Winter Warmers - Pain Relief

Image by insane gal via Flickr

With winter brings dark nights, cold frosty/snowy days and for me and many other scoliosis sufferers - increased back pain.

The cold weather tends to cause an achy type pain and extra stiffness in my lower back, which for some reason I've noticed even more since my surgery and have noticed even more over the past few days. This is one of the reasons I detest winter, that and fear of slipping on icy ground and damaging my metalwork.

During winter, you'll usually find me with a hot water bottle or heat pad permanently attached to my back, as I find heat therapy really helps to relieve my aches and pains. 

As we've been hit by freezing temperatures and snow this week in the UK, I thought I'd share some useful tips/products that I've found and that could help get us through the upcoming winter months.

1. Heat Pads

I found this mobile heat pad on stressnomore.co.uk and think it looks perfect as you can actually strap it round your body! It beats having a hot water bottle tucked down the back of my trousers!

 
This one is also from stressnomore.co.uk. The Beurer HK63 Rheumatherm Magnetic Heating Pad cleverly incorporates heat and magnetic therapy for pain relief.




Amazon also have a good selection of heat pads.

2. Hot water bottles

A scoliosis sufferers best friend! I find my hot water bottle works wonders on my aching back and feels like bliss.

3. A hot bath / shower

If you find having a bath comfortable it can really help the pain. I actually find having a bath quite uncomfortable post-surgery as I cant bend my back against the bath and just have to sit upright which isnt very comfortable! Perhaps a bath pillow would help but I'm yet to find a decent one. I also find it quite difficult getting in and out of the bath so I prefer to have a shower which can be just as good for pain relief!

4. A lie down on a memory foam mattress / topper

For me, memory foam is the best invention ever and a lie down on my memory foam topper instantly relieves my pain. Lots of cushions also help.

5. Thermal tops

I've recently tried wearing a thermal vest top underneath my clothes which really helps to keep the cold out of my back.

Failing the above, a holiday to a nice hot beach will also do just fine! ;)

Pain days

I don't like to post about pain too much as I don't want to put people off having this surgery, as I know that in many severe cases like mine, surgery is unavoidable.

However, this is an honest blog about life after scoliosis surgery and if you need to have this surgery you will be interested in what it's really like living your life after this type of surgery.

Today has been a bad pain day. Actually the past few days have.

Honestly, I don't get as many pain days now as I used to, in fact, I can now go months without taking my painkillers. Considering how many painkillers I took in the year following my surgery, I think this is incredible.

I believe alot of this is down to my exercising and keeping my core as strong as possible as I've worked really hard to get my strength back since surgery.

My pain days generally don't stop me from doing anything. I just keep calm, take a codeine and carry on!  But these pain days do make me stop and remember that I have had major surgery on my spine, it's so easy to forget sometimes.

I've been trying to work out recently what causes my pain days. Am I doing too much by going to the gym frequently and working full time? Should I rest more? I just don't know.  These are the questions I will ask my consultant when I see him next month.

I think though, that I've worked out a few 'triggers' of my post-surgery pain over the past few months:

• Stress I've been under alot of stress over the past couple of weeks and I think this is causing my back pain to flare up now. Maybe it's the muscles tensing up I don't know but it seems to be worse when I get stressed.

• Cold Weather Now the summer has come to an end (I know, I know, what summer right?) I can feel the cold working my way into my back and making it tense up more.
• Uncomfortable chairs I still need to get myself a decent cushion!! But most chairs are uncomfortable and will cause my back pain to flare up if I sit on them too long.
• Time of the month (ladies!) for some reason my back pain gets alot worse during this time, which is odd as this never happened before surgery!
• Being on my feet too long although I know this is also a problem for people who don't even have a back condition and it's usually relieved once I sit/lie down.

I would be interested to hear from other people who have had the surgery, what do you think causes your pain and how do you tend to cope?

Does scoliosis surgery get rid of pain?

I get asked this alot and the answer, for me, is yes and no.

People don't seem to understand why I am still in pain after I've had the surgery, I think they think that as my surgery was nearly two years ago now that I should be 'recovered' and back to normal now - whatever that is.

The truth is that before my surgery my pain was much, much worse and I was soooo much more uncomfortable.

I had two curves 80+ and all the pressure these put on my muscles gave me terrible muscle spasms/knots. Nothing would get rid of them, I had massages every few weeks, tried accupuncture, physio, heat therapy, pilates, swimming etc etc. It just felt like a constant intense pressure - kind of like my spine was about to snap. I also found it hard to sit unsupported e.g like a bench/stool as I'd get pain/pins and needles in my back. Plus I was always so uncomfortable on pretty much EVERY chair going due to my rib hump.

As soon as I woke up from surgery I knew straight away that the pain I had before surgery was completely gone, and I can't begin to tell you what a relief that was after years and years of it. My muscle knots went overnight.

My back felt supported for the first time, like I had an internal brace and I could sit unsupported comfortably for the first time, it was so amazing.

I was told by my surgeon that this surgery is not guaranteed to get rid of pain and that I could end up with a different type of pain post surgery and he was right. I didn't have the surgery to get rid of my pain but to stop further progression of my curves so this didn't really bother me.

The pain I get now post surgery is mostly lower back pain that I get after a long day at work/being on my feet for a while and is relieved instantly by lying down. 

I guess this is due to pressure on the unfused discs in my spine as they have to take the pressure that my whole spine used to take now that it's fused. I'm currently trying to strengthen my core muscles at the gym to try and take the pressure off and I have noticed a difference since starting my exercising I must say.

The main problem I have now is trouble getting comfortable. I'm constantly uncomfortable and I think this is because of the rods in my back my posture is constantly 'straight' so I cannot bend my back to mould it to chairs such as sofas as others would do. 

If I'm sat straight upright I'm usually comfortable but the problem is that most chairs don't allow you to sit straight very easily so I'm always hogging all the cushions in the house in a desperate bid to get myself sat in a 'straight' position!

So if anyone knows any good cushions that may help with support for my back please let me know...

Memory Foam = Bliss!!

I remember the day I discovered memory foam. 

It was before my scoliosis surgery and I was looking for anything to help with my pain. I bought a memory foam mattress topper and I can honestly say that it was the best thing I ever did. After sleeping on memory foam I remember waking up for the first time without pain and stiffness, it was amazing and in my opinion, well worth the money.

At the time they were about £90 for a single topper but they've come down in price considerably now and are widely available. 

Now I can't sleep comfortably without my memory foam topper, I usually wake up in pain if I go on holiday and have to sleep on a hard bed. I usually can't wait to get back to my own bed and my memory foam! It's like bliss when I lie down on it after a long day.


If you suffer with back pain from scoliosis memory foam is well worth a try, it's really helped me and has truly been a life saver since my surgery.


I am not sure what the best memory foam mattresses are but I bought mine from Dunelm Mill.

There are also many available on Amazon at good prices and
Memory Foam Warehouse have a huge choice of memory foam mattresses and toppers.


There is also a good blog article here on memory foam mattresses and scoliosis.

I know everyone has different preferences when it comes to mattresses and I won't say that memory foam will get rid of all your pain but it has helped me. 

I really just want to share things that help my pain and keep me comfortable with others suffering with the same condition :)




Louise xx