Scoliosis and leg length

Hi Lucie,

I've been sharing my story on these boards a lot in the hopes that it might help someone else, so if you've already read it I apologize!

Anyway, my story is that I have severe scoliosis, and had spinal fusion and rods when I was 11 years old. That helped a great deal until I was almost 50. It turns out that walking on uneven leg lengths for all those years caused my tailbone to develop a curve that looked like a fish hook!

I was crippled and in extreme pain. I could barely walk enough to do my own grocery shopping. I get the misery part, it's awful to be in pain all the time and not be able to do the things you want. The dr. told me the only solution was more surgery. Even though surgery helped save my life when I was younger (the scoliosis, left unchecked, would have crushed my internal organs), I wasn't keen to do it again, and fusing my lower spine would have restricted movement even further.

So, in total desperation I decided to try Bikram Yoga. Bikram is a healing yoga practiced in a hot, humid room. I had heard it could help some with the pain. Instead, it completely changed my life. At first, I could barely do anything, but I tried each posture to the best of my ability (often hanging onto a balance bar in the back of the room). What I found, to my amazement, is that spending 90 minutes in the heat and humidity really helped my back to feel better almost right away. I believe that the heat calms the spasms (I used to sit on a heating pad all day long). Then, the gentle stretching and compressing of the spine in the postures loosens up the tight muscles so they spasm less. I did 5 classes in a row Monday-Friday, and by Friday I was pain free. 

That was over 4 years ago. I'm now approaching my 54th birthday. I can shop, travel, hike, and do pretty much anything I want, with the exception of high-impact sports such as running. I also found it helped me mentally - I was on antidepressants and antianxiety medication when I started my practice, and within 3 months of starting I discontinued my meds and haven't needed them since. I also thank my spine for keeping me dedicated. I have found that if I slip up and don't stick to a twice weekly practice schedule, my lower back starts twinging, reminding me that I need to go back in and get it stretched out.  [biggrin]