Reduce Sporadic Pain from Scoliosis
Chronic pain is becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s world. As society has evolved, we have been sitting more: sitting in a car, at a desk, on public transport, on the couch. Our busy lives have decreased the time we have to take care of our bodies. Stress, lack of movement, and congenital health issues all contribute to chronic pain.
Since I played sports growing up, I had to get my yearly physicals. A few things they always checked were my vitals, joints, and spine alignment. Every time they would say I’m good to go and nothing was wrong with me.
First: The Knee Pain
As I grew older and continued participating in sports, I started to develop pain in various parts of of my body. Because I was so young my pain was usually dismissed as something that was ephemeral. My first major issue was at 13; I was tired of experiencing constant knee pain while running track, and ended up getting an X-ray of my lower body. They diagnosed me with Patella Tendinitis where my knee caps tilt inwards due to how tight my muscles surrounding my knees were. After loads of physical therapy I took matters into my own hands and experimented with an at-home solution.
The biggest technique I learned from therapy was the power of the foam roller. By starting at different points above my knee and rolling upwards towards my hips I have loosened the muscles surrounding my knee. As a bi-product I have increased the elasticity of my muscles, loosened my quads and hamstrings, and dramatically reduced the frequency of my pain.
Now let’s fast forward 8 years when I turned 21.
Next: The Chest Pain
Out of no where stabbing chest pain, inability to take a full breath, and debilitating pressure in my chest cavity took over.
Nothing had triggered it, but I suddenly began experiencing constant waves of pain and could not pinpoint why it was happening. After months of dealing with the unknown pain, going to general doctors, and getting no answers I did some research and decided to pay a visit to a Chiropractor.
The Diagnosis
Of course I did a lot of Google research on what could potentially be wrong with me; WebMD was my best friend. My self-diagnosis was a possible displaced rib that Google stated could easily be popped back into place. I presented my guess to the Chiropractor but he wanted to do a full body X-ray to see if he could see displacement from trauma or if there was a congenital issue.
To my surprise he looked at my scans and informed me I had mild congenital(since birth) scoliosis. As you can see my spine is indeed crooked. All those physicals I received as a child and no doctor ever knew or informed me that I had scoliosis. If this was discovered earlier preventative measures could’ve been taken and the degree of the curvature could have been mitigated.
What’s done is done, and now I had to look forwards and stop dwelling on the what if’s.
My chiropractor highly recommended that I come in three times a week for a few months to get adjustments since my body is not familiar with the process. After the initial adjustment period he stated that many patients with mild scoliosis are lifelong patients, but can come in less frequently, or as needed.
After a few weeks of being adjusted I did notice my debilitating chest pain decrease. I could finally get through a week without clutching my chest and bending over to stop the pain. But after the few months of being adjusted I started to plateau. I didn’t want the chiropractor to become my after work activity for the rest of my life.
Taking Treatment into My Own Hands
My chiropractor had told me that I could do the following things to mitigate my pain and enact preventative measures:
- Go to lifelong Chiro to mitigate pain
- Ensure good posture while sitting and standing
- Avoid high impact sports like running that put pressure on the spine
I did not want to spend so much of my time being adjusted or give up the majority of the high impact sports I do. (good posture I can totally incorporate).
After having success mitigating my knee pain myself I wanted to experiment and see if I could do the same with my chest pain. I was surprised other alternative measures, such as stretching and yoga, were not presented to me as options. Since I prefer to solve my health issues naturally and on my own if possible I decided to stop going to the Chiro and just do Yoga for a few months while tracking the frequency and severity of my pain.
The Yoga Experimentation
I began trying chest opening stretches along with torso focused poses.
Practicing variations of these four poses has drastically decreased the frequency of my chest pain episodes.
After being mindful and regularly practicing chest opening poses I have eliminated my need to go to any type of doctor for my pain. When I decreased the frequency of my yoga practice the frequency of my chest pain increased, so I ensured that I stay on a consistent stretching schedule.
As of now it’s been a year since I’ve visited the chiropractor. Listening to my body and stretching out my torso has relaxed my muscles, increased my flexibility, and enabled me to pursue activities without fear that my body will stop me from living the life I intend to live.
