Tweet
I'm a newbie that just found out last Friday that I have Scoliosis. I'm 40. I guess I should give some history and then ask questions.
When I was in middle school they screened all kids. I assume it was a school nurse who did this. She said I had Scoliosis and told my parents they needed to take me to our family physician. My mom took me immediately only to be told by the doctor that the nurse was wrong. I did NOT have Scoliosis.
Fast forward to about 11 or so years ago. I start having pain in my left shoulder blade. I had no idea where to go, so I went to a chiropractic center. They never did x-rays or anything, just put me into PT. The PT didn't really help, so I quit going.
I waited awhile and finally decided I needed to find a family physician (PCP) and let them look into this. So I do. I have x-rays of my neck. I'm told my neck looks like the neck of a 50 year old with arthritis and bone spurs. I was 30 at the time. I was put on Celebrex and muscle relaxers. The doctor was a DO, so he would occasionally crack my neck. He also sent me to an ortho, who did some manual tests and said there was nothing structurally wrong with me. Not sure why, but eventually I quit going to the PCP(probably because the meds weren't working).
At 33 I find a new family physician that I really like. She understands some problems I am having, etc. I was not seeing her for my neck/shoulder, because while I did have pain it was tolerable.
When I was 34 a girl T boned my car on New Year's morning. I ended up having more problems with my neck, so my PCP sends me to PT. During that time they notice all the muscle spasms in my shoulders/back, so they try to work on those areas too. I continued to go once the problems from the wreck were worked out, because I was still having pain from whatever had been going on for several years. Finally they said there wasn't anything more they could do for me, and I was discharged.
In September of 2005 (I was 35) I had my first child (after 18 months of fertility treatments and two miscarriages). As she got bigger my pain got worse (I assume from carrying her). I go back to my PCP, and she orders and MRI. It showed some narrowing between some vertibrea but not bad. She decides to send me to a pain doctor.
I see him for some time. I do the muscle relaxers. I do injections into my spine that had to be done at a same day surgery center three times. Some relief but not complete and not for long. Then he decides to try some injections into the muscle over my shoulder blade. Again some relief but not complete and not for long. The next step was something to deaden the nerves I believe. I was feeling some better, because my daughter had started walking. I was not having to carry her as much. Since the pain was better (not gone) my doc and I decided not to do the nerve deadening thing.
My dentist also diagnosed me with TMJ right before I stopped seeing the pain doc. I got a night guard to keep me from clinching my teeth, and that seems to help the neck/shoulder pain.
So over the next couple of years I have pain, but can pretty much tolerate it. Then low and behold I get a "surprise" and find out I'm pregnant. I had my second daughter this past January. Almost immediately my neck/shoulder gets worse (again I'm assuming from carrying a baby). It finally got bad enough that I went back to my PCP. She said the only other suggestion she had was a chiro. I wasn't sure how I felt about this, so I put off making an appointment.
I finally had my first chiro appointment last Friday. He took a very thorough history, did some manual tests, and x-rays. Initially he was only going to x-ray my neck, but he decided to also x-ray my chest area just in case. He brings in my x-rays and first shows me an x-ray of a normal neck. With perfect posture the spine the in neck kind of looks like a C. He then puts my x-ray up, and my cervical spine is straight as straight can be. He says the degeneration is not as bad as that first PCP had lead me to believe. I do have some but not bad. We then look at the x-rays of the check area. As you got to the bottom of the x-ray we see the spine appears to start to curve. Given that he decides he wants to do an x-ray of my lower back. Low and behold he comes in and says Scoliosis. The spine in my lower back looks like an S. He goes on and on about how he can't believe nobody ever found that. The whole conversation brings me back to middle school and the school nurse saying I had it (I had forgotten).
Anyway he tells me he can try to help my neck but he cannot fix the Scoliosis. He says we can do some things to try to work on the muscles and loosen things up, but he wanted to be very clear he could not fix it.
Of course I come home that evening and start reading about degrees and surgery, etc.
When I went for my appointment I asked about if he could calculate the degree of my curve. He said the x-ray could be analysed, but he didn't feel the need. He said if he had to guess he would guess about a 20% curve and that it was not bad enough for surgery.
So here are my questions. In reading several of the threads it seems that many posters here are completely against chiro work and say only see a scholiosis ortho surgeon. Why is that?
Why would I need a surgeon if my curve is not bad enought for surgery?
I've also seen reference that a surgeon would keep watch to see if the curve is getting worse. Why would that be necessary give my age and according to what I've read I'm done growing and the curve can't get worse?
Ok... that is all I have for now. Sorry this is so long. Just thought the history of my pain was important. Thanks for any and all input.
