I had a chest X-ray today and it showed that I have a levoscoliosis
(convexing to the left, it's called dextroscoliosis if it's going to the
right). My last chest X-ray was when I applied for an exchange student
and the scoliosis wasn't there before.
I had researched on what
caused this. I thought it was due to my heavy backpack during my school
days, I used to carry my laptop everyday, or maybe I am always
slouching. But based on what I read, there had been many cases on which
the caused were unknown, it's called idiopathic. Lifestyle cannot account for it. The heavy backpacks and poor posture has nothing to do with it.
The other type is the functional scoliosis which were caused by other
issues like uneven length of legs. Experts said that in most cases the likely caused was hereditary (congenital).
Maybe I will agree with that because my sister is also a slouch (she
may also have scolio). But none of our parents has scoliosis.
As for the cure, there is no known medicine for it, no daily tablet maintenance, no therapy. Doctors
will only observe if the degree of curve is increasing. If it's getting
worse then, they would suggest wearing braces or operation. And the
worse part is, the treatments will just stop its progress and not
reverse the curve. But studies say that persons with this 'illness'
still live a normal life, with or without braces. They can do any
sports, perform heavy tasks as if there's nothing wrong with them.
I
remember a dorm mate of mine who is always complaining of backaches due
to her scoliosis. She always cry because of the pain. I thought she was
just faking it because she doesn't want to attend her classes. I
believed that scoliosis wouldn't produce such pain. But it proves me
wrong. As for my case, it's affecting my breathing pattern. I always
have to take a deep breaths to make myself comfortable but lucky for me,
I am not experiencing the back pains (as for now). The progression of a
curve is not predictable; it may stop sometime and continue to cover
after years of dormancy. I just hope that my curve progression stops for
good. There's nothing much left to do but wait and live life as usual.
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