Scoliosis Blog
JHB 2015
There is an ancient saying that to get something done give it to someone who is busy. I don’t know the origin of the quote but have been reminiscing about it lately. I have been so incredibly busy this last year. I have sat down to write on quite a few occasions but never had the time or the …… probably the word is groundedness (if there is word like that) to actually publish to the web.
Once again I find myself back in the solitude of a plane. Headphones on, music on (who says country and western is bad..) and time to write. I am on my way to South Africa to meet up again with Gary who designed a unique ergonomic chair, Lou-Anne the scoliosis physio and my old university research department. And to see some family as well !!
I was intending to go to SOSORT in Poland this year but as I keep on saying, no time. My last year has involved:
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Enrolling, developing and commencing my PhD researching spine deformity. I had to demonstrate sufficient progress at my provisional review which was held earlier in the year. Thankfully I passed that and have been chugging along.
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Restructuring Postural therapy into a new physiotherapy practice called UprightCare. Thanks to Jason and Graeme for the rebrand and hopeful successful implementation. Starting up with new staff and saying goodbye to old staff.
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Trying to spend quality time with family and friends
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Keeping my fitness up and my weight reasonably down.
People have been asking me why… why the study, why the rebrand, why do we do things that make life less easy when we can sit back and relax a bit. The last few years have been to learn how to treat spine deformity and now that I have some inkling of what I am doing and think I can make a positive impact on those patients who need or might need help I need to be able to tell them.
I am also unwilling to fight with the spine surgeons, the only way to convince them that we know what we are doing is to research and publish and show them in their own language with their own vocabulary. I need to learn the language and the vocabulary and way to communicate with them.
Apart from the PhD, statistics courses and clinic restructure I have been spending considerable time relearning how to write. I am not sure when the learning component will finally make writing easier for me and more clearer for you, but hopefully sometime.
We have also installed an aerial yoga system into the clinic studio. I happened to see and experience aerial yoga when I spent some time in Barcelona a few years ago with Dr Rigo. It took me a few years to find a builder who could “see” what I was trying to achieve. I met up with Christian who is an ex-olympian and really got what we were trying to do. I purchased some hammocks from anti-gravity yoga and away we go…… well not yet. But we will get there. I am still not sure how it will work with our patients but I look forward to the journey of learning.
I spent some time with Renae Stevens who is the chief anti-gravity instructor. She was leading a workshop on spine management. It was a wonderful experience to hear her explain complex process in such easy to understand terminology and then to see and experience her bodywork approach. |
And the patients….. they have continued to find me. Small curves, medium curves and very, very worrying curves. Simple cases and complicated cases… I even tried to get a patient to see Dr Larry Lenke who is probably the only surgeon in the world who can perform the surgery she needs.
We have seen cases trying to avoid bracing, cases trying to avoid surgery, surgical cases trying to avoid pain, and adult cases trying to avoid pain, surgery and progression.
Some of my old patients have come back for review. One case involves an amazing girl who has grown into an incredible woman. She has been braced but her curve has progressed and she is adamant that she is happy with her spine and her torsion and her presentation. This is one of those cases where I wonder if she should have had a fusion a few years ago. She has at least been seeing a surgeon who has advised her that she can have the surgery whenever she feels she wants to. I think she knows that I have wanted her to explore all options including the surgery. I am not one of those therapists that reject surgical approaches.
Anyway…. I have seen a few cases over the last few months where an older sibling has had surgery and now the younger sibling/s is/are showing signs of a curve. I had the luxury of discussing these cases with Dr Rigo. He reiterated that there is no guarantee that a sibling will progress to surgery and every case must be judged and treated on its own merits. It is not easy telling a concerned parent that her 12 year old’s curve does not need formal treatment when she has recently had her older daughter’s spine fused…. And the child is feeling significant pain post fusion.
I have not normally targeted post fusion cases as I agree with Dr Rigo’s suggestion that these kids need to get on with their lives and especially after surgery they should move on. However, some of these kids experience pain post fusion and seem to do quite well with Schroth. Again… I don’t want to fight with the surgeons but hopefully they will begin to see a role for specialised physio in spine deformity.
I also note that there is an increasing number of physio’s who are now treating and are interested in treating spine deformity. Some have attended courses overseas of shorter and longer duration and I worry that they will negatively affect the hard work that some of us have been developing over the last few years. Dr Rigo early on… said that the successful spine physio is the physio who is least interested in making money. My wife and friends chastise me on the investment I have made into entering this world. One day it will work out… but not at the cost of effective and ethical patient treatment. It’s called Upright Care… Upright is not only posture!