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Posted By on 28 Dec 2009 10:52 AM
Hello, My name is Claire and I was diagnosed with scoliosis at age 11. I remember the tears falling down my cheeks when my doctor told me that I had scoliosis. My parents set up an appointment with local orthopedic surgeons and there response was to just wait 6 months. My curve was 36 degrees and kept worsening. Thats when my parents found out about the Boston brace. I have been wearing my brace for about 3 years now and I do physical therapy everyday along with wearing my brace. I wear my brace for 18 hours everyday. I continue to go back to Children's Hospital in Boston every 3-6 months. I have reduced my curve from 36 to 18 degrees. This is proof that when you wear the brace AND do physical therapy then you will see improvements. I am used as a poster child of scoliosis because in my case I have seen success. Yes the brace does cause pain and discomfort. I even remember throwing my brace at the floor when I first got it and the nurse throwing me a box of tissues. As far as wearing the brace to school, I was blessed with friends who were caring and understood not to make fun of me. It was hard to find clothes that would cover up my brace. I would find holes in my clothing because of the brace. I can't bend over with my brace on so if I dropped something then I would have to ask someone to pick it up for me. It was hard to ask for help because after a while people thought I was doing it on purpose, but I wasn't. When I look back on this whole experience I see the negative sides of it because I am human, but I also see the positives. I'm hoping to get the brace off soon because after awhile you get tired of this whole situation. The positive sides of this is that I don't have to go through surgery, I will hopefully get it off within a year, and I have reduced my curve from 36 to 18 degrees. I am blessed with this experience cause it has brought me closer to God, my family and friends. I fully support giving the brace a chance ALONG with physical therapy. Just wearing the brace along can leave side affects, which may last forever. I fully support the Clear Institute for finding an effective way to treat scoliosis patients. I just am writing to say that wearing a brace is effective. |
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RE: Wearing a brace is effective |
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| Topic Review |  | |
JWoggon
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| 24 May 2010 04:46 PM |
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I recently returned from the SOSORT Convention in Montreal. SOSORT is an organization of orthotists (brace-makers), physiotherapists, and orthopedic surgeons dedicated to exploring alternative methods of scoliosis treatment. At this conference, the latest research is presented on various methods of scoliosis treatment.
I fully support everything that is being done by healthcare professionals in every field to provide more options to people living with scoliosis. My duty as a doctor is not to influence, but to inform.
The latest research supports the use of the SpineCor brace in adults for the relief of pain, but not for correction of the curvature. The SpineCor brace encourages motion, whereas most rigid braces restrict it. I'm very happy to hear that people have achieved success using SpineCor (and other) braces. For those individuals for whom bracing has not been the ideal solution, CLEAR Institute is proud to offer another way. Our protocols do not include the use of a brace. One of the main goals of our treatment is to stabilize & reverse the progression, as well as improve function & reduce pain, without resorting to bracing. I recommend listening to Marianne's testimonial at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQEALZwqr48.
Our method of scoliosis treatment is based around the premise that the Cobb Angle is essentially a symptom of a neurological disease. The brain is having difficulty communicating with the proprioceptive (balance) centers of the body, and providing inappropriate feedback to postural muscles; torsion (twisting) of the spine results, and eventually the spine buckles to the side. The spinal cord becomes tethered at both ends, resulting in a great deal of pressure on the spinal nerves. The brain, seeking to reduce or avoid this adverse tension, responds with the best possible adaptation. As long as the brain is required to respond to this inappropriate feedback from the body and adapt to the tethering of the spinal cord, there is a necessity for the body to form a scoliosis. Our treatment focuses upon restoring normal functioning of the brain-body loop, reducing the pressure upon the spinal cord, and thus removing the need for a compensatory curvature. Associated exercises and other therapies then focus on reduction of the existing curvature, after the environmental neurological & biomechanical forces driving progression have been removed.
To state it simply, it is an axiom that the body follows the head, and that the nervous system controls and regulates every other system in the body. The multifactorial causes of scoliosis involve neuromuscular and biomechanical environmental factors, and these factors are not always fully addressed by bracing.
