Today, let's talk about a success story with scoliosis brace treatment! I absolutely love hearing news about cases where a proposed treatment works, especially due to the patient's commitment. After all, everything we strive for in raising awareness about scoliosis is to achieve more and more early detection and, thus, pursue conservative scoliosis treatment: the one done without surgery.
Isabela Melo is another girl with a curved spine, who discovered scoliosis at the age of 11 and has been treating her curvature with physical therapy and a brace for 5 years. With 55 degrees of curvature in the left lumbar and 41 degrees of curvature in the right thoracic, according to Isabela's doctors, surgery seemed to be the only solution, and this deeply affected her.
"At first, it was tough to face the possibility of having surgery because the degrees of my scoliosis were relatively too high," Isa recently told me.
But the universe is very kind and places the right parents to support and care for us in this life. Certain that there could be other paths before surgery, her parents sought information and help. They then found a physiotherapist specializing in scoliosis, Dr. Patricia Italo Mentges from the Scoliosis Institute. Right away, Isabela started conservative treatment with physiotherapy using the Schoroth ISST method and wearing a 3D scoliosis brace. "This changed my whole perspective on my curve; I started doing the exercises proposed by Patricia, and they helped a lot." Wearing the brace was more challenging, as it is for all of us, and there's no denying that. However, with a lot of maturity and hope, Isabela moved forward. "The most complicated part was dealing with the discomfort, pain, and insecurity until my body and mind got used to the brace. But I knew that wearing the brace and doing physiotherapy exercises would only help me live a healthy life in the future, and now I deal very well with everything."
This determination yielded excellent results in Isabela's scoliosis treatment. Two years after starting with Dr. Patricia, she had a reduction to 34 degrees in the lumbar curve and 32 degrees in the thoracic curve. This is a reason for great celebration and indicates an extremely successful treatment! Two more years passed, and now, in 2022, her latest measurement using the EOS technique shows 29 degrees in the lumbar and 25 in the thoracic. She is still in treatment but is very happy with all the results at the age of 16.
Regarding family support, Isabela told me it was "absolutely important! Having my family and friends providing support during such a tough time for me was one of the things that made me feel better about everything happening during treatment."
Isa also left a message for everyone who is going through or will go through the same as her. "I can't lie and say it won't be difficult because it will. It will require a lot of persistence and discipline, but the results are rewarding! Something that motivated me to continue was thinking about how I would like my spine to be in the future."
Congratulations, Isabela, her parents, and the team supporting you! Stories like these are very inspiring, and I hope we can share more and more of them here in the world of crooked spines!
Do you want to discover more inspirational life stories? Check out all the testimonials we have published here on this blog.
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