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Season 1: Episode 2 - A New Game-Changing Scoliosis Program You Need To Know About

Season #1

In this episode, Dr. Mandy talks about a physiotherapeutic scoliosis specific exercise (PSSE) program to treat scoliosis in children, adolescents and adults. It's a game-changing scoliosis program that she now offers at her practice. Listen in to learn more and be sure to check out the links below for more information!

 

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 *****Transcript*****

Welcome back. Today I am going to share a little bit about a program. That has really been life changing for a lot of the patients that I work with. And so today we're talking about ScoliBalanceĀ®. In the last couple of years I've been able to take trainings and certifications and become advanced certified in this program.

And this is what's called a PSSE. And so a lot of people will ask me, what does that mean? And so what that means is it's a physiotherapeutic scoliosis specific exercise program. And so that's different than, say, for example, just a normal rehab program or a program where somebody's working on say, core strength or, um, things like that.

This is very specific to your diagnosis. It's specific to your x-rays and the prescription that's given to you. Uh, your specific program that's built is  done so off of your exam, your posture, your x-rays, and really the classification of your scoliosis or your kyphosis. Uh, so basically what that means...

Those  are a lot of really big words. So some people look at me like I just turned on the fire hose. But essentially what that means is, is that it is specific to you. We work with what you have going on. We work with what you can do within your program, and we see you consistently throughout this program.

So it's not just something that we give you a 10 page piece of paper and then say, come back and see us in three months. Um, this is a combination of things that we do in our clinic with you when you come and see us, and then also things that you do at home. So when you come in to see us... like, say you've never come to the clinic before.

What that looks like is you come in, we do an exam, we take x-rays, we identify what's going on, and then we really figure out what's best for you. Sometimes that might mean that people have a brace and we're doing this, uh, rehabilitation program in conjunction with that. Sometimes you don't need a brace.

And we're doing this, you know, on its own, along with some other things. Um, and then sometimes we have patients that have already had a surgery and we're doing this post-surgical. So whether that means they've had a surgery and. This is six or seven months down the road, or if they've had a surgery, and this is 20 years down the road, we worked with both types of patients.

So obviously post-surgical, we wait until your surgeon has. You know, given clearance to be able to start some of these programs and things like that. So we work closely with your team. Um, if this is a recent thing, uh, ideally if it's something that we know someone's having surgery, we'll do these pre-surgical as well.

And so there's a huge benefit to that where we can work with somebody before they have surgery. They have the surgery, they go through that process, and when the surgeon says it's safe to resume some of these things, then we pick up a post-surgical program as well. So there's lots of different options to this program and it really is tailored just for you.

So one of the biggest things that I get asked is, who is this for and why would we want to use this? And there's a couple of goals that are most commonly, like the biggest things that families are looking for. So if you have a child that has scoliosis. This can prevent progression and we can actually get correction with this type of program.

Sometimes that's alone with this program and sometimes it's along with the brace. Uh, it just depends on what you have going on. Um, but that's one of the biggest things, obviously, is to prevent progression. Get some correction and then also to be able to increase your strength, um, because we want people to be able to go about their normal day-to-day lives and be strong and not be having pain and symptoms and things like that.

So, um, this, that comes into the second piece of this is that most of the patients that I work with that are a little bit older, anywhere from that range of. Early thirties even up into, you know, I, I have patients that are in their mid seventies that do this program. Their, their goals are different, but oftentimes it's because they've had a scoliosis and not really given any tools as they age.

And so this helps with flexibility, it helps with strength, it helps to be able to have more movement. It helps patients be able to, um, do their normal daily activities, whether that's. Walking two miles or unloading the dishwasher or vacuuming their floor. Um, I've, I've seen this help in all of those respects.

Um, one of the biggest things that, that I started to realize really early on when we implemented this is we were already doing scoliosis care with a lot of the patients in my office, and we were getting results, and we were getting improvement. But when we implemented this piece of it, the jump in their improvement was so drastic it couldn't have been attributed to anything else.

It was actually surprising to me that some patients, in a very short period of time, like sometimes any, anywhere into that, like six to eight to 10 weeks. We're seeing really big results to the effect of being able to get up and off of the floor, um, independently without having to have help or use something where previously they would've had to have that help.

Um, or being able to exercise more, being able to walk a little bit farther, being able to stand up straighter to have more strength. To not be as fatigued as they used to be. Um, just really like day in and day out, like normal life things that we saw huge changes in. Um, the other piece that really stood out to me is we had a lot of patients that at whatever point in their care, ended up needing surgery.

And so then post-surgical, what do we do with those patients? It's very common that these patients don't have. A lot of follow up in the sense of like, normal day-to-day life or, um, even pain. So typically they just kind of go on about life unless they're having a lot of problems. Um, and it's been really encouraging to see the difference, even if post-surgical, if they're not having, you know, per se problems or excruciating pain.

We've still seen improvement in their day-to-day life by adding in these programs. And sometimes things that they didn't even notice were a problem until we started working with them. They're like, oh, hey, I can tie my shoes easier or I can pick things up more easily. Um, I have more flexibility, you know, I can, I can do these things differently.

I can turn around, you know, like turn my head in my car differently. You know, their bodies just work a little bit differently. So, um, that's what it's really exciting for me. Is having done this for quite a while, I can see how patients responded with the tools that I had, and then when I was able to implement this tool along with the other tools that we have, it was just such a drastic difference that it's something that I'm just really encouraging, uh, people to explore and to look at and to see, you know, is it, is this right for you?

