Scoliosis -- The spinal condition not the band

[Dogmeat]

Anybody ever been diagnosed with this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoliosis

I remember when I was a Sr. in highschool they made us do this "bend over" test like they're describing there.

They told me I had a 'mild' case of it but it wasn't bad.

I didn't think anything of it because I was 17 and completley and utterly invincible. Heh

Anyways, I've pretty much been living with constant back pain for about the last 3 years straight now, hasn't really gotten any worse or any better.

According to that article on wikiepdia, Scoliosis is the curvature of the spine in a paralell plant with your rib cage, but it shouldn't cause a "hump" in your back should it?

I've known I kinda have a hunch back for years, probably due to horrible posture since I was a kid sitting in front of a computer, but it seems to be getting more pronounced as I get older.

I was seeing a chiropractor about a year ago and he'd pop my back and all that and it felt good but I think the guy was a quack ....

Anybody have any experience with this stuff?

 

[Blu Du]

i think jsledders son just had a rod put in his back for that same prob.

 

[buck50]

mild scoliosis isn't anything to be worried about. lots of people have slight curves in their spines, and technically it is scoliosis, but has no long term effects! a slight curvature will not cause a "hunch back". as for rods and what not, they are used in cases of extreme scoliosis as they involve removing all the muscle from the spine, screwing in a rod that runs most of the back to the spine, and then putting all the muscles back!!!!!!!!!!!! see a professional(be it a MD, chiro, physio, even massage may help) and get it looked at. the pain might or might not have anything to do with your slight curve, but either way, much easier to try and fix it the earlier you get to it!

 

[flatlander_99]

my mom has had it her whole life. she now has stainless rods on both sides of her spine from her neck to tailbone. the xray looks like railroad tracks. she lived in pain most of her life & after the surgery it was night & day difference. she saw a specialist at the mayo clinic.

 

[xrated]

Without a doubt, the most painful surgery I have ever witnessed is various scolie on kids.

If you have a hunch back, it is kyphosis, not scoliosis. Scolie is a lateral curvature of the spine. Kyphosis is brought on mainly by bad posture. All you guys and gals, head up, shoulders back with the shoulder blades drawn together. And no slouching.

Well at least that's what I learned in x-ray school.

Oh and Mayo Clinic is the coolest.....they gave me a raise agian

 

[ruffryder]

Oh and Mayo Clinic is the coolest.....they gave me a raise agian

They impressed with your snowest performance?

I have scoliosis, so does my sister.. Not very bad I guess, as I haven't been to a doctor for it, since, well, I got off my parents insurance 7 years ago...

I do know that my sis had to stop riding horses, as that type of repetitive motion isn't that good for her back.. Not sure what the truth is on that though....

 

[Dogmeat]

Without a doubt, the most painful surgery I have ever witnessed is various scolie on kids.

If you have a hunch back, it is kyphosis, not scoliosis. Scolie is a lateral curvature of the spine. Kyphosis is brought on mainly by bad posture. All you guys and gals, head up, shoulders back with the shoulder blades drawn together. And no slouching.

Well at least that's what I learned in x-ray school.

Oh and Mayo Clinic is the coolest.....they gave me a raise agian

Can you correct kyphosis?

 

[jsledder]

i think jsledders son just had a rod put in his back for that same prob.

Yes he does. His was fatal and if we didn't correct it now there would have been a drastic decrease in his length of life and serious organ damage.

I'm not sure if you have the same thing, but I would suggest going to the Mayo clinic if it's within your means.

 

[redlineguy]

Get a good chiropractor, they can help some.

 

[Fosgate]

