Scoliosis Blog

xx Another flight, another trip. I went to a lecture  last week by Lawrence Kelemen who  suggested that all people should go for a daily walk, by themselves, for at least an hour. Without distractions, without iphones, ipods - just by themselves. He said that modern humanity  has lost 'itself' and we need to reacquaint ourselves with ourselves. he explained that each individual consists of 2 parts, the  I and the  self. Eckhart Tolle writes in the introduction to his best selling book the 'Power on Now' that he realised, when the dark demons of his inner soul led him to say, that he 'didn't like himself' that this was the clue to his long journey to eventual happiness, bestselling books and global following.

The solitude of these flights gives me the space to spend time with  myself and reflect on things. What is this thing called posture... why am I drawn to it. Do we choose our destinies or are they chosen for us.  I suspect that when our 2 selves are consistent then we are balanced and comfortable. Does balance always mean comfort- not always, but I suspect we can endure a lot more when we are in balance.

A few weeks ago, a team of scientists from CERN revealed that they  had found the G-d particle. I cannot claim to have a clue about what they are talking about but it has to do with the unifying  force holding matter together which I suspect has something to do with gravity. I  don’t know if you, reading this, are a religious person but many years ago I read in a textbook on muscle function by JANDA a quote from the book of Isaiah in the  old testament. 'And G-d shall judge his people with a plumbline'. I think the passage is referring to  sin, reward, punishment and prosperity. But the word plumbline didn’t need to be used.. it could have used scale or something else.   The passage could be indicating that our structural position relative to gravity  will  have consequences.   Nowadays with laser levels and optical scanners, I  still use a plumbline. I even had to track  down a plumbline is a small store in  Milan  because there are hardly any suitable plumblines available in Australia.

I had a call this week from an adult patient interstate who reported a long history of scoliosis with a curve in surgical range but had been stable for the last few years. She has  been suffering from severe pain and wanted to know if Schroth could be of benefit and how it  works and would it correct her curves and could I guarantee it working. She said that she had seen a surgeon who had recommended surgery but was reluctant to  have surgery because of a possible 4% complication rate. I cannot comment on the complication rate because it might be minor complications and we need to be able to  differentiate. Unfortunately she is also on a disability pension and was not sure if she could  finance her Schroth therapy. I will always wonder that our government can spend 10's  of thousands of dollars on surgical approaches without even trying conservative options.    I am sure I would have been able to help her, and diplomatically informed her so. I asked if she had read my blog as I sensed that she was feeling  that I would just show her some quick exercises and that would be it.  She hadn't, which was kind of frustrating - but informative and confirmed Kelemen's other point in that modern humanity  seeks, sometimes to its  detriment, immediate solutions.

There is no easy way of learning postural correction and no easy way of teaching it.  Dr Rigo only allows therapists to begin teaching other therapists after 5 years in the field because it takes time. Especially time to see the failures.

I saw a patient just after my return from Barcelona. He was booked in for 5 days for Schroth therapy and reported a relatively recent history of pain and that he had been diagnosed with kyphoscoliosis. I asked him to complete a Scoliosis Research Questionnaire which revealed severe pain and a very negative emotional and psychological state. I then put up his xrays  and could find no trace of scoliosis. He did show signs of moderate scheurmans kyphosis.  My  patient reported seeing a rehabilitation specialist who told him that his back was in terrible state and that he would everlong suffer from debilitating pain.  I went through his xrays  with him and established that a few months  ago he had picked up his girlfriend and then soon after picked up a ride-on mower and this precipitated his back pain.  Since the discussion with the specialist his pain and outlook had deteriorated considerably.  Prior to the specialist he had even enlisted in the Australian Army. He was rejected by the army.

Dr Rigo has an amazing approach to these cases. We know that there is evidence that some people with postural deformity experience more pain than the general population but  it cannot be predicted in the demographic population.  This kid was strong and content, volunteered for the army and had his future ripped from him unnecessarily.  I went to great lengths to explain the different spinal deformities and we commenced a postural correction program.  Scheurmann’s hyperkyphosis is treated in one plane and much more simple learn.  I asked him to NOT come back the rest of the week and suggested he return to gym, sport and everything and anything that he wanted to do.   He returned after a week of doing his exercises.  His pain was easier but most importantly, his outlook was better. I don’t know if I agree with the army's approach but I told him that the army  probably rejected him because they cannot take the risk of training him up and then possibly losing him IF his back does trouble him. He was OK with this we agreed that he would continue with his exercise program and return in few months.

A year or two ago I was interviewed by a well known journalist about  posture and its effect or its cause on the emotions and psyche.  There is some truth that depressed people have a particular posture (body language) and aggressive people have  a different posture. There is a link between the two but it’s a lot more complicated.   We need to differentiate between structural spinal deformities non structural deformities .ie.are the bones misshapen.

The Higgs Bosun or God particle might be the  link between matter, gravity and energy.  From the moment any structure is born or created it tries to conserve energy by  finding the most efficient manner to withstand the negative effects of gravity. Our posture is a result of our constant interaction with gravity and this has ramifications on  the physical and non-physical  aspects of our bodies.

Early on in 1st year physiotherapy we did a course called anatomical terminology.  We were shown a picture of the human body and were told that every movement was referenced to this starting position. Anatomical Man is a balanced symmetrical structure; and can be depicted as a stick figure. Every load joint is horizontally and vertically balanced with the load joint above and below. Egoscue has a cute description, calling this the 'design posture' although many of the postural treatment systems dismiss this ideal I think it’s a beneficial starting point.

I received an email from Lisa Horton who is a physiotherapist in Queensland who informs me she completed her Schroth training in Germany last year. I look forward to meeting up with her and learning together.

This week I will be attending the conference on surgical correction of spinal deformities.  When we were training as physiotherapists  I got to spend  time in theatre watching knee replacements, fracture repairs and other orthopaedic surgery.  Hopefully I can meet up with some spinal surgeons and travel on the surgical path for a while.