Category Archives: New Research / Ideas

The Back Pain Show: 4 – 6 July at Olympia London

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back pain show logoThe Back Pain Show is the UK’s only event dedicated to anyone living with back pain and the many related conditions.

I had never heard of this event before, but then this time last year we were blissfully unaware of back problems in our family.  Now we are focused on doing the best we can to support Chris and his Scoliosis and I think I might attend the Show this year.

As well as offering a wealth of information, seminars and practical sessions this year The Back Pain Show is co-locating with one of the UKs largest health events, The Allergy & Free From Show 2014 – that makes it an even more interesting day out!

On July 5th Richard Smisek MD will be giving a talk at 11am on SPS – Spiral Stabilzation of the Spine, with a practical demonstration at 12.30pm.  I was recently contacted by Dr Smisek’s clinic in the Czech Republic – you can read more about his treatment technique here.

SPS – Spiral Stabilization of the Spine

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I received information on this from a clinic in the Czech Republic.  I am happy to share this information with you but I have no personal experience of it and cannot make any recommendations about it.  If you are interested in knowing more please contact the SPS team via their website:
http://spiralstabilization.com/cz/

Below is a copy of the email I received:

I would like to give you information on other conservative method to make your list of conservative methods complete :-)

35 years developed and used Mr. Richar Smisek´s, M.D., Spiral Stabilization of the Spine (SPS, also known as, former name: SM- SYSTEM) with great results.

This is a method of stabilization of the scoliosis with muscle corset.

This method has also great results in the area of treatment of the pain and complications after spinal surgery and treatment of prolapsed intervetebral disc without the need of surgery.

 SPS – spiral stabilization of the spine 

The main method of treatment is based on individual exercises of the patient at home. 

To do this it is necessary to teach the patient how to practice the exercises learn and to equip the patient with the needed material equipment – exercise set. 

Exercise is preceded by medical examination and diagnosis setting. 

The physiotherapist then make functional musculoskeletal examination including kinesiology of walk. 

We teach the exercise: 

- individually
- in a small group of 4-10 people
- the movement is automated in a group of 20-30 people.

 Please see more at:
http://spiralstabilization.com/cz/

 

 

My Blog has reached the Czech Republic!

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Czech_Republic_mapI had a very interesting email this week from a lady in Prague telling me all about another form of conservative treatment for Scoliosis – SPS: Spiral Stabilization of the Spine.

From the information Renáta Špačková sent me this appears to be a form of positive muscle-based therapy much like the Schroth Technique that we have been using with Chris.  I am happy to share the information I have received from Renáta, but cannot make any recommendations as I have no experience of it but you can click here to read more.  There is also a website you can look at:

http://spiralstabilization.com/cz/

 

 

 

Copper Levels in Children with Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS)

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I thought it would be helpful if I added some more information about CopperScan0001 and Scoliosis.  Chris currently has a raised copper level of 4.2 micrograms.  The normal reference range shown on his report is between 1.0 and 2.1 micrograms.  This was addressed in the written report that accompanied his hair mineral analysis results and I discussed it at my meeting with our nutritionist.  I have also done some research of my own online and discovered that there has been research into the relationship between key minerals and Scoliosis and one study conducted in 1976 found that the hair Copper level of a sample of AIS children was significantly higher than that of the controls.  See the Abstract of this report below:

“Hair samples were collected from 74 patients with idiopathic adolescent scoliosis and from 25 control children and were analyzed for content of the following minerals: copper, sodium, iron, zinc, potassium, magnesium, cadmium, calcium, and manganese. The hair copper level of the scoliotic children was significantly higher than that of the controls. The scoliosis mean was 6.5 micrograms/dl and the control mean was 3.6 micrograms/dl, P less than 0.025. There was no correlation between the amount of hair copper and the severity of the scoliosis. The authors suggest that copper may be a factor in the development of scoliosis since it is part of the lysyl oxidase enzymes that are required for cross-linking of collagen and elastin. Another connection is that postpubertal girls have higher copper levels than boys and also have a greater severity of scoliosis.”

This abstract comes from the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health.  This is the link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7394662

I also found the following websites of interest when I researched further into Copper and Scoliosis.

The articles on copper I found were:

http://www.healingedge.net/store/article_copper_toxicity.html

http://www.traceelements.com/Docs/News%20March%2095.pdf

http://www.drgangemi.com/kids/osgoodscoliosis/

We have now acted on the advice given and ordered a range of supplements for Chris to try to reduce his Copper levels and to balance out the other key minerals.  He has to take these for 4 months after which we will repeat the hair mineral test and see what effects the supplements have had on him.

The Chinese Approach to Scoliosis

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I have just discovered this amazing website for a clinic in Beijing, China.  It has some very interesting articles and such a strong argument for taking positive action when Scoliosis is first diagnosed.

I particularly liked the article: “When is the Golden Time for Scoliosis Treatment?”  The answer is simple…The ”Golden Time” for Scoliosis treatment is the moment it is found.

The website is: www.non-surgicalscoliosis.com

Here is a link to the “Golden Time” article:

http://www.non-surgicalscoliosis.com/the-golden-time-for-scoliosis-treatment

It also talks about the importance of diet and nutrition and the use of traditional Chinese herbs – something else for me to think about!  Happy reading!!