Francesca began suffering from asthma at twelve – later the cause was found to be the rotation of her ribcage, pressing onto her lungs due to scoliosis.  Arriving at boarding school, the initial medical picked up a ‘rib hump’ in both her and her sister.  Both were sent to Oxford for further scans and then diagnosed with scoliosis. She was then recommended a back brace which covered her upper body from shoulder to top of her thighs and which she would have to wear for 23 hours a day. Francesca refused.

Nothing came of the consultation as Francesca wasn’t experiencing any back pain and, with a relatively minor spinal curvature of seventeen degrees, there was no need to operate.  Still active and enjoying her sports, Francesca didn’t give her back another thought until she began sixth form.

By age seventeen, hockey lessons were bringing on bouts of severe lower back pain.  Advised by the doctor, ‘if it hurts, don’t do it,’ Francesca was doing increasingly less physical activity to avoid the agony which occasionally consigned her to bed for the entire day. Taking painkillers, on medical advice, she avoided any activity which would ‘jog’ her back, including riding, banana boating and using a trampoline.

A further X-ray in Hampshire with a different surgeon had shown that her degree of spinal curvature had remained at seventeen degrees – the same for the past five years. Whilst this was good news, it was her ribcage that had rotated dramatically, causing the ‘twisted’ appearance and pressing down on her lungs, aggravating her breathing. 

The surgeon advised against surgery. Taking the metal bolts and screws (used to secure the spine in place during standard surgery for scoliosis) out of the cupboard he had announced, ‘This is what we put down your spine – you don’t need this.’ Francesca knew people who had the operation - and knew that surgery can’t change the painful rib rotation nor prevent it from progressing further.

That summer, Francesca was in Suffolk visiting her Grandmother, when her mother happened to pick up the local paper and noticed an article on a specialist scoliosis clinic, Scoliosis SOS. Based near Woodbridge, this clinic teaches an effective, non surgical relief programme for scoliosis, developed and improved from the internationally acknowledged Katharina Schroth method.  Popping into the clinic to find out more, Francesca had a consultation and booked in for a four week programme to take place at the start of her Gap Year.

“The first two weeks were really tiring but good.  You were training your body and brain, constantly thinking about how to stand and hold your ‘correction.’ It’s funny because, when I arrived, I noticed some of the other patients stood in the same way as I did– with our arms across our chests and one leg bent to appear straighter – we had all learnt to try and hide our scoliosis. I had sore muscles at first but everyone was friendly and the atmosphere is relaxing. The exercises may look torturous but it’s really nothing like that!”

Within her first week at the clinic, Francesca’s shoulders had become noticeably more aligned and people were beginning to comment on the improvement. The intensive exercises and education programme taught at the clinic had altered her posture, for the better. By the end of the four weeks, the change was so dramatic that it is difficult to believe that the before and after photographs of her back were of the same girl.

Now Francesca has no back pain at all and is recommending the clinic to everyone she knows with scoliosis, including the sympathetic physiotherapist at her old school.

Currently on a Gap Year, she is working part time as an extra for movies – a fun but tiring job which, involves a lot of standing around.  Were it not for the clinic and the prescribed exercises she does daily to maintain her ‘correction’, this would not have been possible.

“Sometimes I’m on my feet from 6.30am until 8pm at night. I don’t get any back pain at all – although some the other extras do seem to get bad backs by the end of the day!” commented Francesca. “I do my exercises for half an hour a day and it’s just like brushing your teeth: you get into a routine – it really is worth it. I know people who have had the operation and it took them almost a year to recover, that’s a year off school – and they have scars. This is quicker – and there are no scars.  I’ve been wearing fitted tops and people comment on how straight I look now. I don’t feel self conscious and I don’t have to wear a jacket over the top anymore. But the best thing is that I have no pain. You can’t live on painkillers.” /ends 

Note to editors:

Francesca’s cosmetic impovement was dramatic. Images available on request.

Please contact Zara Shirwan, Zed PR

t: +44 (0) 118 969 8966

e: sos@zedpr.co.uk