Week 2, Day 3: Bootcamp Breakdown

I'm going to try and clarify the actual treatment I am receiving, with this post.  I'm getting a lot of questions about treatment specifics, and realizing that pretty much no one has any reference for what in the hey is going on with this. ( I mean, I know I didn't, before I started looking into it! It's also quite difficult to verbally describe without photos, and hey - I really should get it all into writing and pictures before I someday forget what I actually did here... (as if)
I start out each day this way:

Eckard (Mermaid) Table, aka: place to FaceTime the kids, because my hands are free and my head is not entrapped in some kind of device. Plus, by the time I get to the clinic in the morning, I've typically received a text or twenty from the kids wondering if I'm on "that table" yet, so I can "talk". :)
I'm strapped in quite tightly and straps pull against my curve and anchor me to the table, while my lower body moves up and down, stretching and prepping my muscles to loosen up.
Feels awesome. 20 minutes, 3x/day. No complaints. After the 1st session of the day with this, I get that drill massage that I mentioned in my 1st post.  The staff keeps assuring me that it is not a "rigged up" operation, but I'm pretty sure I'm headed to Home Depot one day very soon in order to plot how to make my own.

Next is the VT (Vibrating Traction) Table.  5lb weight dangling from my head, in an effort to restore the natural curve in a healthy cervical spine.  Mine is a reverse curve, developed as a secondary adaptation process, due to the scoliosis. The weight and weird-looking head and chin thing, vibrate like mad.  Not painful, kind of a feel good stretch... at the same time, pretty annoying.  Sandbags lay on my hips and knees while my legs take turn in figure 4 position.  5 mins, each leg, 3x/day.  This helps stretch out my hips and flexors.  That part feels great.

After the VT Table, I do alternate knee-to-chest grabs, while my legs dangle off the end of the table (one at a time), with a sandbag attached.  1 1/2 mins, 3x/day.  These stretches feel really good, too. This is another thing I'd like to recreate for home.

\Below... this is NOT something I'd like to recreate for home.

These are the de-rotation/traction (itchy) chairs.  I'll spare you a pic of me in this thing.  12 lb weight dangles from head, pulling head upward, into traction, while entire chair vibrates. It lengthens the spine and encourages neutral position/de-rotation. 30 mins, 3x/day.  My nemesis.

There's always a movie playing in the chair room, and it's been geared toward the pre-teens I'm in Bootcamp with.  I had to giggle today, when "Cheaper By the Dozen" was on.  I'm wondering if Tony is starting to feel like Steve Martin's character(who is completely hysterical), in this movie... after 2 weeks of trying to work from home, run homeschool, and parent simultaneously.

In the 1st round of the day, after the above 3 stations, I get adjustments from Dr. D., using the pelvic tilt table, followed by neck and roll-squeeze adjustments. (Just like it sounds, I squeeze a foam roll across my chest while he adjusts my thoracic spine.) Then he adjusts my neck in each direction. This feels so good, and my neck is feeling better than ever before, which is a relief!

After the adjustments, it's off to do the cantilever work.
My cantilever was adjusted, yesterday.  So now, what I've got going, is this:
Rather than wearing just one lever with the 15lb weight off of the right end and the 10lb hand weight on the left, I now have a second lever (one with roll under armpit), as well.  The 10lb weight is still on my left, but instead of holding it, it now hangs from the lever. You can see it in the photo, clipped onto the lever.  On the right is the 15lb weight, also clipped on (cut out of photo, inadvertently.  Olivia took this picture ;D).

After I get geared up, I step onto the blue disc, and the vibration is turned on. 20 mins, 3x/day. This is really tough.  This is truly the heart of the treatment, and what changes the spine most.  It is what allows the brain to find and learn a new way to distribute the body's weight. Now, instead of the lever pushing only on my curve, it's pushing my entire spine over, encouraging it to move more toward mid-line, and nudging those wasted muscles on the inside of the curve, to fire.
All of the above, is 1 round.  There is a quick, 10" break, and the round is repeated (minus the chiro adjustments. Lunch break.  Round 3 (with adjustments added back in).

After just 3 sessions of the new lever setup, there was another x-ray today...

The result?  Mixed feelings and emotions!

For my friends and family with a medical background, here's the dealio:
I have a pretty severe left postural shift.  Also, the bone remodeling, specifically to the left side of L3 and even worse on L4 (including bone spurs) is, unfortunately, making the Cobb Angle resistant to further change.
Left: pre-treatment, 3/31/14
Right: today, 4/9/14

On the x-rays, L4 (second vertebra from the bottom of the film)subsequently shows quite a bit of tilt, and is actually a wedged vertebra at this point.  You can note the height difference, left side of L4, in comparison to right side of L4  This really makes it almost impossible to change, Dr. D says; this makes sense to me.

L3 has responded to treatment some, in comparison with the initial x-ray, and he thinks there is still room for improvement, there, despite some bone remodeling.
Translation of the above for all of you non-medical people who think the x-rays just kind of look like gummy worms (as Ava says they do):
My curve may not be able to be further reduced.  This is because my scoliosis has been present so long, that bony changes in the vertebrae have occurred, in order to try and deal with the curve.  These changes make the bones resistant to change/straightening.  These bony changes are most prevalent in lumbar vertebrae 3, and especially in L4.  L4 is the bone 2nd from the bottom on the film. 

As a result of the scolio and bone changes, the vertebrae also adapt by tilting. This is noted on the x-ray. This tilt may not be further reduced.

The reason for my severe right hip pain, he says, is clear to him.

#1. The right side of my pelvis and hip is acting as a sort of 'guide wire' to pull down and away from the left lumbar curve, in compensation.

#2. After all of this time trying to adapt to my scolio, my body has developed severely inefficient and detrimental movement patterns, to compensate for the curve and muscle imbalances.  These movement patterns have left the left side of my spine/pelvis hypertrophied, and the right side weak and atrophied.  These imbalances cause muscle contractions and spasms, pain, and all kinds of other issues in my asymmetric pelvis, and pelvic and SI joints. These just further the imbalances and uneven body weight distribution as I go about daily life, and especially with any weight-bearing exercise. On the exercise note... not yet ready to discuss those permanent implications.
The good news:Though the curve may not be further reduced (andddd it still MAY be), I still have 8 degrees back (one more degree, after changing levers/weights just yesterday), in a week and a half :)  This is far superior than ANY other option for scoliosis, and much more promising for future results, too.

Also, if you look at the x-ray on the left, you'll notice that it says in red, "72 mm".  This is the distance measured from the worst part of the curve, to the body's mid-line (where the spine should be). Then, in looking at the second x-ray, you'll see that it says, "59mm".  So, essentially, it's moved 13mm in the intended direction, so far.

This distance that my entire spine has traveled from left to body mid-line is substantial and really encouraging.  If we can get the whole spine - curved or not - to move even more mid-line, this will mean less compensation by the right side of the pelvis and the right hip, less muscle contracture, and spasms, and more evenly-distributed body weight. All of this would result in less dysfunctional movement patterns and thus, less pain!

Additional good news is that although my spine is severely de-rotated, that is also coming back, nicely.

I definitely have reason to hope that this new lever set up should really help things progress!



The moral of this story?  If you or your child has a known scoliosis, don't wait to treat it! Begin neuro-muscular retraining before your body begins to adapt and change because of the curve.  The body's response to change will be SO much better! Dr. D said he'd x-ray and review Ava on Friday, free of charge. :)

And that, folks, is All She Wrote for tonight!