Practical questions about exercise and surgery

[tonibunny]

Well, that's excellent news I think it would be fascinating to see Scott's x-rays if you would ever consider sharing them online (either privately or in a forum). The x-ray in my example is of a lumbar curve so I can understand how it might look a lot different to his, as of course there is little rib involvement.

How does his rotation present itself - does he have an actual rib prominence, does one side of his back appear slightly higher than the other, or is it more that his torso appears to twist to one side when he is standing straight in front of you? Do you have a Scoliometer reading for his rotation?

[Dingo]

rib hump

tonibunny

Scott's right, rear rib cage is "fuller" and more prounounced. It's "bigger" than his left side. And of course if you look you can see that it's turned that direction. That's probably the best way I can describe it. We have never done a scolimeter.

BTW I have no problem putting Scott's X-rays up on this board. However I don't have them, they are at his Doctors office. Is there an easy way to get them into a computer?

[tonibunny]

Are the x-rays on film or are they digital ones?

For film x-rays, you can just take a photo when they are displayed at your doctor's office. For digital x-rays, take a memory stick (flash drive) along with you to your next appointment and beg the doctor to copy them across from his computer.

Once you have copies, you can host them on a website such as Flickr or Photobucket and then display them wherever you like. Just let me know if you ever want to do this and need a hand

There is a Scoliometer application for the IPhone, which I showed to my own consultant. He was really very impressed with its accuracy. It's called Scoliogauge if you have an IPhone and fancy giving it a go. DO be careful to measure at the apex of the ribcage prominence, and to only measure if you're sure the person is not leaning to one side (check their hands are level on their legs at the front). And obviously, this is no substitute for having the rotation measured by a real-life expert with a real-life scoliometer so don't take your own results as gospel! It can be a useful tool if you're careful with it though

[loves to skate]

Another way is to request a disc from the Radiology department. You usually have to fill out a request form and they will send you one. It is a good idea to have a copy of every x-ray, MRI and CT scan for future reference.
Sally

[Dingo]

x-rays

For film x-rays, you can just take a photo when they are displayed at your doctor's office.

EEEeeeee... they are all regular film x-rays.

Another way is to request a disc from the Radiology department.

Scott has his next appointment in 9 months. I think when I go in I'll request a disk with all of his x-rays. I'll put em' all online. They'll cover age 5, 5.5, 6 and 7.

[mamamax]

Hi Dingo,

Is there a good non-machine approximation of that exercise? My son's in a dorm room in another state, so a big machine is out.

Would you also consider Schroth therapy? There seems to be more and more PTs getting certified in this and maybe there is one near your son's college?

[mamamax]

Yes, we had considered Schroth. The thing is, it seems like what he's doing now is helping, so I don't want to pull him away from that into some complete other thing. I could add little bits (like the torso rotation), but I don't want to interrupt what he's doing now.

That makes sense. I see he's working with message and exercise. Can you share with us what type of exercise and message? Very glad for you both that improvement is being seen & best wishes for continued good results!