Sometimes you just have to dance

Spring has finally arrived in New England after a colder than usual winter.

Well, today it is cold, wet, and windy (sigh) but for the past week it has really been quite nice.

Yesterday Dancer Girl and her sister just had to take the opportunity to dance outside.

We had an impromptu photo shoot of sorts and it was such fun to see them enjoying themselves.

Big Brother wasn't into the dancing but he rode his bike & shot some hoops while the girls leapt and twirled around him. He's such a good sport with all the dancing that goes on in the house.

For part of the time Dancer Girl even put on her pointe shoes - the picture shows why it was good that she chose the old ones to wear outside!! Yikes!

So this isn't really a scoliosis related post so much, but dancing is such a big part of life here that we decided to post it as a celebration of the joys we can find in life, even if it's just dancing on a warm, sunny day.

Schroth introduction

We had our first meeting with the doctor who runs the clinic closest to us (Dr. Marc Moramarco at Scoliosis 3DC).  People come from all over the world to get treated here so we are fortunate to live very close - a 15 minute drive in fact!

Everyone was incredibly friendly, making every effort to be sure Dancer Girl wasn't nervous. In fact, they assured her so often not be nervous that she began to think there must be something to be nervous about!! (There wasn't...)

This was the initial assessment.  He took a good look at her most recent x-ray and then examined her back, taking photos so he and the other therapists in the clinic can be sure to be on the same page if we were to continue with treatment.

We learned so much in just one visit!

We learned more about her specific curve than we had before - in fact, she has four curves!  The main one is at 28 degrees and is the one we knew about.  The others are much smaller and are essentially compensatory as her body tries to have her stand straight.  (He said having 4 curves is better than 3 because that last small curve at the top is what makes her look like she is standing up straight, making the scoliosis essentially invisible to the casual observer).

He showed us specifics about her curves and how they impact her posture, talking about each one individually.  He showed us how one small movement could make her back shift more into place right before our eyes.

Basically the program is designed to give you techniques for stabilization and activities of daily living to put less strain on the curves. They provide you with individualized techniques for your specific curves to help strengthen muscles and improve lung capacity which is likely impacted by the scoliosis.

He said that a person that goes into adulthood with less than a 30 degree curve is less likely to have it worsen with age.  Over 30 and it is more likely to progress.  Dancer Girl, at 28 degrees, is right on the edge of that magic number.

This program targets the specifics of each individual person's case with an intensive plan.

This program can and does get correction, but it is not guaranteed.

This program is generally not covered by insurance.

This program is expensive because it is intense and specialized.

The question then was whether or not to do it - Dancer Girl needs to be fully committed for it to work and it is a financial investment.

In the end, she was quite impressed by what we learned during our assessment visit and we have decided to go ahead and give it a try.  A new brace is also expensive, and while this costs more than a brace, if it means she can stay free of a brace from here on out then she is all for it!

We have scheduled her intensive sessions beginning in May - three weeks, 3x a week, 2 hours each time - and will let you know how it goes!