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Well, here's one person who doesn't suffer from back pain, although I have other little problems that may or may not be related to the scoliosis.
Diagnosed in the fourth grade, did exercises until I stopped growing, then totally ignored my scoliosis until this spring (I'm now 49).
Maybe ten years or fifteen ago I did have a couple of episodes of the kind of lower back pain where it takes an excruciating half hour to get in or out of bed. My regular doctor told me to do back exercises and sleep with my knees bent.
I didn't follow through with the exercises, because I found that simply sleeping on my side while pulling my knees partway up (that is, keeping the lower back muscles stretched a bit) solved the problem!
However, no significant back pain other than that, ever.
This spring I saw a spine specialist and found out that my curve is a lumbar one (I'd always assumed it was thoracic) and it's 35 degrees.
No pain, but I do have varying numbness in my right lower back, paresthesias in my legs as well as elsewhere (odd sensations such as tingling/buzzing/vibrating, electric shocks, spots of feeling like cold or hot water fell on my skin, etc.), and very easily fatigued upper leg muscles when walking.
To judge from my own experience, then, pain is NOT inevitable. Or I'm just extremely lucky. I don't do any specific exercises--was a couch/computer potato until I started neighborhood walking 6 years ago and began a part-time, more active job 4 years ago. I'm still not in the best shape and am about 50 lbs. overweight.
Have never worn (or wanted to wear) high heels. I do wear orthotic inserts due to an ankle-tendon problem diagnosed 7 years ago.
To fmo: As for aches and pains, there are many causes. I have longtime unexplained, mild to moderate achiness in my muscles and joints; I take a dose of ibuprofen and one of acetaminophen every day. I'm sure it's not all due to scoliosis, if any of it.
Doctors probably cringe when someone complains of aches and pains, since the differential diagnosis is huge and they're so common. Probably most of the time they don't find a specific cause, so they don't want to deal with it.
Many doctors find it so easy to imply that the patient is a hypochondriac, overreacting, etc. I've had that happen after complaining of neurological symptoms for which they couldn't find a definite cause. Psychologically, that attitude from doctors made me almost want to kill myself--knowing that something was wrong with me (not just aches and pains) but that they were not going to follow me and try to eventually find out what it is.
Don't let it get you down! They're just following what they learned in medical school and/or what they feel they have to do to keep up with their patient load, I guess. Your best bet is to try to do what makes you feel healthier and to only seek medical help for symptoms that are seriously impacting your life. If the back pain is a problem for you and exercising doesn't help, see if you can get referred to a physical therapist.
Best wishes to everyone,
Nancy T.
Diagnosed in the fourth grade, did exercises until I stopped growing, then totally ignored my scoliosis until this spring (I'm now 49).
Maybe ten years or fifteen ago I did have a couple of episodes of the kind of lower back pain where it takes an excruciating half hour to get in or out of bed. My regular doctor told me to do back exercises and sleep with my knees bent.
I didn't follow through with the exercises, because I found that simply sleeping on my side while pulling my knees partway up (that is, keeping the lower back muscles stretched a bit) solved the problem!
However, no significant back pain other than that, ever.
This spring I saw a spine specialist and found out that my curve is a lumbar one (I'd always assumed it was thoracic) and it's 35 degrees.
No pain, but I do have varying numbness in my right lower back, paresthesias in my legs as well as elsewhere (odd sensations such as tingling/buzzing/vibrating, electric shocks, spots of feeling like cold or hot water fell on my skin, etc.), and very easily fatigued upper leg muscles when walking.
To judge from my own experience, then, pain is NOT inevitable. Or I'm just extremely lucky. I don't do any specific exercises--was a couch/computer potato until I started neighborhood walking 6 years ago and began a part-time, more active job 4 years ago. I'm still not in the best shape and am about 50 lbs. overweight.
Have never worn (or wanted to wear) high heels. I do wear orthotic inserts due to an ankle-tendon problem diagnosed 7 years ago.
To fmo: As for aches and pains, there are many causes. I have longtime unexplained, mild to moderate achiness in my muscles and joints; I take a dose of ibuprofen and one of acetaminophen every day. I'm sure it's not all due to scoliosis, if any of it.
Doctors probably cringe when someone complains of aches and pains, since the differential diagnosis is huge and they're so common. Probably most of the time they don't find a specific cause, so they don't want to deal with it.
Many doctors find it so easy to imply that the patient is a hypochondriac, overreacting, etc. I've had that happen after complaining of neurological symptoms for which they couldn't find a definite cause. Psychologically, that attitude from doctors made me almost want to kill myself--knowing that something was wrong with me (not just aches and pains) but that they were not going to follow me and try to eventually find out what it is.
Don't let it get you down! They're just following what they learned in medical school and/or what they feel they have to do to keep up with their patient load, I guess. Your best bet is to try to do what makes you feel healthier and to only seek medical help for symptoms that are seriously impacting your life. If the back pain is a problem for you and exercising doesn't help, see if you can get referred to a physical therapist.
Best wishes to everyone,
Nancy T.
) and they hurt after an half hour of constantly walking around!! 
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