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In this episode, Dr. Mandy shares some exciting news about her clinic and the new resources coming to the North Dakota area. Listen in to find out helpful tips and be sure to check out the links below for more information!   *****Resource Links You Need: Contact Dr. Mandy's office to learn how to work with her by calling (701) 223-8413 or email her at [email protected].  Free Online Screening Tool: https://app.scoliscreen.com/ Find out more about ScoliBalance® at https://scolicare.com/patients-scolibalance. Find out more about ScoliBrace® at https://scolibrace.com.    *****Transcript*****  Hi, I'm Dr. Mandy Dietz and you're listening to The Behind the Brace podcast. Each week I'll be sharing conversations and resources to help families and providers navigate the world of scoliosis. This is your place to find hope for a better solution so that you can live your best life.Welcome back. This is the last episode of the season and I have some really exciting news for you guys. I actually am not really sure who knows and who doesn't know because we've been working on this for quite a long time and I know that we have shared on social media some of the updates in the news with our clinic, but I really wanted to officially let you know that we're taking a break, mostly because as we move into this fall and through the holidays, that we are opening a ScoliCare® clinic here in the state of North Dakota.And so, that's actually really exciting. And what that means is, as you all know, I've been doing this work for over a decade and we've been using ScoliBrace®, we've been adding new tools, we've added ScoliBalance®, we've done more trainings. But this is different because this is an official ScoliCare® clinic here in our state, in our rural community, which is a huge asset to our families and our patients.And it really allows us to focus more fully on more specialized care and to be able to bring more trainings, more people in, more rehab therapists, and to be able to reach more people and do more with the tools that we, that we have and that we've been working on. So I wanted to let you know, because there's gonna be some changes as we move, uh, through this next couple of months and into the holidays. So what that's going to look like is right now I am in my current clinic. You guys will still come to the normal space and we'll still be seeing you as we always do, and we'll actually be opening the ScoliCare® Clinic in a new space. So our friends over at Jones Physical Therapy are expanding and they're building a new building. And that's amazing. And we're so excited for them. And what's really fun about it is that in conversation, that space kind of came into our circle and we're actually going to be moving into that space as they move out of that space which is just a blessing to us, honestly, because, Dr. Liz Jones has been such a friend to us and we've coordinated together in the community, and as they move forward and they are growing, we get to move into their space as a ScoliCare® clinic. And I really just couldn't be more excited for that. So that will look like the end of the year.So as we're going through Thanksgiving and into the Christmas season, the ScoliCare® Clinic will be being built in that space. And then come January 1st, we'll be starting to function out of that space. So in the new year, you'll have to look, um, to our website, into our podcast. We'll have the address, the details, the location.So if you're a scoliosis patient of ours, you'll be seeing me out of that office in 2026, which honestly seems a little crazy to say that out loud because I don't know where this year went. And then even more exciting as we move into the new year.We've got a team of people coming over, uh, from Australia that are going to be doing some intensive trainings with us and some new staff members that we're going to be bringing on.We'll have some additional rehab therapists that are going to be coming in to give some help with some ScoliBalance® tools to our patients, as well as some new staff at the front desk. So you'll be seeing some, new faces and meeting some new people. And then our plan is that as they come over and we do these trainings, um, we get into February.At the end of February, we're going to do a really big celebration at the new clinic and invite our community and other providers and our patients into the space so that you can see it, you can take a look at it, you can see all the cool new things that we're doing. It's gonna look different than the office that we have right now and be more functional and have just a lot more to offer you.And so, we'll have the ability to open up that space as well so we can offer some trainings to other people in the community and work with other providers. So there's just a lot of really cool, exciting things that I've been waiting to share until we had some more details. And so as we move into this break, we'll have additional resources that we're going to link.Like on our social media. So as always, we've got a ton of different podcasts and topics, and so we'll be circling those back a little bit, uh, as you go into the next couple of months so you can still jump on and get information and find the things that you need. And of course, you know, as, as we've talked about before, our goal is really to partner with people in the community and to be able to give some information, uh, to families when they're looking. So we always offer a discovery call. So if you are either a provider or a patient who's wondering if our office can help you, we offer a 15 minute call where we jump on. We can even look at some of your images and talk through the situation just to see if it's something that is appropriate for our office or if we can direct you somewhere else.So in the meantime, if you're not hearing from us regularly. If you are looking for those resources, all you have to do is jump onto our social media or our website, shoot us an email or even a text message to our office, and we can help you get that scheduled. Also you can email information over to us as well if you're looking for some input on that.We always love to help with those scenarios. Um, so as we go, please be watching. We'll have an updated website as well. So, new websites, new, uh, location, new address, new faces, new people, lots of really big exciting things. There'll definitely be a little bit of a transition as we're moving from one clinic to the next.And of course we'll make sure that we're sending that information out to you. So if you are someone who is in our office regularly. Don't worry about that, you'll have the information at hand. If you're somebody that's new here and you are just finding our podcast for the first time feel free to go back to some of our earlier episodes this season.We've got some really great content. Um, the last week we had Dr. Tara Harding on our podcast and we were able to talk through a lot of different things, regarding hormones and testing and local options that we have. So many things that you can go back and, and just take a peek at while you're waiting for us to come back early next year.So if you need us, you know where to find us. Hope you guys all have a fantastic holiday and we'll see you next year.Thanks for spending time with me today. If you could leave a review before you go, that would help us reach more people that need this message. To learn more about the services and resources that we have available, visit us at behindthebrace.com. This show is produced by RAYMA Team Media. To learn more about how they can help you with your podcast, visit raymateam.com.