Because. It doesn't really matter necessarily what you have going on. There's something within this program that we can give you. And you know, obviously if you're an elite athlete, your program's gonna look different than if you are 65 with a degenerative spine or a lot of pain, right? Like those programs are going to be different.

And that's the beauty in it, is that we can really, um, perfect it to what you need and your situation and your specific. Um, diagnosis and what your x-rays look like. And we take into account, you know, what do you want to be able to do? What are the things that are important to you? What are your goals? So sometimes it might be that they wanna be able to garden in the summer and not have pain, or like athletes wanna be able to.

Uh, pitch, or they want to be able to play tennis and not have pain when they do that. So to be able to improve their game. Um, so we take that into account and then we really work with you to be able to achieve that. Now as a provider, so if you're a provider in our community, and you know, I've shared a little bit about it, but if you're still wondering like, okay, what, but what is that or what specifically, how does that work with, um.

What we do in our office, what we've been able to do is coordinate with other providers in our community or other providers in other states even, because we get a lot of patients that come from a really long way away. Um, and so our piece in it is that we evaluate the scoliosis, the kyphosis, whatever spinal issue might be going on, and we determine what would be the most appropriate.

Treatment recommendations for that patient. And so we really focus and, um, isolate in that arena. And then we coordinate with whatever you might be doing in your office. So if you're a chiropractor in town, you still provide the chiropractic care to that patient, and there might be some suggestions just depending on what they have going on that we might give you.

But you, you focus on that piece. And then we really take care of the scoliosis piece and we just coordinate together if need be. Um, same thing if you are a physical therapist. Uh, we might be doing some things that might be a little bit similar, but the specific program that's the rehabilitation program is very much different than what would be done in a typical PT office.

Um, just because of the different types of training and what we're looking into. So we do coordinate quite often with other physical therapists in town, and then we come up with a plan of, okay, what are we, what are we focusing on first? Like, what are the top priorities? And. And how do we come together as a team to figure out how we do that.

Um, in addition to that, we also work with a lot of orthopedic surgeons. Um, say for example, we just had somebody up at Mayo that, you know, was saying, okay, this patient doesn't need a brace, but they definitely need other things. And so this patient comes back and we work with them and do the rehab, and then they do the, you know, check-ins with their orthopedic surgeon.

Whether that's every six months or maybe it's every year, but they coordinate in that, um, area as well. So we work with your team, whether it's at Mayo, whether it's at University of Minnesota, or you know, wherever it might be. 'cause a lot of people go to different states for these, the specialized type of care.

Um, sometimes we coordinate that together, or I've also had it where say an orthopedic doctor is saying, okay. This is what our recommendations are. We're gonna let you kind of take this over because they don't need surgery right now. Or maybe they don't even need a brace right now. Um, and then when we do our evaluations, we just send that over to those doctors as well so they can, uh, look into that.

They just take a peek. They say like, yep, we still feel like we're good. Or if they have suggestions, then they weigh in on that. So we do that quite often. And that's really, you know, the beauty of this program is. It's really for anybody. We can tailor it to what you need, and it's very specific. To your diagnosis and your condition, and we can work with different providers, whether, you know, whoever that might be.

Um, so the flexibility in that, um, is really fantastic. Um, so from an application point, um, typically what that means is that you come into our office, you spend an hour with us, and we work with you one-on-one. And then we send you home and you have things that you do at home. And then once you've done that, we have you come back again.

So it's, um, think of it almost like, you know, if you went to see your personal trainer every week and then they're gonna say, okay, here's your workouts. Right? Um, now it's not always like a workout, so don't think of that. Like, okay, I'm gonna go have you bench press and do deadlifts when you go home because it's different than that.

But it's similar in the application of it where. You come in, we teach you things, we give you an online access tool that you can have at home so that you can then repeat these at home throughout your day. And we make them really functional for you. Um, because the goal is, is for you to be able to do some of these things while you're doing your normal daily things, whether that's walking or shopping, or you know, if you're out on the boat or whatever it might be.

So, um, we're gonna link the website to this so you'll be able to pull it up. Um, so check out the S balance site. Read through it, take a look at it if you have questions. I just really encourage anybody, whether you're a provider working with these types of patients, or if you are a patient yourself, or if you have a family member that is dealing with some of this, um, you know, it's not just the typical things that you would think of.

Like, we can, we can do this when you're older. We can do this. If you have a misdiagnosis, we can do this after surgery. We can do this type of care in a lot of different scenarios. And it can really help. So ask the questions and um, if you need to get in contact with us, you can go to, uh, our website, you can reach out to our clinic.

We're always happy to answer questions. Um, and we also offer, um, what we call discovery calls where if you have a question, you're like, gosh, I don't know if this is for me. Um, we schedule a 10 to 15 minute call where you can jump on the phone with me. Um, we request that you answer some questions. We have you fill out a form and if you have x-rays, we have you send those in so I can take a peek at them and then we just have a quick conversation to say, you know, Hey, is this something that we feel like we can help you with?

And if it is, then we can move forward from there. And if we take a look at it and we're like, gosh, you know what? This might not be the best place for you to start, then we help you get to the provider. That is the best place. Because there's nothing worse than just jumping around from place to place. So our goal is, is to help you get to the right place at the right time so that you get the care that you need when you need it.

Um, so please reach out if you have questions. Uh, we can't wait to talk to you next week. We have some, uh, more exciting information on our bracing techniques that we're gonna share. Um, so well, we'll talk to you next.

Thanks for spending time with me today. If you could leave a review before you go, that would help us reach more people that need this message. To learn more about the services and resources that we have available, visit us at www.behindthebrace.com.

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