can someone help me?

[mwright]

Hello, Does anyone know how to help my increasing back pain? I had corrective surgery for scoliosis over 20 years ago, & my back pain is at its worst ever? Has pilates or other exercises helped? What kind of support do people get? I got no-one else to ask-please help!

[LaurieAnne]

Hi MWright,

I am sorry to hear about your back pain. I lived with pain for several years and managed it staying active. Yoga is EXCELLENT as is pilates. Taking hot baths and sitting on heating pads helps too. Gentle stretching and deep breathing can also really help take the edge off. Have you gotten your back checked lately by any doctor? They may have some suggestions for you too. For a natural pain reliever Curcumin works very good. Google it and you can read about it. Hugs and hope you feel better!

[mwright]

LaurieAnne, thanks so much for your response, it means so much, I've felt alone for such a long time. I still don't actually know anyone in my day to day life who had surgery as a child for scoliosis & is living with the aftereffects. I'm going to go & restart my pilates & get referred back to my consulatnt to see if I can see someone about the pain. Not heard of curcumin as a natural pain reliever, that's cool! Thanks again, Michelle. x

[jrnyc]

hi mwright
welcome...most all who are on this forum either have back problems, or have children or other relatives with the same....

can you describe your spine in more detail? what surgery did you have done...where on your spine? do/did you have other problems besides scoli, i.e. herniated discs, hypokyphosis, stenosis, etc...?

jess

[mwright]

Hello Jess, thanks for getting back to me. I had surgery in 1988 when I was 13. I had a Harrington rod & bone graft fusion. I think the fusion was L1-T3-that seems to ring a bell? I had the rod removed again just 10 months later due to recurrent infections which I still have had in the last few years. Don't know what herniated disks are, or hypokyphosis, or stenosis is. Never heard these mentioned, at least under these names. Besides the recurrent infections, I have a LOT of lower back pain, sometimes muscles seizure on the shortest side of my body. I've got extensive nerve damage down the left side of my back (from when they removed the metal). I've got a joint that keeps painfully clicking out of place. The stranger more recent thing is numbest in my left calf when I stand up sometimes & then it disappears. A fairly recent scan did say I have degerative disks whatever that means. The information doesn't seem as detailed in England as over in America. Sorry to just list stuff, don't mean to sound moany, but these are just my details, & maybe you might be aware of some of them! Thanks in advance if you can help me with any of this. What's your story, is any of it similar? Thanks again, Michelle.

[rainbow2010]

Exercise is a warm pool is great. There is no stress on you back or joints, plus the water gives you good resistance so you can spend less time exercising in the water and get the same results as on land. I belong to a senior pool where they keep the water to 90 degrees. We have a treadmill, and elliptical in the water. They have classes such as water walking, arthritis exercise, yoga, and aerobics. My doctor only allows me to exercise in a pool.

[Lilysaidwhat]

I had a lot of lower back pain and it was muscular fatigue on the exterior side of my lower curve. It was due to compensation from my upper curve.

Can you get in to see an ortho? In the meantime, you may want to get xrays done, and see a physical therapist to learn how to strengthen muscles in other areas of your back to offset the stress on the area that is painful. That helped me for over a year. Ultimately I ended up getting (first time) surgery 6 weeks ago, because apparently my spine was collapsing in on itself like a black hole.

Best of luck, and yes, yoga will also help. Any stretching and strengthening is good, but again, a PT will help you identify and isolate the best exercises and areas to target.

Good luck.

[jrnyc]

hi Michelle
sorry i didn't see your post sooner...

i have upper scoli curve of 42, lower 61, with degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, listhesis, hypokyphosis, spinal arthritis, and a few other things i have forgotten...or tried to!
"stenosis" means narrowing degenerative discs can cause A LOT of pain!

i do know that usually, numbness means nerve damage....so does "tingliness" and "pins and needles" feelings...
i have a sciatica that runs down the back of my left leg...been there for years...got bad last year, then eased off again...for no apparent reason...depending on what in my curves is pressing on which nerves is what the sciatica is coming from, i think

i hope you can find a good scoli doctor in England near where you live...i am ignorant of your geography there...and a good pain doctor! often both kinds of doctors are needed!
i think you do need a doc who will explain what is wrong with your spine so you can understand it! there are some good websites on internet that explain....i do not know how to describe degenerated discs...except to say it is like they are "blown out"!

jess

[mwright]

Hi all,

Thanks for all your advice, I'm learning loads!

I got to see a specialist the other day to find out why I'm recently having so many problems. They agreed that I should get an MRI scan to find out what's going on with my back since I had a car accident. Since then I've had loads of pain between my shoulder blades as well as the usual stuff.

Interestingly, I got diagnosed with Hypermobility Syndrome, which they think is why I've got so many problems with other joints as well. I've got a rubbish combination of of the Hypermobility which affects joints, tendons, ligaments etc. & bad Scoliosis. I did research on this & found that both conditions may actually be linked. Maybe when I was having a growth spurt as a teenager, my weak igaments couldn't keep up with my spine & that's why it curved, don't know. Feel like I'm getting somewhere at least now, which makes me feel more positive.

Thanks again,

Michelle. x

[mwright]

It's a new one on me. It's never been mentioned by anyone to me before. I just read it myself on the internet & guessed the rest. I wonder if regular doctors know, I bet they don't!

Michelle.