In this episode, Dr. Mandy has a conversation with her friend, Dr. Tara Harding, on the effect of hormones on scoliosis and what patients need to consider when looking for answers on the internet. This is a MUST LISTEN TO episode for parents of teens, teens, and women in your 20's, 30's, 40's and beyond. Listen in to find out helpful tips and be sure to check out the links below for more information! Dr. Tara Harding is the owner of Simply You Wellness and an experienced doctorate family nurse practitioner and fertility coach with patients worldwide. She received her master’s and doctorate degree from George Washington University and has received an additional certification through the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and Marquette Method Certified. After facing personal health challenges, she decided to leverage her experience and knowledge to help individuals and families improve their health and wellness. As a result,she created a unique approach to healthcare at Simply You Wellness. Dr. Tara empowers her patients to understand and take control of their health while being a partner in their health journey, supporting them as they navigate the path to optimal health and well-being. Connect with Dr. Tara at simplyyouclinic.com and subscribe to her podcast, Hopeful Hints, at https://simplyyouclinic.com/podcast/ or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.   *****Resource Links You Need: Contact Dr. Mandy's office to learn how to work with her by calling (701) 223-8413 or email her at [email protected].  Free Online Screening Tool: https://app.scoliscreen.com/ Find out more about ScoliBalance® at https://scolicare.com/patients-scolibalance. Find out more about ScoliBrace® at https://scolibrace.com.    *****Transcript*****  Hi, I'm Dr. Mandy Dietz and you're listening to The Behind the Brace podcast. Each week I'll be sharing conversations and resources to help families and providers navigate the world of scoliosis. This is your place to find hope for a better solution so that you can live your best life.Welcome back. This week we have a guest on our podcast that I'm super excited to introduce. Today we have Dr. Tara Harding, the founder of Simple You Wellness. She's a doctorate prepared family nurse practitioner that specializes in hormone health for men, women and children, and integrative women's care.She's passionate about helping patients move beyond being told everything is normal, and instead uncover the root causes of symptoms like fatigue, weight changes, mood swings, and cycle irregularities. She brings extensive clinical experience, a personalized approach, and a shared dedication to helping patients feel like themselves Again, her clinic is leading the way in transforming how hormone health is addressed, and she empowers patients to be heard, understood, and truly cared for.Welcome.Hey, thank you.Yes, thanks for coming on today. So I'm super excited to have you here because there's a big conversation happening in the scoliosis world that it doesn't have a ton of research behind it, but we know that it's affecting patients that have scoliosis. And as I do more of this work, I've got patients that come in my office, they have questions, and it's not within my, it's not within my specialty.Specialty. Yes, yes. And I know about it, but it's not something that I have dedicated my career too. Right? So, this is within your wheelhouse. Yeah. So thanks for coming on. Yeah. You know, I'd like to just shout out patients, right? Like, I think sometimes patients have to get a degree. You know, we always joke about Dr. Google, but what do patients do when they're left with no answers? You go to one side of medicine and they're told. Everything's fine. Nothing to do here. You can't fix that. You can't change that. That won't help that. That's not FDA approved. And then you go to the other side of the spectrum and it's like, here, take a bazillion things.I'm gonna cure you overnight and give me this timeframe, this money and everything will be fixed. Right? So patients are really put in a hard spot. From every avenue of healthcare, whether they're young adolescents, um, young women, young men, I mean, really. We could go on and on about that, but it's really hard when you're met with a diagnosis and you get a diagnosis, right, such as scoliosis.Mm-hmm. And it's like, now what? Yeah. Now what do we do? What do we do here now? No, it's hard. Um, in the conversations that I have with patients. You know? Okay. So we all probably do it, even though we say don't do it. But you get a diagnosis and what do you do? You Google it. I encourage it. Right, right. I'm gonna say it.I encourage it. Let's go to the socials. Go. There's great content out there nowadays, right? From good resources and bad resources, but there's a lot out there. Yeah. You have to discern the difference. You do, right? You do. So if you have a hard time discerning the difference between resources that are Yeah.Reputable and resources that are not, sometimes you fall in this crack that can be pretty dangerous. Very. And expensive. And expensive and waste a lot of time. Yep. Actually, so, so that's really, that's why I wanted to have you on and talk about this today, because what I'm finding is, um, so there's this piece of it where patients come in, they're diagnosed with the scoliosis, whether they're a juvenile, adolescent, their kids, right.They're growing, or maybe even they're adults and they've had scoliosis for a really long time. And they find all of this information, and we do know that there are certain things that come along with that diagnosis. Like for example, just like a quick rundown, right? So we know that kids that are diagnosed with scoliosis, it typically, uh, it tends to show up between the ages of 10 and 14.It's typically right before or during puberty. There are a lot of changes going on. We know there are some link to hormones, but. We haven't, nobody's been able to really nail it down. Yeah, exactly. We know that oftentimes there are other things that are, that affect that, whether that's like vitamin D levels or sometimes, um, people have been talking, they'll come in and they'll talk about, um, copper levels that are too high or they'll talk about, um, just a lot of different things that we know that oftentimes those patients might struggle with.But at the same time, there's not really anything in the research or in the science piece of it to say. You know, okay. Like if you