Story behind my mother. Late 60's she sliced her knee open when she took a bag of trash out the the curb and a sharp can lid puntured the bag and her knee. Had me in 73, more on that later, and had problems with her knee and hip throughout the late 70's and early 80's. In the 80's she went the the chiro every now and then to help with that and her newly developed back pain. Then in the 90's it got worse and she devellped pain in her neck. After in 2004 she was in constant pain (1-10 being the worst she was a 6). The doctors determined that without surgury she would soon be paralized because her nerves were slowly being pinched off. (I dont recall but I think bone in her spine was growing shut around the nerves.) The gave her a 50% chance of paralasis with the surgury. She elected to go for it and had the bottom 3 vertibra fused by titanium cages with bone stuffed in them to grow to the spine. 2 months later she completed the surgury necessary by going in from the front of her neck to do the same thing on her top 3 vertibra. She told me they were going through old medical records and found that in an xray shortly after she had me there was a note on the side of it that said "Scoliosis?" but no one had ever brought it to her attention. The surgeon thinks it was either that or the initial injury to the knee caused her to favor one side (and it did) and that caused the pain in the hip and caused her to favor that side more and just like a house of cards the spine can be affected by inguries in the legs, depending on how one takes care of themselves and watches their posture.

She did pull through and doing just fine although it changed her lifestyle. Permanent disability and chit for retirement at age 63.

 

[Blu Du]

a family freind had the rod put in her back in about 1980. she was in high school then i believe. well about 8 years ago she was married with 2 little children, she was picking her boy up from cub scouts and going down a little 2 lane rd amongst same lakes and a 70 some year old lady pulled in to her drive way right in front of her and she hit the old lady at 3o mph. you guessed it it severed her spinal cord at her neck, now she can barely move one hand to run her wheel chair. the worst part the old lady got a dui out of it she was drunk

 

[jsledder]

Fos - WOW!! Sounds like a trying time for your family then. Glad to hear it prevented the Paralysis.

Blu - I read that while my son was in recovery..... Talk about second guessing and wondering if we didn't make a mistake and agree with the Dr.'s too quickly. When I asked the Dr. about it he said it's a million to one chance and the alternative to surgery wasn't something we wanted to deal with. Sorry to hear about your friend though...

 

[xrated]

They impressed with your snowest performance?



I my sis had to stop riding , as that type of repetitive motion isn't that good for her back......

It's gotta be that or my charming good looks.

Ruffy, you shouldn't talk about yoru sister like that....and from what I've heard she still rides

To be honest, I'm not sure if you can fix kyphosis.....I guess I've never seen surgerys for it. I imiagine it would be much more difficult to straighten something that looks like a J from top to bottom(kyphosis) vs taking the same J and going side to side(scoli).

 

[yammadog]

It's gotta be that or my charming good looks.

Ruffy, you shouldn't talk about yoru sister like that....and from what I've heard she still rides

QUOTE]

Beat me to it....I think she switched and is being ridden so as to not hurt her back when riding.....Ruff...I've saved up my $20, can I meat her now? Sorry, I mean meet her now?.... I liked her picture I saw at the garage session last night..pm me her number....LOL

 

[ruffryder]

dang... just got hit by a one two combo.....

 

[sledchick]

I had a friend in high school that she had to get a rod in her back for scoliosis. Shes got a scar down here back, but things seem to be doing well for her. I had bad lower back problems during high school, had bad sharp pains. I was guessing it was from a tennis injury. Wen to the chiropractor, and she said it was probably from my abs being so strong it does most of the work. So she said doing workouts for my lowerback/back will help. Been working out, and really no problems since then! Strengthening your core muscles really help your overall posture...since I like to sclouch in my chairs...Good luck, back problems are no fun!

 

[Dogmeat]

I had a friend in high school that she had to get a rod in her back for scoliosis. Shes got a scar down here back, but things seem to be doing well for her. I had bad lower back problems during high school, had bad sharp pains. I was guessing it was from a tennis injury. Wen to the chiropractor, and she said it was probably from my abs being so strong it does most of the work. So she said doing workouts for my lowerback/back will help. Been working out, and really no problems since then! Strengthening your core muscles really help your overall posture...since I like to sclouch in my chairs...Good luck, back problems are no fun!

I think that's probably a big part of my problem.

I have HORRID posture and have been that way since I was a little kid.

I think I've probably compounded the fact that over the course of the last 6 years or so I've effectivley created major stress concentrations on my lower back because I've built up every other muscle group in my body BUT my core. I always thought that with free weights your 'core' was kinda automatically hit so you didn't really need to work it.

I was wrong.

I did some straight leg dead lifts tonite with 115 on the bar and I can hardly walk now ....

Guess I am gonna start working abs and lower back a lot more and focus on that for a few months and see if it helps ...

Hopefully it wil.