When I was in middle school they screened all kids. I assume it was a school nurse who did this. She said I had Scoliosis and told my parents they needed to take me to our family physician. My mom took me immediately only to be told by the doctor that the nurse was wrong. I did NOT have Scoliosis.
Fast forward to about 11 or so years ago. I start having pain in my left shoulder blade. I had no idea where to go, so I went to a chiropractic center. They never did x-rays or anything, just put me into PT. The PT didn't really help, so I quit going.
I waited awhile and finally decided I needed to find a family physician (PCP) and let them look into this. So I do. I have x-rays of my neck. I'm told my neck looks like the neck of a 50 year old with arthritis and bone spurs. I was 30 at the time. I was put on Celebrex and muscle relaxers. The doctor was a DO, so he would occasionally crack my neck. He also sent me to an ortho, who did some manual tests and said there was nothing structurally wrong with me. Not sure why, but eventually I quit going to the PCP(probably because the meds weren't working).
At 33 I find a new family physician that I really like. She understands some problems I am having, etc. I was not seeing her for my neck/shoulder, because while I did have pain it was tolerable.
When I was 34 a girl T boned my car on New Year's morning. I ended up having more problems with my neck, so my PCP sends me to PT. During that time they notice all the muscle spasms in my shoulders/back, so they try to work on those areas too. I continued to go once the problems from the wreck were worked out, because I was still having pain from whatever had been going on for several years. Finally they said there wasn't anything more they could do for me, and I was discharged.
In September of 2005 (I was 35) I had my first child (after 18 months of fertility treatments and two miscarriages). As she got bigger my pain got worse (I assume from carrying her). I go back to my PCP, and she orders and MRI. It showed some narrowing between some vertibrea but not bad. She decides to send me to a pain doctor.
I see him for some time. I do the muscle relaxers. I do injections into my spine that had to be done at a same day surgery center three times. Some relief but not complete and not for long. Then he decides to try some injections into the muscle over my shoulder blade. Again some relief but not complete and not for long. The next step was something to deaden the nerves I believe. I was feeling some better, because my daughter had started walking. I was not having to carry her as much. Since the pain was better (not gone) my doc and I decided not to do the nerve deadening thing.
My dentist also diagnosed me with TMJ right before I stopped seeing the pain doc. I got a night guard to keep me from clinching my teeth, and that seems to help the neck/shoulder pain.
So over the next couple of years I have pain, but can pretty much tolerate it. Then low and behold I get a "surprise" and find out I'm pregnant. I had my second daughter this past January. Almost immediately my neck/shoulder gets worse (again I'm assuming from carrying a baby). It finally got bad enough that I went back to my PCP. She said the only other suggestion she had was a chiro. I wasn't sure how I felt about this, so I put off making an appointment.
I finally had my first chiro appointment last Friday. He took a very thorough history, did some manual tests, and x-rays. Initially he was only going to x-ray my neck, but he decided to also x-ray my chest area just in case. He brings in my x-rays and first shows me an x-ray of a normal neck. With perfect posture the spine the in neck kind of looks like a C. He then puts my x-ray up, and my cervical spine is straight as straight can be. He says the degeneration is not as bad as that first PCP had lead me to believe. I do have some but not bad. We then look at the x-rays of the check area. As you got to the bottom of the x-ray we see the spine appears to start to curve. Given that he decides he wants to do an x-ray of my lower back. Low and behold he comes in and says Scoliosis. The spine in my lower back looks like an S. He goes on and on about how he can't believe nobody ever found that. The whole conversation brings me back to middle school and the school nurse saying I had it (I had forgotten).
Anyway he tells me he can try to help my neck but he cannot fix the Scoliosis. He says we can do some things to try to work on the muscles and loosen things up, but he wanted to be very clear he could not fix it.
Of course I come home that evening and start reading about degrees and surgery, etc.
When I went for my appointment I asked about if he could calculate the degree of my curve. He said the x-ray could be analysed, but he didn't feel the need. He said if he had to guess he would guess about a 20% curve and that it was not bad enough for surgery.
So here are my questions. In reading several of the threads it seems that many posters here are completely against chiro work and say only see a scholiosis ortho surgeon. Why is that?
Why would I need a surgeon if my curve is not bad enought for surgery?
I've also seen reference that a surgeon would keep watch to see if the curve is getting worse. Why would that be necessary give my age and according to what I've read I'm done growing and the curve can't get worse?
Ok... that is all I have for now. Sorry this is so long. Just thought the history of my pain was important. Thanks for any and all input.
in vulnerable people. A warning sign would be dizziness and headache after such manipulations.
Comment