have this problem, like say you have this hormone problem or this vitamin D or whatever it might be. We don't know that that for sure makes you have scoliosis, but we do know that patients that have scoliosis oftentimes have those things that are problems.Yeah. So then what do we do with that? Well, if we had a magic wand, we'd have better research and funding for research. Right, right. So we can't, patients have to be very careful about where they're getting their information from. Like you said, is it research back? Like what is there to show that this claim is going to work?What we do know, as you mentioned, some very key times, 10 to 14 puberty. Hormones are rapidly changing during that time. Nutrients, vitamins, supplements, rapidly changing during that time. So it would make sense that bone formation situations would arise during that time. Right. And genetics, mm-hmm. Go hand in hand.So not everyone has information of their genetics, but if you do, it's again looking at is there someone in the family that has this diagnosis or other hormonal issues as they progressed in life? And looking back on that. Estrogen, testosterone, thyroid, insulin, cortisol. When people hear hormones, they think like estrogen, like that's the first thing that comes to their head.Maybe progesterone, maybe testosterone. We're lucky. Thyroid, insulin, cortisol. There's all these different hormones and most we're lucky if we, if patients come in and they've had one or two looked at, never is the full picture being looked at. Then we look at iron, nutrients, vitamin D, magnesium. Let's not forget about gut.You can take all the things in the world, all of the, whether it's even in a prescription or a supplement, and if your gut health isn't working or not on point, how are you gonna absorb all of that? And is there an absorption issue that's, you know, tailing back to some of these things too. People forget.Providers, let's just say providers sometimes forget to look at the whole picture and that pivotal time where you're seeing this happen, there is a cascade, rapid cascade of things going on that we could interject and help with. We have to look at them as a whole picture though, right? We have to do the appropriate workup.These, these children aren't getting in a workup. They're going in. Bringing forward maybe a symptom or a concern and it's being dismissed, or they're not even getting adequate lab levels drawn to look at vitamin D levels, look at nutrient levels, look at their hormones, talk about their periods if they're a female, right?Like these things just aren't happening, so how can we intervene appropriately to help maybe slow down that process or intervene in that process if they're not even getting a full workup. The conversation's even happening at their provider's office to offer that as an option too. And the other piece of that too, is that sometimes it's the other way where, you know, maybe they go to a medical provider and they're not getting the workup, so then they're not doing anything.But I've also had families where they go somewhere and sometimes it's states away. Right. So we're in North Dakota. Yeah, we're rural, right. That we don't have access to a ton of things, but sometimes I've heard where they go to a facility. They get zero workup, but they get handed a box of whatever supplements or this or that, and it's, you know, $900 a month and woo.Red flakes. You know what I mean though? Yeah. So then th

In this episode, Dr. Mandy explains the differing reasons why bracing is used and the intricate pieces of bracing that make each case so unique. If you've ever received differing recommendations from a handful of providers that has left you confused and not sure what to do, then you need to listen to this episode! Listen in to find out helpful tips and be sure to check out the links below for more information!   *****Resource Links You Need: Contact Dr. Mandy's office to learn how to work with her by calling (701) 223-8413 or email her at [email protected].  Free Online Screening Tool: https://app.scoliscreen.com/ Find out more about ScoliBalance® at https://scolicare.com/patients-scolibalance. Find out more about ScoliBrace® at https://scolibrace.com.    *****Transcript*****  Hi, I'm Dr. Mandy Dietz and you're listening to the Behind the Brace podcast. Each week I'll be sharing conversations and resources to help families and providers navigate the world of scoliosis. This is your place to find hope for a better solution so that you can live your best life.Welcome back. This week we're talking about the art of bracing and what you need to be aware of, so lots of conversations around bracing and what that's used for. So last episode, we talked about kind of the details of what that looks like, and just some general basic information. And today I wanna talk about more how it applies to you and how we use bracing. So traditionally speaking, when we're talking about bracing, most of the time we're talking about either juveniles or adolescents, kids that are growing, that are diagnosed with either scoliosis or hyper kyphosis that are wearing a brace because they're growing.And essentially what that means is when kids are growing, if they've got a scoliosis, if they're not in a corrected position as they grow, that curve can progress. When the spine grows and growth plates continue to grow, when there's pressure on certain sides of that growth plate, the the bone and the spine will actually start to grow in a deformity.So that's essentially what the goal is for bracing in kids that are growing. And that's why when you go see an orthopedic surgeon or any other primary care provider that works with scoliosis, if you have a child that's got a scoliosis or a hyper kyphosis and they're growing, they're going to put them in a brace.So that's pretty straightforward. That's general recommendations. Everybody that would see a case like that should be doing that if that's where you're at. And then based on where they're at, specifically with their age and where their growth plates are at, the severity of their curve, lots of different things.Family history, that's where they determine, you know, are you wearing a brace? How long are you wearing a brace? What kind of brace? So whether that's a brace at night or that's a full-time brace or what that might look like. So that's pretty general, and I would say most people know that that's something that's coming.If you have a child that's growing with a