#bostonbrace

So this back brace you see…wasn’t the most comfortable thing. Having been VERY active as a kid and then all of a sudden not being able to move my upper body as freely as I wanted to was a major turn off for me. I remember thinking staring at the doctors curiously rough hands as he fitted me for the first time that it would be fun..Something new I’d be able to show off to my friends. Though like every kid with a brand new toy, the excitement faded and as time went by the brace started to get harder to bare and I began to rebel from the hard plastic casing.

 When we moved to Korea in 2007, I was made a new brace called the Cheneau light brace. To be honest I don’t know why they call it “light” because it was pretty heavy; a lot heavier than my  braces prior to this. I had two braces before this, both Boston braces, but since I had grown out of both of them and I hadn’t even been wearing it apart from the night time, the doctor decided that it was time to get a new and improved brace. There was no x-ray to see if the cobbs angle had decreased while wearing it, they just fitted me and said that I  was good to go. I was 11 years old and didn’t have much clue to what was going on…

My biggest regret is not wearing the braces I was given full time. If I had done my time then I would have never gotten this bad. 

If you have a brace, I understand how hard it is. The stresses of looking weird and bulky, not being able to find anything to wear that covers it up completely while looking somewhat normal, and not having the mobility that you are used to is HARD..but look here, it’s either you wear it now or you’ll have to deal with it later in life like I am now. You know that saying “will it matter in 5 years?” YES, It will matter in 5 years if you DON’T wear it…but will the worries of looking strange and awkward at school matter in 5 years? I highly doubt it. I regret not taking scoliosis and my brace seriously..Scoliosis isn’t something to be overly frantic about..but definitely not something to take lightly, especially if you are young with a more severe curve like mine. Please…PLEASE don’t wait till your back starts hurting to take scoliosis seriously..catch it before gravity pulls you down!

You are not alone!

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”