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GTI |
Scoliosis
Another major influence
in my life has been Scoliosis; it is what actually prompted me to start
Taekwondo in my bid to get fit as my Scoliosis started to worsen.
Me,
Scoliosis and Taekwon-Do!
My name is Zoey and I
am 38 years old, I first saw my curly spine in 1983 when I was 14 years old. My
dad had been cutting my hair and complained that I wouldn’t stand with my
shoulders straight. My GP referred me to the local hospital and then I was
referred to the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre. I remember my mum crying and I couldn’t
understand what she was so upset about!
I must have been a
strange teenager, because my spine never bothered me at all, I had no pain from
it, well maybe the odd back ache. I was put into a Boston Brace and for the first
12-18months I wore it religiously 23 hours a day.
I did my exercises
every day and saw a physio once a month and had my brace changed every 6
months. I was actually pleased to have my brace as I used it as an excuse not
to do PE at school. Years later I discovered that my classmates were quite
freaked out when I stood up and removed my brace in the middle of a religious
studies lesson! It was really digging in that day.
We used to go to
I was always a bit of a
loner, but the few friends I did have never mentioned my back or my brace to
me, although I never noticed this at the time.
A few months after having my first brace fitted I met my future husband
Ian, I used to let him punch me in the stomach as hard as he could, with my
brace on of course, what fun!
I slowly wore my brace
for shorter periods as it just seemed to get more unbearable each week. I had
traction fitted to my bed and I was supposed to sleep with my hips strapped to
the bottom of my bed and my head in a halter fitted to a weight.
I probably managed to
stay in that thing all night once or twice, always giving up after a few hours,
just so I could sleep.
The years went by and
at 18 (in 1987), I was deemed to have stopped growing and all my treatments and
monitoring were removed.
At 19, I had my first
child and it was a couple of years after this that I really started to
experience pain, carrying a baby and then a toddler around really took its toll
on me. I asked to be referred back to
At 24 (in 1993) I had
my second child, that pregnancy was much more painful, with me sometimes
feeling like I couldn’t breathe properly.
I saw my GP who just
thought I was making a fuss and sent me away. I did feel and still do that my
GP and midwife should have been more aware of the impact of my scoliosis and
made the effort to listen to me when I was struggling.
I think I am very lucky
that I had my children when I was young, my body coped remarkably well and now
sometimes when I visit friends and relatives who have just started their
families, I can’t hold their babies at all! I had been advised to stay fit and
historically I always cycled everywhere, but aged 30 (in 2000) I decided to
start a martial art. Myself, my husband, daughter and son all joined a local
Taekwon-do school and we started training twice a week for an hour a time.
I couldn’t do a single
press up when I started, but my fitness and strength improved and I loved it!
We had moved house and
counties and I became disheartened by my career in the bank so I started a
part-time filing job. I soon discovered that the huge piles of filing were far
too heavy for me to carry about, and the fact that I was filing at ground
height, head height and in between meant that I became unable to do my job at
all.
I was moved to a
different job and my new GP referred me to Bath, which I thought would be
nearer for me than Oxford.
Unfortunately the
consultant there was of the opinion that my double curve was ‘inoperable’, this
left me very distressed and without my back up plan and in constant pain.
I was referred to a
pain consultant and MRI scans showed damage to my facet joints and the onset of
arthritis in my lower spine.
By this point I had
extreme neck and shoulder pain, which caused severe migraines even making me
sick.
The MRI showed no
explanation for this, but I am certain it was muscular pain and spasms brought
on by my posture which is abnormal due to my spinal formation.
I tried several pain
treatments, with only the anti-inflammatory drugs for arthritis that made any
difference at all.
I accepted this new
consultant’s opinion for a few years, but as things have got worse I pushed my
GP to refer me back to Oxford, where I had been told I could go back any time.
I am very grateful for
this ‘open appointment’ clause in the report to my GP of 1990, because after a
wait I did see my original consultant.
As time has gone by I
have found that certain exercises have become more painful and I had to stop
doing some things all together.
My training became
limited and I took the Instructors course so that I could continue in
Taekwon-do by helping others.
My office job has
become impossible, as I can no longer sit at a desk, my pain, numbness, aches,
muscle spasms have become increasingly unbearable.
I had to stop work
altogether when the unbearable pain only took 10 minutes of sitting at my desk
before it set in.
In 2006 I went back to
Oxford my consultant was very pleased that his forecast had been proven
accurate and I now need an operation.
I’ve never been keen on
an operation, quite frankly it terrifies me, but I can clearly see that I have
no choice and am hoping to have the surgery while I am still young and fit
enough to recover from it.
I constantly pushed
myself in my work and Taekwon-do often working through great pain and then
suffering for a few days, if I did too much.
I have come to accept
that I must be careful and keep moving, sitting at a desk is excruciating, but
walking around at Taekwon-do and talking to the students actually takes my mind
off of my pain, which is constant now.
One of the worst things
has been visiting Occupational Health, where I am made to feel like I have
given up and am not making enough effort to get back to work.
I attended the recent
Scoliosis in Adults meeting and was very satisfied to see that every single
person with scoliosis was affected differently.
My Occupational Health
doctor had told me that he could not assess me as an individual because he had
to consider ‘back problems in the population as a whole’, so this meeting
proved to me that there are very few people in the population as a whole, who
experience what I experience, so I endured my Occupational Health meetings with
the knowledge that the doctor had no idea how my back was affecting me and that
he wasn’t there to assess how it affected me!
On my last visit there
the doctor was far more knowledgeable and sympathetic, he had been to a seminar
where a case study of a fireman with scoliosis had been studied. It was an
amazing turn around and I finally felt he understood at least some of the
impact that scoliosis has on your life.
My contract at work has
been terminated as they were not prepared to wait for me to have the operation
and then recover, before I could resume my duties.
I am not upset by this,
when you have real problems in your life it really makes you appreciate the
value of life and loved ones, and this clearly outweighs beyond measure any
loss of income.
Luckily I had only ever
worked part-time due to having children, so the loss of income was easier to
cope with.
I am determined to keep
as active as I can, but do ensure that I use my brain as much as possible to
learn and teach Taekwon-do.
I am going back to
Oxford this year to tell my consultant that I am having surgery.
I saw the Physio at
Oxford, who told me that it is vital for me to be as fit as possible before
surgery.
I had stopped training
in Taekwon-do for quite a few months, but after discussing the situation with
the Physio she assured me that just because I experience pain when I train and
afterwards; it did not mean that I was causing more damage.
My pain has increased
so much that I asked my physio for exercises to help me build up the muscles in
my back to help support me.
I have also been given
exercises to try and keep the vertebrae as mobile as possible.
I suffer constant pain,
but to maintain my mental health I still help teach Taekwon-do and train when
the pain is bearable (within my own personal limits).
Taekwon-do is a good
martial art with a mix of techniques and a certain amount of flexibility in
what the individual can achieve.
I am still very glad
that I started Taekwon-do, it frustrates me when I can’t train, but at least I
can still shout commands and maintain my website, which has helped a lot of
students.
It is hard not to get
depressed at my limitations, especially when I expect so much of myself, but my
friends and family are always around me and I can now focus on surgery and more
importantly on my recovery and getting back to Taekwon-do.
E-mail: zoey@turtletaekwondo.com
Website Copyright Zoey Fendt ©2007- no unauthorised
copying allowed.