scoliosis. So here's where the intricate pieces come in because there's a lot of different recommendations across providers, and I've personally had conversations with families and even other providers about these scenarios and then different recommendations and why they might be different.So that's really what I wanna speak into because there can be some confusion, and I know when parents come in. You come in and you talk to us in our office, and then for whatever reason, whether it's insurance or a second opinion, or maybe there's something else going on, you go see an orthopedic surgeon, they give you a different recommendation.That orthopedic surgeon says, "Hey, why don't you see our physical therapist while you're here?" And then you go see the physical therapist. And the physical therapist gives a different recommendation from the orthopedic surgeon and from our office, right? And then you're left with three different recommendations.And they're kind of all similar, but they're also different. And then you leave all of these appointments and it's overwhelming. So I wanna help clear some of that up today because there is different scenarios, and different goals and purposes that play into some of these recommendations. And so I'm gonna speak about a scenario that happened in my office that looking back at that, I was like, gosh, you know, we really should have been more clear in some of this information because it would've been really helpful.So, say you have a child who maybe is a little bit older, say they're 13, 14 years old, they are more towards the end of their growth. So they measure that. If you're not familiar, they talk about like, Risser sign, right? So Risser 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. So, Risser five done growing. Growth plates are closed.If you are like Risser one , 2 0 1 2, you know, you're still gonna be growing. You've got that fast growth phase coming up. You know, Risser three. So they base it off of those classifications. So if you're not familiar with that, of course you can always go Google it and you can look and see what it, what it shows as far as the bone and what that means and what that looks like.So we've had more than one case where somebody will come into our office and they've never been diagnosed with a scoliosis or anything. They come in, we find that they have a scoliosis. We take an x-ray, and it's in this range of say like 27 to 35 degrees. And patient might be between the ages of like 13, 14, 15 , maybe they've already had their menstrual cycle for a while, and we look at their growth plates and they're like a Risser four.So when we're looking at that and parents are coming in, some of the history of that might be, you know, our child's really active, they're having some trouble with sports, or maybe they're having trouble pitching in softball. They're having pain in their back. They're concerned about their posture.You know, most of the time it's girls like going into high school that, you know, in a swimming suit, they're like, gosh, you know, this one rib is sticking out, or my shoulder is down. When I put on my clothes, my clothes sit funny. And so they're coming in with these concerns, but then also the parents are maybe new to this too. And they're wondering, okay, well we have this curve, like we don't want our child to have surgery and you know, this is at 28 degrees or 32 degrees, you know, whatever it might be. And so what do we do with this? And so from our lens. So using a ScoliBrace®, when we're looking at that based off of our braces that we provide, that are made through 3D technology that are over corrective, that when we fit you with that brace, we actually get correction in that brace.When we're looking at that, we approach that scenario from knowing that if you've got a curve that's under 30 degrees, when you are done growing, it's less likely to progress as an adult. So essentially what that means is if you've got a 32, 35, 36 degree curve, even if you're done growing, those curves can progress as you age through your adult life.So especially if we've got a kid in that range, they're having pain, it's affecting their daily life, even if they're close to done growing. We can utilize that brace to give correction in the brace, and if the patient is compliant, we've been able to get correction of those curves where.We look at multiple things.Are we able to reduce pain? Are we able to help correct the posture to make their posture more balanced? So essentially their body functions better, more biomechanically, and also they have less postural issues, meaning that aesthetically then that child is happier with what their posture looks like.But then also a goal of, can we reduce the curve, keep it under 30, or if it's over 30, can we get it under 30? Even though they might be a little bit older than say what an orthopedic surgeon might brace. And so we've had these conversations and we've chatted about this and then, you know, for whatever reason it might be, they go see an an orthopedic surgeon.And the orthopedic surgeon is like, "well, they're Risser four. Um, they've had their menstrual cycle for a while and their curve is 27 degrees or 33 degrees, and so essentially they're kind of done growing, so they don't need a brace, you know, no worries. Go see our rehab person. They'll work with you and then we'll see you in six months."Or maybe, you know, sometimes they might say 12 months. Depends on where they're at. Then they go see the rehab person and they'll show them some exercises and they'll say, okay, here's your exercises. When you come back in three months, six months, or whatever it might be. Then we'll go through them again, and then the family leaves and comes back, and then we get a phone call, talking about saying like, well, the orthopedic surgeon said we didn't need a brace.The rehab person said that we just need to do these exercises and come back in. Six months, three months, whatever it might be that we don't need to do this regularly. And then it comes back to the conversation we had where we were talking about utilizing a brace and utilizing our specific rehab program that we have, which essentially, depending on the patients as far as like the, how often we see them, but we generally do like a 12 session program initially and hopefully see those, that patient every week for 12 weeks to build on that.It's very corrective focused and specific, and it's a scoliosis specific exercise rehabilitation program. So as you can imagine coming back from all of these recommendations, we now have three different providers, three different recommendations and three different pieces of information. And the reality is that they're all accurate.Which is frustrating. And so that might sound odd when I say they're all accurate to you, because when I think of something like, well, somebody has to be right, like who's giving the bogus recommendation, right? B

