Dr Jason Cooney
With 23 years of professional experience, his dive into the field exceeds his career. Growing up with his father being in the field, he was exposed at a young age. I was always interested in anatomy, so the fit felt like a perfect match of wanting to help people. Upon his graduation, he had the opportunity to work with his father, who was one of the first to get into this field in the 70’s. Times have greatly changed. There’s good chiropractors & bad ones. Jason advocates, to do your research.
Rick Olderman Fixing You Method
Rick a Sports Orthopedic Physical Therapist with 25 years experience quickly learned that his clients had chronic pain. When he opened his clinic he discovered that patients patterns were the same but the outcomes were different.
In medical school we were taught, "look at the damaged tissue, treat it & out you go!”
His unique perspective dives into WHY tissue is damaged. He shares his approach on Scoliosis a “systems method to solving pain.”
The back pain that people are having often isn’t from Scoliosis.
In medical terms, Scoliosis is defined as a lateral curve. It doesn’t talk about the WHY the curve is occurring. It could be genital, structural or functional curve.
Rick talks about gate patterns & how to help correct the “scoliotic forces.” One of the exercises, he refers to is the “butt pump.” He discuss’s the difference of bent knees vs locked knees & its impact.
Rick talks about the connection of Sciatica...
Master Mentor Paul Wolkowinski
Dr Laura Glazebrook Schroth Pelvic floor specialist
Diagnosed at age 11 with a 53 degree curve her orthopedic told her she was the quickest progression they had seen. Fused in 1997 with Harrington rods from T2-L2, Laura sustained a lot of trunk rotation. In 2012, she became a PT. During her education, she found out how little was discussed about Scoliosis. In 2017, she had her second child where she would have a lot of pain. This lead her to the importance of pelvic floor health & the connection it has with Scoliosis where she practices with clients.
Growing up, she was never in pain, always fit, but would have headaches. She attributed this to her body compensation.
As we continue the conversation, she shares that one the key focuses she starts conversation with her clients, we start with a strong back no matter where you are. Start with the mind set, your back is strong. It’s supporting you where you are.
Diving into the pelvic floor & its importance. It is the bottom of our pelvis, it’s “the pelvic floor...
Empowerment Scoliosis
To finish out scoliosis awareness month, we brought back Katelyn Carlson.
We dive into how to optimize our time of being productive of living with Scoliosis as a family unit. One of the most important things you can do is ground yourself. Look at where you’re at right now. Many decisions can be made out of desperation or fear. These decisions may not be in alignment with what you or your child needs.
How can I resource myself? How can I come to a place where I feel solid, stable? How can I trust myself? These are all questions she asks her clients, starting off with where are you at right now?
Get as much information as you can. Get your questions answered. This also comes to dealing with the using your internal resources.
Be aware of how it feels when you’re in a panic vs how it feels when you feel good. Honor the feeling, pull yourself back & take the steps.
How is different for parents vs children? Katelyn is a strong advocate of changing the language...
Emotional Scoliosis Katelyn Carlson
Having a father who’s a chiropractor, Katelyn’s not sure when she was diagnosed. At 12, she knew her diagnosis was progressing requiring her to be fitted for a brace. Her life habits would also change, taking bath with baking soda, seeing a chiropractor 3x a week, different exercises, eat a special diet, not allowed to participate in many sports.
Her lumbar curve was in the 30’s, leaning her towards surgery. For her first year, she followed her new lifestyle. After a year, things started to tapper off. She switched out her brace, wearing the brace until she was 18.
As time went on, she discovered the significance the brace took on. A girl who was confident running for class president, would be emotionally confined with the isolation of wearing her brace.
One thing that helped her take this on, her best friends mom had scoliosis. As an adult she was thriving, living life, giving Katelyn comfort.
Based on her experience, she was...
Alayne model dancer
Diagnosed in junior high school, with toe touch test. She went to children’s hospital in Salt Lake City, where she would meet with 6 doctors. She did her PT, she did whatever they told her. “Sometimes it just gets worse.” Alayne would be wearing a brace for 5 years. After , they gave her about 3 years until she would puncture a lung. At 27, she had surgery.
Prior to surgery, she had a passion for ballroom dancing. Her S curve was 12 lumbar & 83 thoracic. Her twin sister showed no signs of for Scoliosis. Years later, Alayne would look back at family films, seeing her rib hump.
Wearing her brace for 23 hours a day, taught her early on to be a positive & uplifting, not allowing her curves to define her.
“Were you in pain? I don’t know the difference.” Managing books for school wasn’t easy. At the request of her school, they required her to take all her books home. She quickly found that if she had a smaller back pack, she didn’t...
World Spine Outreach
Jan & Sarah are co founders of World Spine Outreach. A non for profit organization that has been a labor of love for 13 years. It started when Sarah, a physicians Orthopedic assistant & Jan, a head nurse of Neuro surgery in OR, traveled with hospital group.
After going on a trip of 14 days, with 7 days of surgery’s they felt the need to have to do more. In 2008, they streamlined this idea & applied for 501c3.
Searching for a group to partner with, they came across the Butterfly foundation. Butterfly foundation is a small group who’s focus was in Dominican Republic.
After teaming up the Butterfly foundation, they saw the lack of equipment as well as education in DR. Jan & Sarah started to focus on teaching. They along with the surgeons taught the residents to sterilize & how to sew, among other things.
Since then they along their team have performed 600-700 surgeries.
Butterly project loved what was happening, that...
Chiropractor Dr Mandy Dietz - Behind the Brace
Dr. Mandy was brought on the scoliosis journey through her twin daughters & how they moved differently while playing on the swings. She would find out that her daughter was born with congenital Scoliosis.
During Dr Mandy’s schooling, there was training for Scoliosis but “not in the way it’s needed when managing this. They teach you the baseline.”
She has increased her training, allowing patients to have a very specific 3 dimensional over corrective brace.
She shares when she patients have scoliosis, they aren’t candidates for a brace, what are the next steps to be taken without having wait & see. Dr. Mandy’s method is delivered through what can be done at home. This can help to prevent progression increasing mobility in the spine helping to keep the nerves healthy.
Everyone’s cases are different, so it’s important to start with a provider & take it from there. She shares that with the proper implementation,...
Tina Parol Singer, Songwriter, Scoliosis & surgery
Diagnosed at age 11 after shooting up in height. Tina grew up in Buffalo where winters were cold. Wearing baggy clothes kept her curves hidden until she was screened by the school nurse. From there, she went to an orthopedic where she would be fitted for a brace. Being a type A, she was very disciplined. Wearing the brace temporarily helped stop her progressions.
With this, she experienced the psychological aspects of wearing a brace.
Her curve continued to increase resulting in being fitted for multiple braces. At age 16, her orthopedic said she could take her brace off.
She moved, feeling a sense of new freedom. Her curve at this point was in the 50’s. Not being in pain, her curve wasn’t impacting her organs, her orthopedic did not recommend surgery.
Looking back, she shares that she pushed this under the rug, ignoring it.
At 18, she went to NYU. Focused on school & her passion for music. She put her Scoliosis in the back of her mind....