Scoliosis stories wanted

[Pooka1]

Joanne, I don't know the answer but I hope someone else on the group does. Though this is a small handful of folks who post here, the knowledge base is fairly deep with a few folks.

Good luck.

[Pooka1]

Dear Surgery Pimp, er, I mean Pam,

Two major indicators for surgery are a) past documented progression - indicating continued future progression, and b) intolerable pain (even with a static curve).

Even more so than the ignorant comments (i.e., I'm now a surgery pimp) made by the Weiss puppet in our midst, THAT article screams "We publish, therefore we are.".

This, though, is the crux of the article. I think the claim is that there are no studies that support those two major indicators you mention. I think we have to take on the claims as presented.

Now assuming that's true (there are no studies supporting surgery as a treatment mode), I would say SO WHAT? It's too obvious to waste journal space on a penetrating glimpse into the obvious. Equally, there are likely no articles on the efficacy of setting broken arm bones but nobody doubts that's the way to go. (Hence I have some concerns about the editing in that journal based on the publication of that article but not my field so I can't really say.)

And then we get Writer coming on here claiming this is some knock-down argument against surgery when it is really just a statement that surgery is OBVIOUSLY the only choice in some situations.

And why the hell is Weiss screwing around with literature surveys instead of crunching her own (nonexistent?) data? That's the far more interesting question in my opinion. Schroth has had 90 years to prove their case and only have I think three small studies published by proponents, one from Turkey where I think it is unclear if there is a clinic there. You would think the journals would be clogged with dispositive studies proving Schroth's efficacy by now. But we don't see that. Schroth is clearly NOT in the same category as setting arm bones or fusion surgery and so must publish its proofs.

I'm open-minded about paranormal claims because I have to be as a scientist just as I am open-mined that someone might proven Nazareth was inhabited when the Bible says it was. (I'm not holding my breath because of the boatload of archaeological evidence against it at this point.) But when a group like Schroth has been around for ~90 years and hasn't proven their case, I start to doubt the claims. Fusion surgery has been around less time and has already proven its claims several times over.

[PNUTTRO]

I'm open-minded about paranormal claims because I have to be as a scientist just as I am open-mined that someone might proven Nazareth was inhabited when the Bible says it was. (I'm not holding my breath because of the boatload of archaeological evidence against it at this point.)

Sharon.

I am quite certain that the space of this earth that we now call Nazareth was inhabited by somebody prior to the first century. Its pretty rich real estate. Maybe not the actual place the Jesus was raised--no one knows that for sure.

This is my last public comment on this thread. I will send you a PM with my email address. We can continue this privately if you so desire. I think that your over-the-top aggression to people with apposing view points is not good for your health.

[Writer]

Schroth has had 90 years to prove their case and only have I think three small studies published by proponents, one from Turkey where I think it is unclear if there is a clinic there.

This number is too low by a factor of twenty or more.

I repeat -- search PubMed on "Weiss HR scoliosis" and you will find three pages of citations, mostly about Schroth. There are other authors as well.

There have also been at least three doctoral dissertations and a Habilitationsschrift at German universities partly or completely devoted to the Schroth treatment. See references in the Bibliography section of Christa Lehnert-Schroth's book Dreidimensionale Skoliosebehandlung or its recent English translation Three-Dimensional Scoliosis.

If you never heard of these, and if the orthopedists haven't either, then you and they are ignorant of significant contributions to the scoliosis literature. In my field you would be laughed out of the discipline if you published in ignorance of pertinent German dissertations that date from the 1970s and 80s.

[Pooka1]

Writer, we know that searches on "Weiss HR scoliosis" will produce all manner of pubs that are irrelevant to peer-reviewed studies showing the efficacy of Scroth.

Please list the articles from peer-reviewed journals JUST on controlled studies on the efficacy of Scroth. It's your field... you should know these off the top of your head. I know the key pubs in my field off the top of my head.

How many would that be? Is three close? Is one from Turkey? Is there a Scroth clinic in Turkey?

[Writer]

Get this straight. I'm not kowtowing or posting to please you because it is hopeless. You have an ossified mindset. You would not believe anything positive about any non-surgical treatments if a dozen conservative practitioners won the Nobel Prize. You are looking only for ways to discredit. You apparently don't recognize that most other people here recognize this. The controlled-study issue has already been discussed here and the reason why controlled studies will not be made has been identified.

I will in my own time continue to post references to appropriate evidence for the many good people on this forum who are looking for stories, techniques, clinical or experimental studies -- information of any plausible kind that may apply to their situation.

Scoli moms and others who would like to query me without risking stimulating a nasty public confrontation with the usual suspects may PM me -- many have.

