Lordosis,HARRINGTON Rod, FLATBACK

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who participates in these lists/groups. Your time and

understanding and sharing is priceless on our road to wellness and learning

to live daily with the life long disease of scoliosis...... thank yvou for

participating andcaring.

Any person that has a Harrington(or similar) straight rod may develop what

may seem to be unrelated problems: . The following are my opinions as a

fellow sufferer: Every person has

> Lordosis.(FACT)..its the natural curve of our spine which allows us to

stand

> up, erect. The phrase that may be more appropriate is " Loss of Lumbar

> Lordosis " is the common phrase used. The problems exist when your lumbar

> lordosis changes through an unfavorable surgical outcome and/or

degenerative

> changes , diseases of the spine. For instance, I have scoliosis and at 16

> yrs,1982 at A.I. DuPont-Wilmington, DE, , I originally had posterior

fusion

> at T10 - L5 with Harrington Rod, hooked on T4 - L5. A single straight Rod

> such as a Harrington placed onto the lumbar region causes such a strong

> distractive force on the spine that the spine changes shape and

eventually

> I loss my lumbar lordosis and I no longer can stand up straight. I

> developed " Flatback Syndrome " loss of lumbar lordosis. I leaned forward

and

> my back was flat instead of curving inward as a normal lordosis is suppose

> to (The sway in our low back). We are not meant to have 'straight' spines

on

> each segmental plane. Unfortunately, everyone concentrated on the

> " scoliosis " caused curve that are C or S shaped. the front and back view

> only. The side view wasn't realized that problems from correction of

> scoliosis would create this devastating painful deformation. The use of

one

> single straight rod that has some lumbar placement can and most likely

will

> over time change the spine. Now, most doctors are aware of this and the

> single straight rod scoliosis fusions aren't a preferred corrective

implant.

> Now it is more common to have 'segmented' rods attached onto the spine

that

> follow the natural lordosis as much as possible and the fusion is extended

> down to S1 and anterior approach as well to fuse the anterior spine . Then

> separating the posterior fusion and/or fusing more posterior levels

normally

> of the lumbar. The Flatback deformity may take only a few years or 30

years

> to happen and become painful. My spine started to hurt at 5 years post-op,

I

> was 21 and at 31 I finally was diagnosed correctly with 'Flatback'.

Majority

> of flatback folks bend forward so the body naturally adapts and the neck

and

> head cranes forward and up otherwise you would be staring at the floor.

Some

> flatback people don't lurch forward. They have loss their lordosis as

well

> BUT it presents as the buttocks being tucked under the trunk versus the

> entire trunk lurching forward. I sought help initially for the neck pain,I

> didn't know any better..I never mentioned the excruciating back pain.. I

> thought well I guess I just live with the back pain AFTER all , AT AGE 16,

> THE DOCTORS TOLD ME I WAS FIXED AND GO HAVE A NICE LIFE and you can do ANY

> activity you want to because I was FIXED!!! wear and tear, aerobics

craze,

> jogging craze, furniture moving everything wrong, things people with bad

> backs shouldn't do. Then Again at age 29 my original scoli surgeon

(MacEwen)

> said the x-ray (front to back only) looked great , great great

great...just

> lose some weight and STAND UP , force myself to have better posture. I

felt

> hopeless.. I couldn't stand up straight no matter how I agonized and cried

> trying to maneuver into that position. I thought I WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR

THIS

> PAIN AND ALL I had to do was do as dr. MacEwen said.. concentrate on

having

> a better posture. I couldn't understand why all this pain was happening...

I

> was told I was fixed for life.. I had the misconception that my scoliosis

> was cured...Yipppeeee. SO very wrong. WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE SCOLIOSIS.. FOR

> THE REST OF OUR LIVES.. there is no cure just invasive or non-invasive

> procedures to help. Fixing flatback returned my body to the correct

lordosis

> and my neck & head returned to a 'normal' position and the neck, pain

> stopped. The corrective surgery is to remove old rod ect posterior, then

> anterior fusion down to S1 with osteotomies and maybe hardware implant the

> third part is flip over again to posterior fusion and/or implants. This is

> the biggest surgery to be done on a person because they are tampering with

> and dissecting the spine and working only millimeters away from spinal

canal

> and nerves...SCOLIOSIS has no cure presently; the best we can expect is to

> arrest the curve progression and hopefully reduce the degrees of the

curves.

> I had fusion when I reached 50 degrees. I am now 31 and 26 degrees, which

> would be considered as necessary to brace in the non-surgical patient. My

> body still has to operate with those measurements which normally would be

> braced, so I need allot of muscle strengthening exercises for my abdomen

and

> back to help support me better. The stomach muscles are the most important

> and I find doing deep water aquaaerobics exercise at a YMCA/healthclub

> strengthens everything without putting allot of strain on my body. I never

> do land based exercises (except some walking) or standing in the shallow

end

> or regular breastroke swimming. I do the deep water aquatics and the back

> stroke. The normal breast stroke , and especially for lumbar fused

patients,

> forces the lumbar back to try and curve so you maintain the correct

position

> for swimming and the lumbar fused spine can't accommodate the swimming

> position. That finally explained why I would try and swim, even gently,

and

> I couldn't get my legs up behind me to kick properly. My legs just kind of

> dangled behind me and difficult to kick out, with discomfort as well. No

one

> told me any of this until I was 31...many years past aerobic classes and

> swimming and goofing around...NOW it all makes sense. Its hard to know

what

> is best to do for yourself with so much information to absorb. It doesn't

> help either when you get conflicting information from doctors! For

instance

> my spine ortho said to me " don't ever swim because your spine can't

> accommodate the movements and just will add to the degenerative disease

and

> magnify the pain I already was living with. He wanted me to get into a

pool

> and exercise but not " SWIM " any strokes on my stomach. It was fine to go

> into deep water aerobics, even the back stroke was OK and still is :-)

> During the aqua exercises.. if something hurts .. stop doing that movement

> and at those times I would do some other exercise.. I would aqua jog I

while

> everyone else swam back & forth.. or I'd swim backstroke.... The key is if

> something pinches , grabs, hurts STOP doing that movement.

> I hope that anyone who suffers any back problems can have access to a

deep

> water pool, as the physical therapy aspect of using the pool can only help

> keep you strong mentally and physically. Wishing you many peaceful moments

> TwistedSister in NJ

> ** LIFE IS UNCERTAIN....EAT DESSERT FIRST **

> " Harrington Rod people and other post-op multiple spine surgery people

may

> be interested in the following website dedicated to flatback syndrome and

> multiple spine surgery cases: " Salvaged Sisters of Scoliosis " website

> http://forums.delphiforums.com/adultscoliosis/messages

>

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