Oh my aching back! How did this happen? When I was twenty one, I was diagnosed with Scoliosis. Other than an occasional trip to the chiropractor, I still played racquet ball, chased my two children and enjoyed life pain free.
However, at fifty years old, getting out of bed in the morning, I felt like I was a 70 years old. Stoically, I ignored it as long as I could.
Walking the grocery store aisles and standing in line at the check out for more than 30 minutes became unbearable.
Shopping at the mall was not a consideration.
Gardening, my favorite hobby, was severely limited to planting a few square feet at a time.
It took me all season to plant "a" flower bed.
To my dismay, I could no longer sleep more than 4 to 5 hours a night.
Turning to find a comfortable position in itself was painful. I was fast becoming a cranky and decrepit old lady at age fifty for Pete’s sake! Every Google search on scoliosis ultimately led to that frightening word, “surgery”.
Yoga may be great for some but not for me.
There was this doctor in
Louisiana who had success using a patented brace.
In my desperate search for relief the brace made perfect sense to me.
It was just days before I packed my bags to drive to
Louisiana that I discovered he was being investigated by the District Attorney.
There was no light at the end of this tunnel.
Doctor after doctor told me the same thing, “There is nothing that can be done beyond surgery.” So with much anxiety, I scheduled an appointment with The Spine Team of Texas. Weeks of daily physical therapy went by and yet, lying face down on a matt, I still could not lift my right leg more than a half inch without extreme pain. Without sleep, I was becoming more than irritable. The Doctor put me on three pills, one to put me to sleep, one to keep me asleep and one to keep me from jumping off the ledge. Next step: MRI and a dose of steroids by injection into my lower spine. The injection deadened the pain so that I could continue physical therapy and build up my back muscles.
Avoiding pain is a very powerful motivator; I worked out an hour every other day. The results were not what I expected, they were ASTOUNDING. Keeping my back muscles in shape was essential to maintaining my new found freedom and a lifetime commitment. Knowing that eventually my lazy side would get the best of me, I asked the Doctor, “If you had to choose only three exercises, which ones would be the most effective?” Religiously I performed those three exercises before I got out of bed each morning, rationalizing that it was better than nothing.
“Osteoporosis is a silent disease” my doctor told me. “You are way too young to have osteoporosis” repeating it over and over making me feel more special each time. Oh Lord, why me? But then again, why not me? Ultimately it was this diagnosis that led me to a physical therapist who became my angel in disguise. Knowing I had scoliosis, one day she handed me 6 pages with hand drawn stick men in different positions. It was an illustration of isotonic exercises that would strengthen my back, legs and stomach in just 10 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Exercises that only took 10 minutes a day? Hallelujah! Today, these exercises are as routine as brushing my teeth and yet have profoundly changed my life. Yesterday I worked in the garden for 5 hours. That may seem like hard work to you, but for me, I was ecstatic. Best of all, I slept through the night without any pills. As a side benefit, I lost three inches around my waist.
It occurred to me that there might be many others with debilitating back pain who could benefit from my story. It is for those of you that I am writing this story, so that you might experience the simple joy of picking up a box, bending over to wash your face or simply tying your shoe strings without pain.
My name is Jean and if you would like more information about how these exercises might change your life, send me an email below.
