Want to start your healing journey, but feel lost? 

This is totally how I felt a few years ago. Quite suddenly pain overtook my life and I had to figure out how to deal with it. I learned that pain is hard to communicate and others don’t feel what you are feeling, this combined with lack of knowledge in the medical world and I felt rather alone and helpless. I don’t want this for you. 

My path entailed dealing with my scoliosis. Therefore, I will focus on the things that have helped me in gaining healing from scoliosis from an holistic point of view. Of course I am not miraculously healed from a curved spine, but I am in a much better place mentally and physically than before. To me information is powerful and healing in itself. Therefore, I want to share with you the steps, that I have taken myself and that I have found most useful. 

However, you might deviate from my path and will start developing your own. Which is fine. Better actually, because then you will probably create a deeper understanding for yourself. Anyways, let’s get into it. 

X-ray

First and foremost, you need to know what you are working with. And the only way to know is to get an X-ray. This will give you information about where the main curve is and the degrees of the curve. Every specialist will appreciate an X-ray and will ask for a most recent one, so they will also know what they work with.

Photos

So you have an X-ray, why would you need photos? Since my back is something I don’t see often, I noticed that it helped me out a lot to take photos of my back. This way I could get more acquainted with it and see it as a friend in this process of healing my body. Any negative thoughts towards my back only got me frustrated, but once I saw it as an ally I could move forward. Literally.

Peers

Find other people with scoliosis. Possibly through an Association or through Social Media. Whichever is most comfortable or available to you. Talk to a lot of people, so they can tell you their experience. They could also help you getting the information that is relevant to your situation. I was just by myself and I needed to find people that understood me and could help me think about my treatment options. This way it doesn’t feel lonely or like a struggle, but it can be a journey we are all on together. 

Information

Learn about the workings of the human body. Learn about scoliosis. The hard things about scoliosis, is that the medical world hasn’t established the cause of it yet. I believe in an holistic approach and love the following expression. Illness is not about darkness, it is about lack of light. Focus on figuring out what your body is lacking; e.g. rest, nutrition, exercise. However, I do believe in gathering as much information from different perspectives as you can, so you can form your own opinion and can provide argumentation for the choices you make in the treatment you choose.

Specialist

So why do I put specialist at the end? My personal experience is, that it is hard to find a specialist that truly can help. I don’t want you to stop trusting any doctor or health care provider, but I do want you to be critical. Always stay respectful of course, but try to ask questions to make sure you understand each other in your healing process. And the only way to be able to ask the right questions, is by educating yourself. I honestly hope you find the right specialist in one go. But if not, don’t worry. You are allowed to switch to another health care professional. My experience is that I found it hard to find care in the medical world; holistic health care professionals finally made sense to me. In the end it is about finding the care that you feel comfortable with and that helps you.

I wish you all the best for your healing journey and don’t ever give up. I believe in the smartness of the body and most of all in you.