changes can become permanent. I’m keeping in mind that further progress, beyond what these x-rays show, is possible – the progress that is happening now can possibly be built upon!

Here is the initial x-ray, with a 34 degree curvature:

The x-ray with the shoulder weight on – note how the vertebrae at the top and bottom of the curve (where the lines are drawn) are tilted less severely:

I’m excited about the progress that is possible here! Seeing the possibilities makes it a lot easier to keep up with my exercises and feel positive about what I’m doing.

July 9th – Exercises

Today I went in, and after seeing that the adjustments had stayed in, Dr. W went over the exercises I’m going to start doing (as of tonight) – I’ll be doing these indefinitely, twice a day. In the morning, I’ll do the following exercises (Trying to follow the handwritten stuff on them might get confusing, so I’ll explain what I do so you don’t have to try and interpret that):

The first exercise is basically simple rotations, to get things warmed up and loosened up. I do twenty-five:

Next, I hold onto a doorway with my left hand, lean back, look as far as I can to the right, and essentially move my body like a hinge. I do twenty of these:

My third exercise is to lay on the ground, and walk my legs to the right, then drag them to the left. It feels kind of like some sort of ab workout. I do ten of these:

I stay on the floor for my next exercise – another one that looks like a workout move. I lay on my left side, and lift my legs up ten times for a count of five:

My next exercise is to help with chest expansion. I push my hands together, and lower them from over my head to chest level, holding for a count of five, ten times:

Next, keeping my chin up, I push my left hand against my head and push my head into my hand ten times for a count of five:

Then, I do a similar exercise, where I hold my left arm against the side of my head, holding onto my left elbow with my right hand, and push my head into my arm. I do this ten times for a count of five:

My next exercise is one that I was already doing. I clasp my hands behind my head, and raise my head, pushing my head back into my hands and providing some resistance with my hands. I hold for five seconds, and do ten of these:

My final exercise in the morning is to put my hands on my knees and arch my lower back and lean my head back to look to the ceiling. I do ten of these, for five counts:

In the evening, I’ll do those exercises, plus the following:

Laying down on pillow that supports my neck, I push up with my head, and provide resistance with my hands for a count of five, ten times:

My final exercise is to lay on a pillow that supports my neck (which I’ve been doing with my initial exercises) for at least ten minutes. I will eventually build up to fifteen minutes, and then twenty minutes (right now, I’m doing about twelve to fifteen minutes every night):

I’ve been keeping up very well with the initial exercises that I described a while back (6/15), doing those every night. It’s getting to the point where I’m almost thinking “I forgot my exercises tonight!” and then just realizing that they’re incorporated into my routine. I haven’t forgotten them once! There have been a few nights where I’ve felt like skipping them, but I’ve never actually seriously considered just sitting the night out – I’ve got to take this commitment seriously!

Please keep in mind, that while these exercises are appropriate for my scoliosis, they have been adjusted to fit my needs,taking my specific curvatures into account.  Only a trained healthcare provider and/or someone with a good deal of experience can have any idea of what is right for your specific condition.

Early July

I’ve been out of town for the first part of July. I was worried that my trip would have a negative effect on my progress – two long car rides (13 hours each way – yikes!), a six hour hike, kayaking, and sleeping on a thin pad on the floor all seem like things that might not treat your back all that well. Fortunately my back felt pretty good the whole time, even on the car rides and in the mornings (if I sleep on a soft mattress that I sink in to, I tend to not change positions at night, which often leaves me with a sore lower back when I wake up).

I got a wonderful massage while I was out of town, and did my exercises every night, which may have something to do with the good news that I got the day after I got back in town and visited Dr. W: the adjustments had stayed in! Such great news – adjustments build on each other, so to move forward, it’s important for each adjustment to stay in.

Late June

Things in the last week or so of June have gone smoothly. There haven’t been any big changes, just a few small things. For instance, after figuring out that the head weight I had been x-rayed with was the right weight, I’ve been doing the wobble chair with the head weight on. The adjustments that we’ve done are basically the same, but some are a little more intense.

