Richard III: Lost King had Scoliosis

Just came across this story and thought it was interesting:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-19561018 

 

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?

Zumba!

Alot of people think that after scoliosis surgery, you are unable to do alot of things that you used to do. I not only do the things I used to do, I am enjoying trying new things too!

I've recently started going to Zumba classes, I've never done Zumba before but it's alot of fun! I wasn't sure if I would be able to do Zumba after scoliosis surgery as it involves alot of jumping around and using your back and hips. 

Before surgery, I used to do aerobics quite regularly but it's only really very recently that I've felt like I'm able to do this kind of activity again, and I'm now 2 years post op. 

I have really missed doing aerobics for the past couple of years and was a bit anxious about getting back into it again as it's been so long and I was worried if I'd be able to do it - at many points during recovery I thought I'd never do it again!

I've really enjoyed the Zumba classes though. Yes, there are certain moves I can't do that involve bending the back, but I just do my own adapted version of the moves. It's still fun exercise!

I'm just eternally grateful that, after 2 years, I'm able to do these kind of activities again and I'll never take anything for granted again.