What scoliosis and what happens as you age?
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What is Scoliosis?\nIt is an unnatural curving of the spine, making the body look lopsided at the shoulders, the waist and/or the hips.\n\nWhat Happens When the Person with Scoliosis Ages?\nAs with any unnatural situation of the body, there is a lack or a cause. When this lack is filled or the cause is eliminated, the person should recover. When nothing is done and the situation continues, I guess that it stays as it is, or gets worse. Yet, I believe there may be something that can be done.\n\nCan There Be a Cure for Scoliosis?\nIn my experience, the body can repair itself in most cases, if the right conditions are given for its repair, although the official sites say, there is no cure for scoliosis.\n\nUndetermined Cause\nIn the case of scoliosis the cause seems to be undetermined. \n\nMy Guess: Acidity\nMy guess is that there is an acidic condition in the body, which should be measured immediately and then corrected. Acidity in the body can manifest all kinds of problems, e.g. pain, unhealthy growths, inflammations, infections, organ problems, discoloration of the skin, muscle weakness, ligament problems, hair loss, numbness, calcium loss, etc. In my experience, it depends on the overall conditions, emotions and the environment of the person, which symptom(s) will manifest.\n\nLow Acidity, pH Under 7 but Above 6\nLow level acidity (a higher pH, but under 7) may cause pain and inflammations. \n\nHigh Acidity, pH Under 6\nHigh acid levels (a low pH, under 6) may cause numbness and thus seemingly get rid of pain: Feeling "better" by feeling less. \n\nHow to Measure the pH for Acidity\nThe pH (acid or alkaline level) can be measured at home with a roll of pH paper from the health food store or the Internet. Use a little piece of the strip, dip it in saliva or urine. It has been my experience that the pH of saliva and urine should be around 7.5 at all times to feel best and heal. \n\nBalancing the pH\nThe next step would be to balance the pH and bring it up to 7.5. This can be done on several levels. I like to use \n1) alkaline-forming food, \n2) Dinshah Color MedicineTM and \n3) Tissue Salts and Hypericum Perforatum (homeopathic remedies), besides of \n4) detoxifying the environment. \n\nIf all the right things are done and the pH goes down, then the person has been exposed to new toxins or the cleansing is too fast, rapidly bringing up toxins from the tissues and organs, too fast for the body to eliminate. A Tesla-Kirlian photograph would tell. In this case, cooked beans or similarly grounding food can slow down the cleansing without burdening the body with more acid-forming food.\n\n1) Alkaline-Forming Foods\nThere are many alkaline-forming foods, best organic, to avoid more acid-forming toxins. E.g. almost all vegetables, vegetable salads, vegetable soups; nutritional yeast, spelt flour, wild rice, blueberries, carrot beet juice, calcium/magnesium, green tea, yams, almonds and almond milk etc. Most fruits are alkaline-forming but may cleanse too fast. A few pieces may be enough to start with, the pH will tell. Use bananas in moderation, slightly acid-forming! Think of gluten sensitivity, too!\n\nAcid-Forming Foods\nFoods that form more acidity in the body should be avoided gradually or immediately, depending on the pH results. Meat, fish, poultry, dairy, chocolate, coffee (it falsifies the pH results, discontinue for three days, then measure the true pH), white flour and white sugar items etc. are acid-forming. Fish may contain mercury, non-organic foods arsenic from pesticides.\n\n2) Alkaline Assistance by Dinshah Colors\nThe Dinshah colors are fantastic to help detoxify gently and raise the pH, when the right color is used. You can find an introduction on how this can be done at www.biochakra.com, Products, Cosmic LeafTM No. 2, download for $3. It is literally Healing With the Speed of LightTM. A Home-Study Course in Dinshah Color MedicineTM is also available. Kids like these colors and most kids are great in dete
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Sometimes, but usually after 3 -6 months of pt, if your condition remains the same or worsens, it may be a significant sign of a worse spine problem. You may want to try getting an MRI if your condition does not get any better. For this you may want to see your Orthopedic doctor.
