Moving On

Dancer Girl is graduating from high school in a few months. How did we get here so fast?! She will be heading off to college to pursue a BFA in 2D Studio Art with a minor in dance.

The Boston brace seems like a distant memory in some ways, but scoliosis rears it's head now & then to remind us of that time in her life. Her back occasionally hurts when she tries something new in dance, but for the most part she is able to anticipate and avoid extra stress on her curve. She now manages her scoliosis rather than letting it control her. (Cello Girl is a sophomore in high school. She has had no further progression and will not need to wear a brace. She also continues to dance).

Recently, as part of an art project, Dancer Girl did a series of paintings depicting the beauty in a variety of disabilities & difficulties. One of them was of a Boston back brace. It brought me to tears that she could make something so beautiful out of a painful time in her life, that she could learn from it and even be inspired to create a work of art.

Another favorite was of a ballet dancer that has a prosthetic leg. She dances en Pointe. The painting is based on a real person Dance Girl heard about. If that's not inspirational, I don't know what is!

We won't be posting here anymore but we will keep it available in case someone stumbles across it and finds it helpful. We were thankful for those before us who shared their experiences and are happy to be able to do the same in some small way.

We wish you peace and joy, even in the midst of the pain and difficulties that can come with scoliosis. You can come through it stronger than before. I've seen it happen in our own home...

Scoliosis Take 2

Dancer Girl's younger sister saw the back doctor this week...

           and...

                 she has a lower back curve in a similar location as Dancer Girl.

                             It is 18 degrees.

She has had a huge growth spurt recently which seems to be slowing down so hopefully things won't progress as quickly from here as they did for her sister. We will go back in 6 months for another x-ray.

In the meantime we are going to start her on the same type of Schroth program as Dancer Girl to see if we can slow/halt any progression. She has her first appointment with them in a few weeks.

Now I guess we need a blog name for her...

She is a dancer like her sister, but we can't really call her "Little" Dancer Girl as she is standing close to 5' 5" at age 12!


She also plays and loves the cello so I guess we will go with
"Cello Girl ".

Cello Girl handled this all very well. I think it helped to have seen her sister go through this but also to see that her curve is not as far along as Dancer Girl's was at her age. She was certainly relieved that there wasn't an immediate need for a brace.

We will be keeping an eye on this over the next few months...

Life post-brace

Brace-free days...

At our last appointment with the back doctor Dancer Girl had another x-ray. She was a bit disappointed to find there has been some progression since coming out of the brace a couple of months prior. However, it was only 1 or 2 degrees and the doctor was not concerned. He felt it was due to settling that occurred once the back was free of the restrictions of the brace rather than any real progression of the curve.

He basically said she is done with seeing him regularly. We thanked him and told him that we hoped to never see him again (nothing personal - he's a great guy)! He totally understood the sentiment.  :)

Dancer Girl still has to deal with some back pain, although it is much less frequent and less painful than before bracing. Yay!

She also has daily Schroth exercises to do. These are specific to her back curves and were learned from a specialist (see previous posts for more information). She can select from a variety of ones but has to do some every day.

During the summer, when our schedule is less structured, this has proven more difficult than we expected. You would think with more free time there'd be more opportunity for these things but because every day is different it's hard to remember to fit them in.

Once the fall schedule kicks in we can get better at making sure they are fit into our regular routine. The goal is to keep progression from happening and to stabilize the back.

She is also finding that some of the clothes she bought to fit over her brace still work fine without the brace. Some of it is too big of course, especially the pants and shorts, but at least we can still use some of it. Nice for the budget!

We are so thankful to everyone who helped Dancer Girl through her brace-wearing days... her pediatrician, back doctor, physical therapists, Schroth therapists, other bloggers' helpful information and advice, family members, and friends.

What seemed at the time like a long road has had this chapter come to an end. We are hopeful that we have come to a place where her scoliosis can be managed well and not pose continued issues for her.

And she can still dance!!