In this episode, Dr. Mandy explains the basics of bracing such as: The difference between casting and bracing. Front closure bracing v. back closure bracing. Rehabilitation plans and using a brace for physical fitness goals. The most comfortable time of day to wear a brace. How often you need to get a new brace. What to wear under the brace for skin protection. The types of braces we use in our office (it's not just a solution for scoliosis - bracing works for kyphosis and hyperkyphosis patients, too!). Listen in to find out helpful tips and be sure to check out the links below for more information!   *****Resource Links You Need: Contact Dr. Mandy's office to learn how to work with her by calling (701) 223-8413 or email her at [email protected].  Free Online Screening Tool: https://app.scoliscreen.com/ Find out more about ScoliBalance® at https://scolicare.com/patients-scolibalance. Find out more about ScoliBrace® at https://scolibrace.com.    *****Transcript*****  The Basics Of Bracing That Every Patient Needs To Consider Hi, I'm Dr. Mandy Dietz and you're listening to The Behind the Brace podcast. Each week I'll be sharing conversations and resources to help families and providers navigate the world of scoliosis. This is your place to find hope for a better solution so that you can live your best life.Hi, welcome back. This week we are going to talk about the basics of bracing that every patient needs to know about. There's been quite a few questions and just some conversation regarding bracing, and we've covered this in the past a few years ago, but a lot of the protocols and different clinics have changed some of the things that they're doing with bracing.And even in our own office, we're using bracing differently than we had 10 years ago. So I wanna go through just kind of the basics of: what is bracing, what do we use it for, and what does that look like. I know when patients come into my office, they have a lot of questions. Of course, this is typically something that they haven't been familiar with.So unless you have a strong family history or you've been through that experience yourself as a parent and now bringing your child in, a lot of these things seem pretty foreign. So the things that I wanna talk about are, what does getting a brace look like? What are the steps involved in that? What are some of the different options and what comes along with it?So we use bracing in our office. So the ScoliBrace® is very specific. It's a 3D over corrective brace. We make that brace using 3D imaging, so it's an actual 3D image of your body, it's custom to you, and it's made in an over corrective way. What that means is it's very specific, so no brace is the same.And even if you say had, you know, a thoracic curvature and the next patient has a thoracic curvature, your braces are going to look different because you and your body are different. So it's made specific for you and we have that shipped to us. We have you come in, we do a brace fitting, we tailor that brace, we modify it to make sure that it's more comfortable for you to wear as comfortable as it can be.And then there's also a lot of other options. So parents that come in talking about brace options have shared some of the experiences that they've had at different clinics. And so I wanna talk a little bit about that because. Just because you have a hard brace doesn't mean that all of those braces are similar or the same, or function the same way.And so some of the things that come up in conversation are patients that go in, they get casted for braces, so it's like a plaster casting that they'll do at different facilities and then they make a brace off of that casting. Most of the time, then once you get that brace, they'll add some different padding inside of it and things like that.Sometimes they'll use measurements. So I've had some patients where they've not had to do the, the plaster casting, but they've laid down and, you know, straightened their spine as much as they can. They've taken different measurements on their body and then they've formed a brace based off of that.And then I have had some patients that have had like the 3D scan in different facilities that have had braces made off of those as well. So a lot of the ways that the brace is utilized and made for a patient is dependent on the provider that's making it. So, for example, you know, if you're casting a patient or if you're doing measurements on a patient, you know, those are a little bit more subjective, so everybody does it a little bit differently.So the consistency can be a little different depending on, you know, if you're seeing different people when you go or how they're trained or the different types of ways that they may do it in their own facility. And then in addition to that, depending on how they utilize that brace once it's there.So I'm going to speak mostly about what we do in our office. But all of those are different scenarios that I've heard families and patients talk about, that we've actually seen and, and talked and worked with different, orthotists and rehab people and things like that as well. So some of the questions that come up is about the closure on the brace.So the majority of our braces that we use, we've actually only had front closure braces in our office, which means that on the front of the brace you've got some Velcro straps. You've got a little guide that goes in and you put the brace on, and then it closes in the front. That way you can take it on and off.You're able to maneuver that if you need to loosen it after you eat or if you need to. Take it off to use the restroom, things like that. I do know that some braces, they have it close in the back. Those are braces that sometimes, you know, depending on how that works, parents have talked about, um, you know, having to assist to get the braces on and off, which if you have small children that don't wanna wear their brace, obviously that can be a benefit because they might not be able to just whip it on and off and take it