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Diagnosis for scoliosis is typically continued by an orthopedist. A complete medical history is taken, including questions abouta a family history of scoliosis. The physical examination includes determination of pubertal development in adolescents, a neurological examination (which may reveal a neuromuscular cause), and measurements of trunk asymmetry. Examination of the trunk is done while the patient is standing, bending over, and lying down. The forward bending test is sometimes referred to as the Adams test. It involves both visual inspection and use of a simple mechanical device called a scoliometer.\nIf a curve is detected, one or more x rays will usually be taken to define the curve or curves more precisely.\nAn x ray is used to document spinal maturity, any pelvic tilt or hip asymmetry, and the location, extent, and degree of curvature. The curve is defined in terms of its beginning and ending points, its direction, and by an angle measure known as the Cobb angle. The Cobb angle is found by projecting lines parallel to the vertebrae tops at the extremes of the curve, projecting perpendiculars from these lines, and measuring the angle of intersection. To properly track the progress of scoliosis, it is important to project from the same points of the spine each time. Occasionally, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used, primarily to look more closely at the condition of the spinal cord and nerve roots extending from it if neurological problems are suspected.\nMy sister is in your age and she wore Braces, there was no necessity for a surgery, please check with your dentist.
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I'm sorry that you've been suffering for so long, and since neither surgery nor medication has helped, I would suggest seeing a chiropractor. Chiropractic is founded in the belief that the Central Nervous System (brain, spinal cord, and nerves) is responsible for controlling EVERY function in our bodies, and when the vertebrae are misaligned (what chiropractic calls a subluxation), they can pinch/damage the nerves running out between them and cause pain, numbness/tingling, or any type of general malfunction to that nerve's corresponding body part.\n\nA good chiropractic technique for scoliosis is Chiropractic Biophysics - CBP, which combines adjustments, traction, and exercise to correct spinal misalignment. The adjustments remove subluxations and allow the nerves to conduct impulses properly. The traction works to correct the curve, or at least prevent it from getting worse, and the exercises strengthen the ligaments so they can support the new posture. Since CBP is a technique that aims to make relatively drastic changes to spinal column but in a gradual, safe way, your CBP chiropractor will probably want to see you 3 times a week for 8-10 weeks (with maintenance care to follow). \n\nBut no doctor can guarantee a cure. So it would be in your best interest to ask around, talk to family or friends for recommendations, visit a few offices and choose the doctor you are most comfortable with (I still recommend a CBP chiropractor, but you don't have to stick with that technique). No matter what you decide to do, I hope everything works out for the best!
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people. You start crawling, then walk, the use a cane when you get older.
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Go to the doctor immediately.  That happened to my mom when she was in her early 50s and she has severe osteoporosis.  This will become extremely debilitating in not that many more years if you don't get treatment asap.  There is treatment but you need to go to the doctor asap.  Now, my mom is 67 and she is extremely brittle boned and fell a few months ago and broke her hip, her shoulder and her elbow and almost did not make it through her surgeries.  Anyways, no 5" shrinkage in 2 years is NOT normal.  My mom used to be 5'4" and now she is about 4'10".
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I work for a Chiropractor, he is my brother in law, and I know a lot about this.  Well, let me tell you that your spine does not shorten.  What happens as you get old is that you might start to hunch a little, making you lose some height.  Also, at age 35 your body stops having an excess of calcium (thats why its important for those over 35 to take calcium supplemets) so as you age over that calcium is depleted from your bones.  This might also make your vertebra a little smaller.  Add this to having Chiropractic Problems (and everyone does to some extent) that cause your vertebra to misalign and your discs (the stuff between the bones of your back) to get compressed and...hmmm, maybe you could say your spine does "shorten".\nSo...its a combination of posture, bone loss, and soft tissue (disc) damage.\n\nMy mom is the receptionist here, she is 53, and she lost over a quarter of an inch in height, and she gets Chiropractic care every week forever.\n\nGet good Chiropractic care, it's never too late, its the cheapest form of health care, and it has many health benefits.