Diving In

Last week Dancer Girl began her intensive therapy sessions for her back using Schroth techniques at Scoliosis 3DC. We met for the initial 2-hour session where we were a bit overwhelmed with all the information, but in a good way. It is clear they take each person case by case to figure out the best exercises, stretches, breathing techniques, and ADL adjustments. This is not a one size fits all program.

They took pictures of everything and we will end up with a binder full of personalized instructions at the end of the program. They will also take video & send that home with us upon completion of the sessions.

The therapist was wonderful - informative, friendly, funny, and thorough. She also happens to be a dancer! This was nice for Dancer Girl, plus the therapist was able to use dance terminology for various body movements and positions as a way to help her learn the best ways for her to sit, stand, move, etc.

It turns out that she has been doing most activities of daily living (ADLs) wrong. Sigh. The way that is most comfortable for her body is typically not what is best for her back. The new ADL techniques will help counteract the curve rather than play into it.

The picture isn't Dancer Girl but it is similar to her curve issues and shows what we get - photos with instructions for how to sit, stand, lie down, reach, carry, etc. You can see in the left picture that the girl is leaning with/into her curve as she sits creating an increased lumbar concavity.  A simple correction for picture two shows how she has gone against the curve and reduced the lumbar concavity as a result.

We will go back three times a week, two hours at a time, for the next three weeks. I was so proud of how Dancer Girl took everything in, paid attention, demonstrated that she was learning and listening, and didn't get overwhelmed at having to adjust nearly everything she is doing in her daily routines. It has been an amazingly positive experience so far and we are quite certain that we will come away with a variety of useful strategies to help Dancer Girl keep her back curves from getting worse.

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.

Just Keep Dancing...

Dance has taken over our lives.  But it's all good.

Dancer Girl has picked up additional ballet and modern classes at a second dance studio, both of which are taught in different styles than she is used to. This has proven to be a bit of a challenge and it is exciting to see her be pushed to take her strong foundational skills and use it in different ways.

The director has been wonderfully accommodating of the scoliosis and has been checking in regularly to make sure that she is not pushing Dancer Girl beyond her limits physically, while still pushing her as a dancer.

I think it has been good for Dancer Girl to see that other teachers will accommodate her back pains and limitations - that it's not just those who know her well that are willing to work with her through this.

We are seeing that many of the stretches for dance have been good for her back and the routine core work will only help to strengthen her overall.  And so, while it is not without it's pains, it seems as if dance has been good for her so she will keep it up.  And we are thrilled that she can keep going because it brings her such joy.  It brings us joy as well as we see her grow and develop from the little girl who likes to dance, into a true "dancer" who shares her passion with others.

Keep Dancing

Along with classes beginning for school, dance classes start up this week as well.  Dancer Girl and Dancer Sister are both very excited.

Dancer Girl is adding pointe to her schedule, following some summer introductory private lessons.  It has been going well and she is thrilled that there doesn't seem to be any additional stress on her back or increased discomfort due to pointe work.

We have spread out her classes over more days to reduce the amount of time she is in dance class each day.  This means more driving for me but less stress on her back.  For now it is a good compromise.  I may feel differently in the middle of winter when I am driving to dance multiple times a week in the snow!!

Classes for the year include: ballet, pointe, contemporary, modern, lyrical, jazz, and dance team.  She is also continuing to work on her solo for competition this year, and may join two friends for a trio competition routine.  Lessons for those will be fit in periodically throughout the year.

(Dancer Sister is taking ballet, lyrical, contemporary, modern, tap, and dance team, as well as working on a solo for competition herself - lots of dance happening throughout the week!!).

The countdown to dance begins!

Going Solo

Dancer Girl has decided she would like to perform a solo dance at competition next year.  We are thrilled as this is a big step of confidence for her.  The studio director is very encouraging and is happy to help her reach this goal and will be working with her on the routine.