[txmarinemom]

... If you never heard of these, and if the orthopedists haven't either, then you and they are ignorant of significant contributions to the scoliosis literature. In my field you would be laughed out of the discipline if you published in ignorance of pertinent German dissertations that date from the 1970s and 80s. ...

What exactly IS your field, Writer? I've asked, and you've never answered.

And you reached a new level of juvenile with the "Scoli Mom's PM me" comment. I suppose everyone should just take it in your normal context of "I'm far more wise than the rest of you morons - AND your doctors.".

You poor guy. You're surrounded by idiots and can't convince them they're idiots. It must be rough on you.

*yawn*

Pam

[dooze64]

White flag

Boy, What can I say? I am new to the postings but after reading these posts I am not for sure I want any part of this war. I think a simple thing has been blown way out of line. I just want to say I wore the old Milwaukee brace and in my opinion I do not believe it helped in any way. This is my opinion. LOL I have been going to a chiroprator (yes a Chiroprator) for 8 years now. It helps my flexablility. I will refuse surgery until the end. I have breathing problems and have started to have hip discomfort. I am getting inserts for my shoes. I could not tell you what my curve degrees are right now and I am not up on all of the scoliosis lingo. Who cares about all of that. The way I look at it is God wanted a few crooked people and I was blessed. LOL I am 43 years old and live a happy life. My crooked back has nothing to do with how happy you can be. Encourage your daughter to stay active and do not revolve her life around it. I played softball, was on the dance team and never let it get in my way. I find yoga to be good for my flexability. Again my opinion. So my last words are "live life to your fullest and don't let negative people stand in your way". We will all have opinions of our own. Let your daughter know from and old timer "It will be ok". Oh and you can have my story any time.

[dooze64]

Field

Oh and my field is in the postal business

[debbei]

Boy, What can I say? I am new to the postings but after reading these posts I am not for sure I want any part of this war. I think a simple thing has been blown way out of line. I just want to say I wore the old Milwaukee brace and in my opinion I do not believe it helped in any way. This is my opinion. LOL I have been going to a chiroprator (yes a Chiroprator) for 8 years now. It helps my flexablility. I will refuse surgery until the end. I have breathing problems and have started to have hip discomfort. I am getting inserts for my shoes. I could not tell you what my curve degrees are right now and I am not up on all of the scoliosis lingo. Who cares about all of that. The way I look at it is God wanted a few crooked people and I was blessed. LOL I am 43 years old and live a happy life. My crooked back has nothing to do with how happy you can be. Encourage your daughter to stay active and do not revolve her life around it. I played softball, was on the dance team and never let it get in my way. I find yoga to be good for my flexability. Again my opinion. So my last words are "live life to your fullest and don't let negative people stand in your way". We will all have opinions of our own. Let your daughter know from and old timer "It will be ok". Oh and you can have my story any time.

I have stayed out of this, and this will be my only post on this topic. I agree with you about the Milwalkee Brace, for me it was useless. When I was younger, I never let scoliosis stop me from anything either, all sort of activities, I taught aerobic dancing for years, hiking, walking, etc. The thing is, at 43, you are NOT an old-timer. For me, at 46 and continuing to progress, my condition was just starting to limit me from doing things that I wanted. I didn't want to let it get worse than it already was becaue I was starting to get back, hip and leg pain. I want to be able to function and have a long, full life to be able to do whatever I want when I do get to be an old-timer (at least 20 years from now )

Everyone has to make the decision for themselves. I didn't want to be content with a life with more and more limitations, that's why I decided to go for the surgery. I'm healing quickly and thrilled with my results so far. But I do respect other's decisions as well.

There--that's it, I will not respond further on this ridiculous thread. I can't tell you how much this whole thread upset me just PRIOR to my surgery. I wanted to scream at all of you to just stop, but I bit my tongue.

[Pooka1]

(snip)
There--that's it, I will not respond further on this ridiculous thread. I can't tell you how much this whole thread upset me just PRIOR to my surgery. I wanted to scream at all of you to just stop, but I bit my tongue.

Was someone forcing you to read this "ridiculous" thread prior to your surgery?

Can you somehow take control of which threads you read and which you ignore?

[Moon Godess]

Scoliosis story

I would love to tell you all about my life with scoliosis.
I felt pretty good after my second surgery to remove my rods, however 20 years later that is not the case.
Women especially in this country are not taken seriously if they are in pain, and for some reason they do not get referrals as much as men do. It very well may be that way around the world. Of course the secondary conditions from scoliosis, including breathing problems, chronic fatigue, etc. don't help the situation.
Had I known in the past that I would be a leaky boat now, I would have bought myself a decent health plan when I was young.
Health care in Canada is a joke. And that goes for their disability plans too.
I have written so many letters and collected so much documentation, that if it was stacked, it would be taller than I.....and still the fight continues.