off when you're not paying attention.But it can also be a hindrance too, because if you have a lot of trouble getting it on and off, especially if kids are at school, that can be something that can affect their compliance and whether or not they wear it. So the majority of our braces, when you're coming in, we have front closures. So the brace opens up, you put it on, you, Velcro it shut, and you're able to change that as you need to throughout the day.So in our braces, so ScoliBrace®, you'll take those braces off when you're active. And so that means anything like, you know, volleyball, basketball, running, if you're biking, you know, any sort of active time swimming, you know, we want you to be active. We want you to be strong. The only time that we have you wear a brace when you're being active is if we're incorporating that into a rehabilitation plan.And that can actually be really beneficial. But we use it in specific ways and it wouldn't be all of the time. So, for example, I just actually had an athlete come in my office this week and one of her main goals is to be able to continue running and to be able to prevent injury. So we talked about utilizing a brace that corrects her spine, hold her in her correction, but then doing some of those core stabilization exercises.So she's actually strengthening her body in a corrected position so that she can maintain her strength and help prevent injuries when she doesn't have her brace on. And so sometimes we'll utilize that, even as adults. Um, I've had adult patients that one of their goals would be to, you know, run, run, jog, a half marathon.And so part of her training would be that we would do part of the walking part of the jogging, in her brace, either on the treadmill. Or down the road for the first mile or two to get her body moving and, and strengthening in those movements in her corrective brace. And then obviously, you know, she's not wearing her brace for a 10 or 13 miles, but once she worked that into her routine, then she would take her brace off and she would complete her training after that.But that was really helpful to be able to help her body stay in that corrected position and get the maximum benefit of the brace. But essentially you get the time out of the brace to be active. Most patients actually say that sleeping in it is the most comfortable time, which surprised me as a provider.Obviously I haven't worn a brace, so I'm not exactly sure what it would be like to sleep in it myself, but a lot of the patients that I work with say that the easiest time to wear the brace is when they're sleeping. It takes a little bit to get used to, but over time, that's probably easier because there's not gravity, we're not standing up.And when you're lying down, your curve's reduced. So it's probably more comfortable. So once you get used to actually having the brace on, the sleeping time can be the easiest time to wear it. The other things that have come up over conversation is how often do we need a new brace? And so obviously that answer depends on the circumstance, but, generally speaking, I'll kind of break it down into like juveniles, adolescents, so like kids that are growing, usually 12 to 18 months you'd have a new brace if somebody is growing really quickly. I did have a couple of patients that needed a new brace, but then 10 months, but they had hit a massive growth spurt, so they had grown a lot in that period of time.But for the most part, generally 12. 13, 14, maybe 15 months. As long as the brace is still doing what we want it to, you'll get at least a year out of that brace and then potentially, you know, need a new one depending on where your child is at for growth. Now, for adults, that looks a little bit different and it's dependent on what our goals are, what your goals are, and what clinically our goals look like.I've had some adult patients that have had their braces fo

In this episode, Dr. Mandy shares guidance on how to handle the delays and disruptions that come up when life happens and you're trying to handle brace wear at the same time. Listen in to find out helpful tips and be sure to check out the links below for more information!   *****Resource Links You Need: Contact Dr. Mandy's office to learn how to work with her by calling (701) 223-8413 or email her at [email protected].  Free Online Screening Tool: https://app.scoliscreen.com/ Find out more about ScoliBalance® at https://scolicare.com/patients-scolibalance. Find out more about ScoliBrace® at https://scolibrace.com.    *****Transcript*****  Hi, I'm Dr. Mandy Dietz and you're listening to The Behind the Brace podcast. Each week I'll be sharing conversations and resources to help families and providers navigate the world of scoliosis. This is your place to find hope for a better solution so that you can live your best life.Welcome back. This episode is called How to Manage Your Scoliosis When You Can't Be At a hundred percent. I'm actually really excited to do this episode because these are real conversations I have in my office every day, all week, like months and months on end, and it's just real life, real people situations because as I'll tell you when you come into my office or in any conversation, there's this very nice box of diagnosis, look at the x-rays, look at the situation, get all the data. It's this very scientific process, and you put it up on the screen and you say, you know, okay, based on all of these things, this is the recommendation. This is the best treatment approach. This is how we do this. And it, at least for me, it makes me feel really good, right?Like I'm that analytical. I like to see it out on paper. It makes me feel good to know that this is the data, this is how you do it, and if we follow the plan, everything should go as expected, and this is what we should see. But what I've learned in working with real humans is that there's also a human part to it, and life is messy and things happen and it doesn't always go to plan, even though, that can stress me out a little bit, right? As I'm sure anybody listening to this can attest to is that when things do not go according to plan, it can be stressful and it makes us uncertain and we're not as sure how to make decisions.And so what do we do with some of these things and how do we take this very like nice linear process, where we can lay all of the black and whites out, and then how do we incorporate all the gray areas of actual life and how things are going for you and combine