She was wanting to choose a song from her scoliosis playlist (see our Songs of Hope and Encouragement post) and is leaning towards a contemporary/lyrical style dance.  While she had a few top choices she wasn't quite feeling the pull toward any of them for a routine right now.

Then we found it...

             an acoustic version of Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten" (great song!)
             performed by Boyce Avenue featuring Diamond White (terrific arrangement).

You can see their youtube video version by clicking here.

The song is about reaching out and grabbing opportunities, making the most of the rest of your life, writing your own story, taking chances and pushing yourself, finding hope... that all resonated with Dancer Girl and she had found her song!

I can't wait to see how the dance unfolds!!

* * * * * * * *

If anyone is wondering what Dancer Girl's short list was for solo songs before we found this version of "Unwritten" it included:

Britt Nicole's "Still That Girl"
Britt Nicole's "The Sun Is Rising"
Carly Rose Sonenclar's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
Meredith Andrews' "You're Not Alone"

En Pointe with Scoliosis

Today Dancer Girl got her first pair of pointe shoes.

She is SO excited.

We got the OK from her back doctor first, and have decided to do private lessons over the summer to see if there are any scoliosis-related issues before she takes the official class in the fall.  The director of her dance studio will provide the lessons herself to monitor Dancer Girl's progress and make sure she is ready to go when classes start up again.

At the fitting the person helping us said Dancer Girl has very strong feet. She also tried to give her shoes that will help provide as much stability as possible to aid in keeping her back properly aligned.  She was very helpful, for which I was very grateful.

We are feeling good about this at the moment but are also a little apprehensive. There are differing opinions about the wisdom of pointe for girls with scoliosis.  Some say it does more harm than it is worth, others point out that many dancers with scoliosis do just fine en pointe with no additional damage to their backs.  We will just keep a close eye on things and reassess the wisdom of it should anything seem to be moving in the wrong direction.

There is something very exciting though about watching her stand en pointe for the first time!!  We need to be careful to balance that excitement and thrill with the reality of the scoliosis and make the wise choices as life throws us curves.

(Our side bar has some links to other sites that talk about dancing with scoliosis if you are interested in more information about this topic).

Can I Still Dance?

This was one of the first questions that came up when we found out Dancer Girl needed a Boston brace. Dance is what she loves doing most in the whole world.  It is what brings her joy.  Not being able to dance would have been devastating to her.

                 The answer is "YES!  You can still dance!!"

Here is how it works for us:
1. She takes the brace off for dance classes.  On heavy dance days she won't get her full 18 hours in the brace but that is OK if she is being consistent other days.

2. There are no restrictions at this point on the styles and dance moves she can do.  No official restrictions that is. The reality is that there are certain dance styles and moves which hurt her back more than others.  They are, of course, the ones she enjoys the most.  In those classes the teachers accommodate her by letting her take breaks as needed.

3. We did cut one class to break up a heavy dance day.  She is taking jazz classes, ballet, contemporary, modern, and she is on the competitive dance team - we dropped a second hour of ballet.

4. She does specific stretches and exercises that are good for her back.  The instructors are very understanding with this.  She has a list of exercises from a PT to help with her flexibility and back pain.

What about ballet en pointe?
We have heard mixed reports about dancing en pointe with scoliosis - some say it is particularly hard on your back so it should be avoided, others say plenty of dancers with scoliosis do it without any more problem than most dancers.  She is curious about pointe but since ballet is not her favorite style we may just be able to avoid that whole issue anyway. She would be ready for it in the fall so the summer will be decision time.

What about after surgery?
We know that if this bracing doesn't work and the curve worsens surgery is a possibility.  There are no guarantees. In that case we may have to face this question again.  I know that many girls do still dance after corrective surgery (see the sidebar list for some blog posts we found about that type of situation) but it can't help but impact the dance styles and moves you are able to fully commit to as a dancer. Depending on where the spinal fusion is and how much of the back is involved will ultimately determine the level of dance that can be continued.

But for now at least, she can still dance and that is worth celebrating!!