We currently have two CLEAR clinics in Florida which are qualified to provide treatment: one in St. Cloud, and one in Palm Harbor. You can receive more information about these clinics here: http://www.clear-institute.org/tabid/351/Default.aspx.
I hope this information is helpful! If there is any additional assistance I may provide, please do not hesitate to contact me publicly on this form or privately via e-mail.
Warmest Regards,
Dr. Josh Woggon
CLEAR Institute
Director of Research
jwoggon@clear-institute.org
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hedygelb@yahoo.com
Basic Member
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| 21 May 2010 01:01 AM |
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| I have recently been put in a soft brace by Spinecore. I am 61 years old and wearing this brace at this point in my life is truly difficult. It was expensive and there are days that I wish I hadn't done so. what I want to know is if your treatment can be incorporated into what I am wearing and would it allow me to wear the brace less. Do you have any offices in s. East Florida. thank you, Hedy |
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Dr. Bosler
Basic Member
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| 08 Jan 2010 01:59 AM |
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Hi Jean,
CLEAR does currently incorporate resistive torso rotation exercises :). We are open to evaluating anything that may be helpful in stabilizing and correcting scoliosis. We even have a few offices that have a DMX machine that enables us to view the spine during our protocol which helps us to assess the most beneficial exercises.
Our CLEAR protocol is ever-changing in subtle ways to achieve that absolute best results that we can.
And Claire,
Thank you for sharing your story. I wish you all the best!
Dr. Bosler |
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Jean
Basic Member
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| 06 Jan 2010 06:19 PM |
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| Also, another question for CLEAR: Are you aware of the promising published research regarding torso rotation exercises, and are you considering incorporating that into your protocol? There are multiple articles in legitimate medical journals. Thanks. |
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Jean
Basic Member
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| 04 Jan 2010 09:18 PM |
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Dear Claire, thank you for sharing your story. That's great that your curve has gone down. :)
Can you please share more? What is the physical therapy like and how often do you go in for PT? Do you do exercises at home? If so, what kind of exercises and how often? How long do your exercises take? Will you need to do physical therapy for life? Also, what is the name of your doctor?
And a question not for Claire but for CLEAR: Is anybody following up with Boston Children's to see what they're doing in terms of physical therapy for scoliosis and to see whether you and they might have something to learn from each other? |
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Claire1416
Basic Member
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| 28 Dec 2009 04:52 PM |
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| Hello, My name is Claire and I was diagnosed with scoliosis at age 11. I remember the tears falling down my cheeks when my doctor told me that I had scoliosis. My parents set up an appointment with local orthopedic surgeons and there response was to just wait 6 months. My curve was 36 degrees and kept worsening. Thats when my parents found out about the Boston brace. I have been wearing my brace for about 3 years now and I do physical therapy everyday along with wearing my brace. I wear my brace for 18 hours everyday. I continue to go back to Children's Hospital in Boston every 3-6 months. I have reduced my curve from 36 to 18 degrees. This is proof that when you wear the brace AND do physical therapy then you will see improvements. I am used as a poster child of scoliosis because in my case I have seen success. Yes the brace does cause pain and discomfort. I even remember throwing my brace at the floor when I first got it and the nurse throwing me a box of tissues. As far as wearing the brace to school, I was blessed with friends who were caring and understood not to make fun of me. It was hard to find clothes that would cover up my brace. I would find holes in my clothing because of the brace. I can't bend over with my brace on so if I dropped something then I would have to ask someone to pick it up for me. It was hard to ask for help because after a while people thought I was doing it on purpose, but I wasn't. When I look back on this whole experience I see the negative sides of it because I am human, but I also see the positives. I'm hoping to get the brace off soon because after awhile you get tired of this whole situation. The positive sides of this is that I don't have to go through surgery, I will hopefully get it off within a year, and I have reduced my curve from 36 to 18 degrees. I am blessed with this experience cause it has brought me closer to God, my family and friends. I fully support giving the brace a chance ALONG with physical therapy. Just wearing the brace along can leave side affects, which may last forever. I fully support the Clear Institute for finding an effective way to treat scoliosis patients. I just am writing to say that wearing a brace is effective. |
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