it together to make something work? Like that's the magic in it, right? That's where being a good clinician is being able to look at the perfect scenario, look at what's in front of us, and combine the two to get the best result that we can.And so I'm gonna share just a few things. Some of these things might, some of these things might trigger you. If you're listening to this and you're relating to a story, it's not necessarily about you, but if it kind of triggers you, it might mean that you need to pay attention to it. And a lot of these things that I'm talking about are things that I've also experienced in different ways in my own life. But these are really the scenarios that patients come into my office with.So first of all, I'm gonna put a disclaimer out here that this isn't to validate any of your excuses, just like any of my excuses as to why I should be doing things that I shouldn't be doing. So we all have this tug of war with what's realistic in our life and sometimes, you know, if we're just making excuses as to why we can't do something, so I'm not saying that you shouldn't be doing your stuff or you shouldn't be doing the recommended treatment or any of those types of things. But I am saying that there are times in life when we just can't do all of the things that we should be doing. And if you're a perfectionist, at least even like in my own mind and a lot of the patients that I work with, it's kind of this thought of I either have to do it perfectly -the scenario has to be perfect, it has to be. At the right time, it has to be the right space. I have to be feeling a certain way. I need to have a certain amount of time in my schedule. It like everything needs to be perfect in order to either start it -or to be able to continue it. And the reality is that time passes anyway.And if you don't start, you'll never get started. And so there's, there's a few situations in there that we'll kind of talk about that may or may not follow that exact line. But the first thing that I want to talk about is if you have a delay or a disruption. So at least I'm speaking specifically about my office now.So a lot of patients come in and the first thing we determine is, do we need a brace? Do we not need a brace? Where are we at in that regard? And then we follow that appropriately. And then we look at the next layer of things and we say, okay, now that we have that figured out, and any under other underlying medical things that we need to, you know, discern and make sure.Are handled appropriately. We look at is ScoliBalance® appropriate for you? So that's our scoliosis specific rehabilitation program. And is that appropriate for you? And if so, what does that look like? What would be an appropriate prescription of care for your situation?And then we also look at other things like coordinating other providers. So like, are they seeing other providers and are, are we coordinating with them? And how are we working that together? Because when we're looking at this, right, a lot of people have different things going on, so they might be seeing a physical therapist or they might be seeing a chiropractor, they might be seeing, like a fitness coach or a personal trainer or different things like that.And so when we're starting something in our office, we have to be able to communicate with those people so that everybody's kind of on the same page of what are we doing to help you move forward? And I would say a majority of people have more- like it's more than just me or our clinic working with them. And so that's an important piece of that. How do we make this work in your life?Now, once we have that laid out, obviously with any type of care, if you're at a hundred percent, that's the best case scenario, right? So say we've got somebody wearing their brace, so if they're supposed to be wearing their brace full time, so they're wearing their brace full time.They're doing their ScoliBalance® program. They're doing, they're at home stuff, right? They're at, you know, full capacity. They're able to fit it into their day. Um, they're able to continuously work through that, and they're checking the boxes and, you know, doing all of their things at a hundred percent.Obviously we get the best results that way, but there are multiple instances where we have a disruption or a delay or something happens. I've had patients come in as adults that were really wanting to get after their scoliosis and you know, maybe they're in that family stage and then they find out they're expecting another baby.Well, we can't, we can't use a brace when you're, you know, pregnant. Right? So then it's like, okay, we have this little bit of a delay. But then instead of going to, "okay, well we're just going to not do anything right now until down the road, then we talk about," okay, well we can't use this tool, but what tools do we have left that we can use to help you continuously gain ground?Until we can come back to that initial plan. Or, for example, I've had quite a few patients that have had injuries. So whether we had somebody who had a surgery, so with an abdominal surgery, they were out a couple of months. Obviously we're not utilizing a lot of the tools that we're having if you have a surgery and you're in the hospital and you're recovering from incisions and stuff like that. Or we've had people that have had some pretty serious illnesses where maybe they ended up in the hospital for a week and they had to come back out of the hospital and they had to get better and they had to heal.And so in all of those situations, it's gonna be a little bit different for everybody. You know, what can we utilize? Um, or example, a broken leg. Multiple people that have either had like fractures in their legs or fractures in their feet or, because a lot of the people we work with are active, right? So athletes, if they are playing football and something happens, or I've had somebody that does cheer and they were thrown up and they had a fall, and so now all of a sudden we have a concussion that we have to deal with in addition to the scoliosis.There's just these nuances that come about real life, that doesn't make it perfect on paper. And so what do we do about that? How do we work with that?So no time is the perfect time. I will tell you that. It doesn't matter who comes in my office, there's never a perfect time to start. The key is getting started and then making realistic and reasonable decisions.So, for example, it's summertime. Well, we're coming out of summertime and into the fall. So sports, busy season, into like football and all of the things and traveling teams. Um, so there's lots of things going on. And so one of the things that often comes up is it's like, oh, this sport's coming up. We're gonna be traveling a lot. We've got all these trips planned. You know, should I start? And so when we're talking about some of these recommendations, the thing that I ask families and that we kind of come back to is, would we do anything different? So if we're making a decision about care and we're looking into the future, whether it's: do we need to do a test? Do we need to do a brace? Do we need to do a rehab? Doesn't matter what it is, would we do anything different? Because if the answer is no, then maybe we don't do that thing. If the answer is yes, then it would be appropriate to do th