Lately, the adjustments that are being done just aren’t quite staying in place. That has been very frustrating – every time I have an appointment, I hope to hear that the adjustments had stayed in, but each time it’s a small let down when I hear that they haven’t.

On a brighter note, doing the exercises at home is going really well! I haven’t forgotten to do them, or made excuses to not do them. I keep feeling like I must have forgotten, but it’s become part of my routine now, so I barely even think about it – I just do it. I’m very glad that it’s starting to become automatic.

Monday, June 15th

On Monday Dr. W went over the x-rays that we’d taken with a head weight on. He said that it increased the curve in my neck to about 40 degrees (up from 17) which means that we’re using the right weight. It’s always exciting to see these x-rays – I think of it as proof that a healthy and well aligned spine is possible for me, it’s just a matter of getting it to stay that way.

Here’s the before x-ray:

And the after x-ray, with the three pound weight (you can see how much more of a curve there is in the back of my neck here):

That night I also started my exercises at home. We’re starting light – I do about 15 minutes total before bed. We’ll gradually build up and add morning exercises, but for now I do about 5 minutes of warming up my the vertebrae in my neck (through simple motions of looking up and down, side to side, and so forth) and then for 10 minutes (or more, if I feel like it) I lay on a neck pillow that creates a curve in the back of my neck. It’s a pretty good way to ease into doing the work at home – nothing that seems impossible to do. After all, for now it’s just a 15 minute commitment, and by the time more steps are added on that will probably feel pretty normal.

Weekend Update

One of the things that is the scariest about this whole process is (no, not getting my head yanked on, that actually feels ok) the thought of changing up my routine. This process will definitely require me to make some changes – doing exercises every day is a big change, but that’s coming gradually.

One of the changes that I have to make is that I have to stop popping my back and neck as much as I can. That is definitely a habit of mine, and it also can feel very, very good. So, I’m trying to cut that out which is really hard! Another change is that I have to stop using my laptop on my lap – the position that looking down at a computer puts my head and neck in isn’t very good. But the quick and easy solution to that was to build a laptop stand! Thanks to a great website, I found a way to build a stand out of cardboard. Now I make a point of using my laptop at my desk with my keyboard plugged in, instead of looking down at the screen.

Over the weekend I felt very sore (especially on Saturday). I was crampy, with an achey neck and a sore back. I felt like I’d been gently pummeled. But even though it wasn’t the greatest my back’s ever felt, it wasn’t very bad. During the whole process I’ve never needed more than a quick massage or a roll on a tennis ball to feel better (or at least good enough to tolerate).

Friday, June 12th

On Friday I went in pretty early (for me) in the morning. After everything that had been going on, it was wonderful to see the x-rays that Dr. W had called about before. Even just looking in the mirror I could see what a difference the adjustments had made! Unfortunately, the adjustments didn’t stick 100%, but that’s to be expected.

These are the before and after x-rays. They’re a little hard to make out, but the changes that took place are visible (particularly how even my shoulders are in the second x-ray, and how much more aligned my head is):

Dr. W did some more adjustments including some that were much more intense. The most intense adjustment was when he essentially pulled me by my head (he uses a strap that goes around my head, and while I’m laying down on my back gives some gentle tugs, and then just when I’m least expecting it, one giant pull that I can feel down to the middle of my back). It was intense, but not painful. When I sat up I was definitely a little more sore than usual though.

During the session on Friday I also used a head weight for the first time. Dr. W had me do the wobble chair (without the specific pattern this time – I was able to just wobble however I pleased) with the head weight on, which brings a curve into the back of my neck. I used a 3 pound head weight, and we took an x-ray with that on to see if that was the right weight to start with.

It was great to see the changes that had taken place in such a short amount of time! Hearing the numbers over the phone was great, as I talked about in my last entry. But seeing those changes that had taken place in the mirror and in those x-rays was so positive and amazing!