• Poor posture
• Lifting heavy objects (manual handling injuries)
• Pulled muscles or ligaments
• Stress / fatigue
• Hard blows to the back (e.g. falling on your back)
• Medical conditions such as scoliosis or spondylolisthesis

Sometimes, however, the pain doesn’t go away (this is called ‘chronic pain’ or ‘persistent pain’). In this case, it may be necessary to seek treatment.

If you are suffering from severe and/or persistent back pain, you should visit your GP. They will most likely recommend one (or more) of the following treatments:

• Pain relief medication. In order to help you deal with the pain, your doctor may prescribe a course of painkillers. Different types of medication may be recommended depending on the severity of your pain and other factors: if you only require light pain relief, paracetamol or ibuprofen might do the trick, whereas particularly excruciating pain may require something stronger (such as codeine or tramadol). Always consult your GP before taking pain medication.
• Physical therapy. In certain circumstances, physical therapy may be recommended as a way of reducing your pain and helping you to live your life normally. Some forms of physical therapy are available on the NHS, although if your pain is caused by an underlying medical issue, it may be a good idea to seek a specialised treatment course that is specifically tailored to your condition (e.g. ScolioGold therapy for scoliosis and other curvatures of the spine).
• Surgery. Some causes of chronic back pain can be corrected via a surgical operation. For instance, if you have a severe case of scoliosis that’s causing persistent pain, spinal fusion surgery might be recommended as a possible solution. However, surgery is invasive and comes with many risks, and there are several alternatives to surgery that you should consider before undergoing an operation.

If you have scoliosis (sideways curvature of the spine), it can impact your life in all manner of different ways. Common symptoms of this condition include compromised breathing, reduced mobility / flexibility, and muscle imbalances, as well as more visual signs such as uneven shoulders or hips.

In addition to the above symptoms, many scoliosis sufferers also endure varying degrees of back pain. But does this mean that your own back pain could be a sign that you too have a curved spine?

First of all, it’s important to understand that not all scoliosis sufferers experience back pain as a result of their condition. Some scoliotics suffer severe and debilitating pain every day, while others report no back pain whatsoever. Some people have to take maximum-strength painkillers to cope with their scoliosis, while others get by on a lighter dose and others don’t need any medication at all.

You might assume that the level of pain you feel depends on the severity of your spinal curvature, but there’s no evidence to support this – we have seen people with relatively mild curves go through absolute agony, and we have met patients with extremely pronounced scoliosis who experience practically zero pain as a result of this.

So now that we’ve established that scoliosis doesn’t necessarily equal back pain, let’s take a look at that equation in reverse: is back pain a strong indicator that you may be suffering from scoliosis?

In a word: no.

Back pain alone is not a reliable symptom of scoliosis

Scoliosis can be an incredibly debilitating condition even at the best of times, but when the person with the curved spine is also pregnant, the results can be catastrophic.

 

 

Yes, scoliosis and pregnancy are a troublesome combination. The weight of your unborn child significantly increases the load on your spine, and this can cause scoliosis to progress rapidly over the course of the pregnancy. Bearing children tends to leave scoliosis sufferers even worse off than before; post-birth, the mother’s Cobb angle will often be far greater than it was before she became pregnant, and the symptoms of her spinal curvature far harder to ignore.

 

Knowing this, many scoliosis sufferers decide never to have children, but if you want to be a parent then you don’t have to let your curved spine get in the way.

Here at the Scoliosis SOS Clinic, we have helped many scoliosis sufferers to sidestep the problems that often accompany pregnancy when your spine is abnormally curved.

 

 

People with scoliosis frequently come to us and complete a ScolioGold course before conceiving a child, and our treatment techniques help to keep their scoliosis stable during pregnancy. Many of these patients have also reported that they generally did not suffer from the back pain that commonly affects pregnant women, even those with perfectly healthy spines.

 

Roz Couch (46, Surrey) came to the Scoliosis SOS Clinic for treatment in 2006 prior to having any children. Our ScolioGold treatment course reduced her Cobb angle measurement, and as the X-rays below illustrate, this result has been maintained (and indeed reduced slightly further) over the last 10 years and through two pregnancies.

 

 

 

Roz’s story was featured in Baby Surrey magazine shortly after the birth of her first child – here’s what she had to say about her experience: