Question
QUESTION: Every since I have known my husband he has had pain in his back. Here recently it has gotten worse. It is mostly in his neck. His mother has the most common form of scoliosis where the spine curves from left to right. When he went to a company doctor for a physical to get his job with the state highway department, the doctor told him he had a form of scoliosis called kyphosis, but this type was more rare because typical kyphosis curves in down low in the lumbar region, but his curves in between his shoulder blades, putting his lungs and heart in jeopardy. My husband in excellent shape and health, and he is only 37 years old.
My question to you is, how do doctors correct this and what would e his prognoses? How long is one down from a surgery like this, and does doctors try other things first before they resort to surgery?     



Hanna Somatic Educatio   ANSWER: Hello, Mary Jane.

I can't answer your question as posed -- because doctors have no effective way of correcting scoliosis.  They have approaches to treatment, but they're not very effective in terms of pain relief, and only partially effective in terms of postural improvement.

It's not that scoliosis can't be corrected -- it's that medical approaches are unsuitable and generally inappropriate, given the origin and type of condition they are trying to correct and the approaches they take to them.

There are two general categories of scoliosis -- congenital (involving bone deformity) and functional (involving muscular pulls that distort shape).  The term, "idiopathic" is sometimes applied to scoliosis -- a term that means, "we don't know why it happens" -- and that kind of scoliosis is generally of the functional variety, with muscle pulls triggered by an injury, sometimes to ribs, sometimes to one leg earlier in life.

Of the two, the "correctable" variety is functional scoliosis.  The medical approach involves either bracing in a kind of corset or surgery involving implantation of "harrington" rods and bone grafts, followed by bracing.  Neither approach changes the muscular tensions behind the distortions, and movement is permanently limited.

To change muscular pulls, one must retrain the postural reflexes that control them. This can be done via somatic education.  Congenital scoliosis can be made more comfortable by that means, but not "corrected" because the origin of the distortion is the shape of the bones.  Please see my brief write-ups on the subject at

http://somatics.com/back_pain_terms.htm
http://somatics.com/conditions.htm

and on the origin of back pain at

http://somatics.com/chronic_back_pain.htm

I have worked successfully with scoliosis, so I can attest that this approach is effective, considerably faster than surgery (in terms of time of recovery), not painful and far less expensive.

By the way, kyphosis is not a form of scoliosis; kyphosis is an excessive rounding or protuberance of the upper back, which may accompany excessive low back curve (lordosis).  Scoliosis is a twisting and/or side-tilt of the trunk.

Feel free to recontact me, if you wish.

regard,
Lawrence Gold

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Why is it that spine injuries are so hard to successfully treat and heal?? It seems that once you have back problems you will always have back problems厀hy?

ANSWER: Hello, Mary Jane.

Injuries trigger protective reflexes that override free movement.

Medical methods deal with the body as a "marvelous machine" and attempt to "correct" its functioning,not recognizing that brain level adaptive behavior is in command and overrides their attempts at correction.  The adaptive behavior triggered by injury tends to persist indefinitely unless retrained.

That's why medical methods are not as successful as they might be with injuries.

Have you read the write-ups I suggested?

regard,
Lawrence Gold



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Yes I have, thank you they are very interesting. I actually am in my second year of college majoring in medical transcriptionist and all of this is very interesting and love reading about it. There are tons to learn. I don't know if I will ever learn it all.
My husband goes to the doctor tomorrow, and after my husband takes a MRI or CT scan, I'm thinking that the doctor will ask him to wear a brace of some sort for a period of time to see if that will correct that problem, and surgery as a last resort. Is that how it works? I just want the doctors to fix him without incident. I know I sound a bit na飗e, but when it happens to someone you love, it抯 scary.  
Another thing that scares me is I抦 not sure how long he will be down if he does have to have surgery. I抦 not sure how we are going to pay bills and feed our family if he can抰 work. I work too but I don抰 make enough to make ends meet.
I抦 sorry, I know you can抰 help me that way, but it抯 nice to be able to get my worries off my chest. Sometimes it抯 easier to talk about your troubles to a stranger than someone you know.
I guess the main reason I am telling you this is because I am trying to find out long to expect my husband to be down if he has surgery. When I was 15 years old, I was diagnose with rhadomyosarcoma, and the doctors told my parents how long my recovery would be and what to expect and that made the ordeal a little easier for them卆nd me. I realize you抮e not my husband抯 doctor and truly there is no way you could predict with any accuracy the outcome my husband and I are facing, but an estimate on how long normally is a healthy person is  down is I guess what I am asking.  
Thank you so much for all your help. You have been great.

Thanks,
Mary Jane  

Answer
Hello, Mary Jane,

If your husband elects to go the medical route before the more conservative, less expensive and easire somatic approach ... well, you know my opinion on that.

I can't comment on recovery times for surgeries; my job is to make surgeries unnecessary, whenever possible.

Evidently, the viewpoint I have presented in my writings isn't convincing to you.  I can't help you beyond that.

good wishes,
Lawrence