Around the time I was 11 or 12, it was discovered that I
had scoliosis – a curvature of the spine.
On the one hand it didn’t feel like a big deal, but I started to see an
orthopedist regularly and was eventually transferred to a specialist at the
Akron Children’s Hospital. Fairly
quickly I was put in a back brace that I would wear for two years in an attempt
to stop the progression of the curve while I was going through puberty. Although I didn’t realize it until several
years later, the bracing was pretty unsuccessful and my curve continued to
worsen into my mid-twenties. However,
despite the lack of effectiveness in stopping the curve, my flute teacher at
the time insisted that the fact that I had to wear the brace for all that time
made me a much better flute player, because I was forced to learn how to use my
air much more efficiently. There is a
bright side to everything!
In those years of seeing an orthopedist regularly, there
are a couple of things that I remember him telling me about my future with
scoliosis. One was that I might have
difficult and uncomfortable pregnancies.
The second was that I would need to keep myself thin in order to relieve
any extra strain on my back. On the
first account, he wasn’t exactly right.
My pregnancies have generally been pretty comfortable on my back. However, my babies don’t like to go head
down. They just can’t fit themselves
into my crooked pelvis. Thankfully,
after my first breech baby I found a wonderful chiropractor who has worked very
hard to get my babies head down. Post
pregnancy has been far more of a challenge.
Frozen backs, constant achiness and pinched nerves that make it almost
impossible to walk or move sometimes.
As for the second point (keeping myself thin to reduce
strain on my back), I have thus far been able to do this, but I have really
lacked strength. Especially in my
delicate core area. So, this is where
Beachbody comes in. I know that there
are going to be many exercises that are beyond my capability physically, and
yet I know that it is essential for my back health to build lean muscle and
keep my whole core supported for years to come.
