Life with Scheuermann's Kyphosis of the Spine

The whole time I was pregnant with my now 18 month old son and with my now 7 month old son, I had back pain between my shoulder blades. I figured this was caused by pregnancy with my first son. When I got pregnant shortly after he was born, the pain got worse. I attributed that to carrying him around while I was pregnant with another baby.

A few months ago, I was diagnosed with Scheuermann's kyphosis of the spine. This diagnosis came as the result of mentioning upper back pain to my doctor at my post partum visit when my youngest son was 6 weeks old.

After having x-rays, a CT scan, an MRI and a nuclear bone scan, the diagnosis was confirmed. My doctor described the condition as one which is normally diagnosed in the teen years. It is an extreme rounding of the upper spine that causes pain during certain activities. In my case, the curvature was so slight that it was never caught until that visit.

My doctor prescribed Anaprox for me to take daily. I also had to attend physical therapy. These are the standard treatments for the condition.

In my case, neither one has helped very much. I cannot take the Anaprox as often as I need it since I stay at home with my boys. The physical therapy caused me to be in more pain than I was in before starting the program.

I decided to try alternative treatments to alleviate the pain. Luckily, I have found a few things that help me out greatly. The first is an idea given to me by a family friend who is a gynecologist.

She suggested that I roll up a bath towel long ways and place it along my spine then lay down on it. Doing this alleviates the pressure on the lower curvature of the spine. I lay like that for ten to twenty minutes a few times a day. That is usually before my boys wake up, while they are napping and after they go to bed.

Heat seems to help the pain. When I am in a lot of pain, especially after a day of shopping or other activity where I have to hold one of my boys a lot, I place a heating pad over the rolled up towel and place a flat towel over it. Then, I lay on it like that.

The last weapon in my arsenal against the pain is a vibrating massage chair. I use mine most of the time when I write. I like the shiatsu massagers but, the balls will sometimes hit the area in the wrong way, which reduces me to tears. So, I stick with the simple vibrating massage chairs. My husband bought me one that has heat so it is like the best of both worlds.

This is a lifelong condition that I will never grow out of. I have to look forward to it worsening as I age. But, just like my ulcerative colitis, I know that somewhere in my struggle lies a silver lining. I haven't yet found it but, I have faith that discovery will happen soon.