Debbi - re scoliosis and shortened leg (long reply)

[Guest guest]

I have Scoliosis. I was told it was adult onset because of EDS

issues - leg shorter than other, flat feet, shoulder surgery (pants

over vest) that makes me hold my upper body in a tweaked position,

pain, breast augmentation .... On and on.

What has helped is a back brace, orthotics in my shoes with a lift

in the leg that is shorter, mindful posture and limited reach and

stretch movements and periodic manipulations to rearrange the funky

shape.

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Every time I hear/read about someone with one leg shorter than the

other, the first question that comes to my mind is " is it structural

or functional? " Specifically, is one leg structurally shorter in

that there is a MEASURED, physical difference in bone length, one

leg to the other? Or is it functional, such that supine on a table,

the heels don't line up against each other? Treatment options and

protocols are considerably different, one type versus the other. In

addition, there is also a difference in approaches taken to " fix "

the problem, depending on type of health care provider that you are

seeing.

I started my reply to your post several hours ago and had to step

back from it for a while because my blood pressure and irritation

levels were starting to go through the roof. I could not possibly

tell you how many dozens of times I have been told over the years by

different chiros and osteos that " your right (or left) leg is about

an inch (or two) shorter than the other. " I do NOT have one leg

that is shorter than the other. I never have. I have, however, had

numerous instances where I have had a temporary postural,

functional, perceived shortening of one versus the other.

Without exception, my treatment (whether I was seeing a chiro or

osteo) was a forceful spinal and/or pelvic thrust adjustment. The

ONE time that I consulted an actual " doctor " (having already had x-

rays that showed my lumbar spine had ¾ of an inch lateral rotation)

I was told (direct quote) " There's nothing wrong with you. Just go

home and take some aspirin. " Had I been able to move fast enough to

catch him without going through excruciating pain, I would have

ended up in jail for felony assault.

At no time did any of them EVER address possible muscle or fascial

components to the problem. Knowing what I do today, I would not

expect them to. Putting my license at risk again, I am going to

flat state that (while there are exceptions), MOST doctors, chiros

and osteos aren't worth the price of a fresh five pound bag of dog

doo when it comes to soft-tissue issues. They aren't because they

aren't trained that way in school and they don't think that way. Of

the three, the one most likely to have meaningful training in soft

tissue components will be the osteo, and even that depends largely

on where they went to school and how much they have done in terms of

continuing ed post graduation.

A couple of things have really been driven home for/to me in the

last couple of years taking continuing ed classes. The main one is

that the human body is a SYSTEM, made up of interrelated sub-

systems. Dysfunction in any one of those sub-systems has potential

to affect ALL of them – and the CAUSE is quite frequently totally

unrelated to the SYMPTOM. The other thing is that the more

specialized ANY " provider " gets, the greater the tendency to view

ALL problems through whatever set of glasses they themselves wear,

both in terms of diagnosis and treatment. Chiros are notorious for

this because they tend to view EVERYTHING as a function of spinal

misalignment. But the tendency is not limited to Chiros – it is

more common than I like to think about and it cuts across all of the

health care fields. I see exactly the same mind-set in various

bodywork modalities.

OK – off my soap box and back to your specific situation. Actually,

before I do, one further comment about license risk. I decided a

couple of days ago that if the State of Washington ever does decide

to pull my license, I am going to self-ordain myself as

an " intuitive " through the First Church of the Middle Finger and

then see what they do.

Based on what you said in your post, my guess is you have functional

scoliosis – something other than actual spinal deformity is causing

the scoliosis. In other words, the scoliosis is the symptom, not

the cause. My second guess is that you have a functional leg

shortening as well, that one leg is not measurably shorter than the

other in terms of bone length.

I can think of a number of possible causes for both, including

skeletal, muscular, fascial, visceral and ligamentous. I can also

think of a number of possible, complimentary treatment protocols.

As a bit of side information, I USED to have a slight thoracic

scoliotic curve. It was pretty much between about T12 and T3. I

also stood with a very pronounced anterior tilt to my head. When I

took my second lymphatic drainage class in September of 2002, one of

my classmates gifted me with two 60-90 minute each sessions of

cranialsacral therapy on two successive nights after class. By the

end of the second session, both the scoliotic curve and the anterior

head tilt were gone. That is part of what threw me onto the

continuing ed path I have been on. I was like Will

in " Independence Day " when he took off in the alien space craft – " I

GOT to get me one of these! " Also as info, after spending between

30-35 years with at least 3-4 " adjustments " per year in good years

and two to three dozen per year in bad years, I haven't had any

adjustments at all in 22 months.

Let's take the " shortened leg " first. (If you have not already done

so, I suggest you read my post to about the Psoas muscles).

One possibility is a unilateral shortening of the Psoas. A second

could be a chronically contracted Quadratus Lumborum muscle on just

one side (this, by the way, would also contribute to a scoliotic

posture as the body compensated to keep the head in a mid-line

position). A third could be a jammed SI joint causing a pelvic tilt

or rotation. Or how about contractures in any of the muscles that

abduct the hip (pull it out and away from the body)? Then, of

course, there is always the possibility of fascial restrictions that

cause any of the above muscles to dysfunction. In deference to your

chiro, we can't forget that you could have a subluxed lumbar

vertebrae. Tossing in what I just spent four days learning, there

could also be visceral issues such that some of the ligamentous

attachments at the posterior abdominal wall exert an anterior and/or

lateral pull on specific vertebral segments. ANY of the above

fascial and/or muscle dysfunctions could exert sufficient force over

time to sublux the lumbar vertebrae or screw up the SI joint.

Braces, orthotics and " adjustments " simply address specific

symptoms. They do nothing to fix the root problem. Another one of

my pet peeves – address the symptom and ignore the problem.

Flat feet? Same basic logic. It could be " skeletal " such that the

bones in the arch of the foot are out of alignment. Or it could be

a contracted leg muscle problem (thinking Tibialis Anterior but am

not taking the time at the moment to check the book to confirm).

Then again, it might be a fascial restriction in the lower

thoracic/upper lumbar back. That was Barb's problem for FIFTEEN

years and TEN different so-called health care " professionals. "

As for your scoliosis, the main question I would ask initially

is " where is the scoliotic curve most predominant? " Is it lumbar

scoliosis or thoracic? And here, I would go through the same

exercise as shortened leg and flat feet.

I think you get my point.