Laura [continued]
A second specialist told her she could only swim and ride a recumbent bike. He advised her not to play tennis, run or do aerobics and warned that down the road she would be confined to a wheelchair. "My life was wiped away right in front of my eyes," she told me when we met shortly after this. I first had her rest her head on her arms against a wall, and relax her entire pelvic area. This forced her to stop holding her stomach tightly. She said that was the moment she felt her first relief.
Laura did the Body Balance moves faithfully. She's been out of pain for five years now, and she's as active as she chooses. She plays tennis up to twice a day. She carries her two- and five-year-old sons up and down three flights of stairs daily. She was delighted to compete in a 350-mile, four-day Texas AIDS ride with her 17-year-old daughter, and is currently training to power walk a marathon. It is obvious this woman recycled her pain into something extraordinary. These days, Laura's challenges are confined to her work among the less fortunate, or on the tennis court, or keeping up with her kids. And yes, she feels fine standing at the sink now - when she has time!
Today the routine of treating scoliosis is more sophisticated. Neither the turn-buckle cast nor racking is used. But young people with scoliosis still often spend many years in braces and undergo multiple surgeries, as did Laura.