Back Brace {Part One}

For whatever reason, my mother thought I had scoliosis.

I remember as a kid, she would take 2 fingers and run them down my spine.  I realized years later she was searching for a curve.

The back story is that she had a friend growing up that had it and a niece that had it and somehow it stayed on her radar.  No harm no foul, I know she was just doing her best, but it led to a major challenge in my life.

When I was 14-ish, we drove from the small town where we lived 2 hours to the larger town that had a more qualified chiropractor.  He checked, re-checked, talked with my mother and analyzed my back.

He ordered x-rays and it was determined that I had a form of scoliosis called "Dorsal Roundback" (Kyphosis).

This basically meant that I didn't have a curve in my spine left to right.

I had a curve front to back.

He said my vertebrae were growing in wedge shapes front to back.  It was slight and I have to wonder if she was set on treatment as a just-in-case measure, or if he saw an opportunity.  The theory was if I didn't get help, I would grown hunched over.  The Doctor's recommendation was that I wear a brace.  A Milwalkee Brace.  I had never heard of it.

The Milwaukee brace, also known as a cervico-thoraco-lumbo-sacral orthosis or CTLSO, is a back brace used in the treatment of spinal curvatures (such as scoliosis or kyphosis) in children. It is a full-torso brace that extends from the pelvis to the base of the skull. It was originally designed by Blount and Schmidt in 1946 for postoperative care when surgery required long periods of immobilization.

Milwaukee braces are often custom-made over a mold of the patient's torso, but in some cases, it can be made from prefabricated parts. Three bars—two posterior and one anterior—are attached to a pelvic girdle made of leather or plastic, as well as a neck ring. The ring has an anterior throat mold and two posterior occipital pads, which fit behind the patient's head. Lateral pads are strapped to the bars; adjustment of these straps holds the spine in alignment.

This brace is normally used with growing adolescents to hold a 25° to 40° advancing curve. The brace is intended to minimize the progression to an acceptable level, not to correct the curvature. For corrective measures, special exercises or physical activities are used. If the curvature continues despite the brace, surgery may be required.

The Milwaukee brace is often prescribed to be worn 23 hours a day for several years, or in some cases, permanently.

I cried.  A lot.  I'll be honest, I was very, very angry about it too.  It was hard enough just being 14.  Let alone brand myself as 'different' or 'weird'.  I was heading into high school and the thought of wearing it totally crushed me.  I remember thinking that I just wouldn't do it.  No how, no way.  But, being 14-ish and needing to honor my parents wishes I had no choice.

Milwalkee braces work off of pressure points.  2 pads on the back, pushing just below the normal curve between your shoulder blades, offset another pad on your chest.  Securing the brace around your pelvis and pulling it tightly causes the pads to effectively straighten out the 'S' in your spine.  Keeping the spine in this position during the growing years would allow the vertebrae to grow normally and not wedge shaped.

I went to another clinic in another town on another day to be sized for the brace.

When I got there they gave me 2 body stockings to put on.  (That was it.  Seriously.)  They went from my neck to upper thigh, like a really tight mini dress.  Remember, I was 14, and awkward, and shy, and gawky.

Next I went into a room with an 'H' shaped thing made with metal poles that had long handles that swiveled out from the sides.

There was also a pulley and a rope attached at the center of the top. 

2 technicians who were very nice and very professional gave me instructions to place my tailbone lightly on the cross piece and hold on to the 2 handles at my sides.  This meant that my legs were slightly bent and my arms were out straight.  They put me in a head gear that secured the back of my head and jaw.  Then they cranked on the pulley, effectively pulling my back straight.  I was left to 'balance' on my tailbone while they wrapped wet plaster strips around me, making a body cast.  I was grateful the water was warm.

To say it was not pleasant would be the understatement of a life time.

When they were about done they took two strips of plaster about twice as long as the rest.  They wrapped these around me twice and then pulled tightly over my hips, one left and one right.  These, I would find out later, were pressure points.

Then I balanced there, cramping, knees skaking and watching the clock move slower-than-cold-tar while the plaster dried.

Then they cut the mould off and I realized why I had been given 2 body stockings to put on.  One of them came away with the plaster and there was a mould of my body.

In the car on the way home I definatively told my mom I was NOT going to wear it.

She told me I would.  The End.

Stay tuned for part 2...