My Scoliosis and Bracing Experiences
Hey, I’m Chloe and I was diagnosed with scoliosis on the 29th of April, 2017 with curves of 39° and 25°. I visited a specialist on that day who showed me my x-rays and went through with me what treatment I would need. I was told that I needed a cheneau brace. One brace casting and two brace fittings later, I had my brace! At first, I found laying down and wearing the brace for 23 hours a day quite hard, but with practice, I adapted to moving around in my brace and I gradually built up the time spent in my brace each day. I was worried about what people would think about my brace, especially when getting changed for PE lessons, but my confidence has increased since getting my brace because everyone is very supportive of me!
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As of July 2018, I have been wearing my brace for a year (which has gone very quickly)! My curves have since progressed to 55° and 35°, meaning I need surgery, but my brace has definitely slowed down my curves and without it, my pain would be a lot worse.
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My tips for anyone who needs a brace are: start off wearing the brace for a couple of hours a day and gradually build up how long you wear it for until you are comfortable with wearing it for the amount of time it should be worn for! Also, the actual brace isn’t as bad as when you get casted for it. When I got casted, the cast didn’t feel comfortable at all, but when you get the brace it is nowhere near as uncomfortable. Of course, the brace feels strange at first, but you get used to it and eventually it feels weird not to wear it!
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I have also found ways of dealing with my scoliosis through my scoliosis instagram page (@embracescoliosis). I post things like MRI scan tips, brace tips and my experience so far. I find sharing my experience with others helps because reading other people’s scoliosis stories when I was diagnosed comforted me, so I want to support others by doing the same. If you have recently been diagnosed with scoliosis, or even if you have had it for a while, remember you are not alone and there are plenty of people to support you!
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