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You have spondulosis of the lower back.Visit your orthopaedic surgeon.He will teach you some exercises and also how to adopt a suitable lifestyle such as avoiding bending,lifting weights ,standing or sitting for a long time etc.Walking is good for you
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I'd guess if your old, they replace your shoulder, if it's bad
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My sister had operation because of scoliosis and she had no problems during her pregnancy, she had a baby during natural way (no Cesarian section) aand she is pregnant again :)
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yes you will contort your back and will have back problems for life . you should meat my brother he never listened and now he it paying for it and he is only 30 that makes for a long painful life
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JS,\nI'm somewhat familiar with your situation as I'm pretty much in the same boat.  I'm 54 and have degenerative disk disease (DDD) with 11 herniated and/or bulging disks in my upper and lower back.  It sounds like you might have the same thing along with the scoliosis.  Have you had an MRI of your upper back?  It's not a big deal knowing it, since there's no cure or treatment for DDD, in fact they're not sure what causes it.  The bottom line with DDD is there's nothing they can do but treat the pain.  Injuries to the spinal cord or the nerves that attach to the spinal cord do not heal themselves nor will they "reroute" themselves as other nerves in your body sometimes can.  With spinal nerve damage, once it happens, you've got it forever.\n\nI've got a damaged nerve on the left side of the T3/T4 disk that's been causing me constant pain for over 3 years now.  I was coughing, of all things, and blew the disk out, which crushed or dented the nerve.  I've been in constant, terrible pain ever since.  Every hour, every day, it hasn't let up, not even for a second.  There's no "comfortable position," no way to ease that "ice pick in the back" pain I have.  It just "is" and it takes over every aspect of your life.  Sometimes I do something, move a certain way, and bingo, the pain shoots up near the top of the scale.  Sometimes it goes back to "normal" (around a 3 or 4 on the pain scale) after a few minutes and sometimes it stays up there around an 8 or 9 for two or three days. Sometimes I can do some particular thing without making it worse and then I do the same thing a week later and I'm back in the jackpot.  It seems there's no reason or rhyme to it.  \n\nI've had 5 Epidural Steroid Injections (ESI), which unfortunately did nothing but give me diabetes, one more thing I have to deal with.  Ok, I should say that the docs think the ESI *did* work, in that it caused the disk to shrink just as it was supposed to, but unfortunately the physical damage to the nerve was already done and that's what is causing the chronic pain.  \n\nI'm taking some pretty strong pain killers, morphine and codeine (can you spell "addict"?), plus I've just started Lyrica.  I tried Neurontin a couple of years ago but it didn't help.  I'm hoping the Lyrica will help this time and maybe I can get off the morphine, which, for one thing doesn't work all that well but also it has some bad side effects.  Mine aren't as bad as some I've talked to, but they're bad enough.  Yes, I know it could be worse and while I have a great deal of sympathy for others that are worse off than me, hearing about the plight of someone else doesn't make me feel any better.\n  \nI'm also taking some stuff called Zanaflex (generic name: Tizanidine) which, while it has some side effects, really helped when I started getting extremely sharp, radiating pains that went from the damaged nerve at the T3/T4 site, down the back of my left arm and up the back of my neck.  The Zanaflex stopped the pain right away and it's one of the best meds I've ever taken when it comes to doing what it's supposed to.  I stopped taking it for a day and the pains came back, so I know it's working.  Zanaflex is a muscle relaxer and apparently the pain in my arm and neck were the result of muscle spasms generated by the nerve damage in my back.\n\nThe biggest problem I have with it is that it knocks me out cold!  I've talked to others that have had different, intolerable, side effects, so it's not going to work for everyone.  I'm supposed to take 4mg three times a day but instead I take two of them (8mg) before I go to bed.  It has a dual effect of stopping the pain plus it's a fantastic sleep aid - but you better not change your mind about sleeping after you take it!  \n\nOne of the best things about it is that it
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Oooh dear.\nYou're in trouble.\nBut the problem is not below your neck.\nTell your family and ask for help.\n\nIf you stay like this, your bone and tissue structure will be so weak when you get older that your life expectancy will decrease significantly.\n\nDon't wait any longer
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I had osteoporosis in my spine and right hip. I had no idea until I had a bone density scan at age 58. I had taken HRT for 10 years to help prevent osteo. I started taking Fosamax (there is now Actonel, and Boniva) and my osteo has greatly improved. I know longer have osteoporosis I have osteopina which is where it starts. I also take calcium with vitamin D along with the Fosomax. I am 65 now and feel more confident that I won't break bones with simple movements. I will continue taking a bone building drug to prevent bone loss again. The very first thing to do is see your doctor for a BDS. Osteoporosis causes no pain unless you fracture something. The worse being vertebrae fractures which will cause collapse of the spinal column, pain, and losing height. Good luck and head to your doctor...
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usually above 45 degrees (pointing up), but as you get older the angle decreases.
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You have to work your back muscles daily. I talked to a natural nutritionist who said scoliosis is caused by a bacteria formed and settled around the spine, then as it grows it causes your spine to curve.  dAlot of working out, the stronger the muscle the straightrt the spine.
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At about 45, you will see slight wrinkling around the mouth & eyes.  After that, skin becomes much thinner and takes on an\nunusual appearance that is hard to describe.  But bruising becomes more like blood buildup under the skin.\nThe obvious, graying hair (maybe, my father never grayed at 77).\nBalding or thinning hair in many people.\nMale sexual organs are not as easily responsive as before.\nWomens breasts begin to sag.\nThey get loose skin on their neck, sometimes referred to as a\nchicken neck.\nLess energy, memory lapses, forgetfullness.\nLove to tell stories of "when I was your age".\nBut most importantly, they have experienced so much that most are very wise and a great source of advice.