In this episode, Dr. Mandy addresses the different types of patients she sees in her clinic. If you have scoliosis as a secondary diagnosis, have osteoporosis, are a woman in menopause, or even have spine issues from a traumatic injuries - then you need this episode. Listen in to find out helpful tips and be sure to check out the links below for more information!   *****Resource Links You Need: Contact Dr. Mandy's office to learn how to work with her by calling (701) 223-8413 or email her at [email protected].  Free Online Screening Tool: https://app.scoliscreen.com/ Find out more about ScoliBalance® at https://scolicare.com/patients-scolibalance. Find out more about ScoliBrace® at https://scolibrace.com.    *****Transcript*****  Hi, I'm Dr. Mandy Dietz and you're listening to The Behind the Brace podcast. Each week I'll be sharing conversations and resources to help families and providers navigate the world of scoliosis. This is your place to find hope for a better solution so that you can live your best life.Welcome back. This episode is called "Are You Someone We Can Help?" This week, I wanna talk a little bit about who we see in our office and what that looks like, and if it's something that could potentially help you. The majority of the patients that we see in our office are pediatric patients -so adolescents that have scoliosis, maybe have been diagnosed with scoliosis, or maybe they are worried that they might have scoliosis and haven't gotten a diagnosis yet.The research shows us that up to 5% of the population of adolescents are affected by scoliosis and of that population, 10% of those patients actually have a really significantly delayed diagnosis. Which can be really important and can affect the treatment options, in a very, very big way because if we miss a diagnosis of a progressive scoliosis, sometimes that might change our options from being able to manage that with a rehabilitation program and potentially a brace to that Scoliosis now becoming surgical.And instead of talking about how do we stabilize this and get correction of this scoliosis, we're now talking about how do we delay surgery or how do we prepare for a surgery and then a post-surgical recovery. So those are really important things to note. Of course, you know, the adolescent population is what we mostly think of when people think about scoliosis, they're, they're thinking about, you know, like in our generation, if we had the scoliosis checks in our schools. Which they don't typically do anymore. But, you know, as adults we're thinking about that. Like, oh yeah, we got checked for scoliosis when we were kids, and if something showed up, then they gave us a note, we went home to our parents and then we went to the doctor.So I think that's what comes to mind when we're talking about scoliosis. And I will say that that's a, a very large part of my practice is working with kids. You know, mostly, I would say between the ages of like 10 to 16 and through there, we definitely have kids that we're seeing under the ages of 10.Uh, the big thing to note with those age groups is if there's a history of scoliosis in your family or if you have any sort of indicators with your child that there might be a possibility of a curve. Especially if they're under the age of 10, make sure that they're getting checked appropriately, early and often because you wanna catch that ahead of time instead of finding it down the road maybe when they're 12, 13, or 14.Because typically at that time, it's now a little bit less manageable, especially if it's progressed. So in addition to that population, we also see a lot of patients that have scoliosis as a secondary diagnosis. And so what that means is that someone has a primary diagnosis of something else, like for example, cerebral palsy or some other neurological diagnosis that affects muscle tone, or flexibility and increase in flexibility in their body, their joints and spine. In addition to that, it could potentially be secondary diagnosis to degeneration if we're talking about adults. So if we think about adults in their like fifties, sixties, or seventies. If we have a lot of degeneration, if we have a lot of spinal problems then sometimes what can happen is, is you can actually get a scoliosis or a kyphosis from something like that. So an example might be if we have an accident or something like that and the spine starts to degenerate.It doesn't always just stay in the spot that it's supposed to. It can become unstable and then we get a scoliosis and those things tend to be really painful. And so a lot of patients come in, in that population in pain. And so the initial diagnosis would be whatever the injury would be, but then the scoliosis comes next or the kyphosis comes next.In addition to that, one of the things that I really wanted to bring up today that might, might not be on everybody's, um, you know, at the front of their mind is sometimes we have kids and adults, I should say, with different types of leg length inequalities. So essentially you might know somebody that maybe in like third grade they fell off of a slide and broke their leg.Or if you have like an athlete and they have a fracture in their leg somewhere and it hits the growth plate, it can affect how the bone grows. Or you might have a leg length inequality from something else, like a medical condition, uh, or something of that nature where one of the legs actually grows longer than the other.It's not extremely common, but it is something that happens and that can cause a scoliosis. So if you think about like a building, right? If we have like a 10 story building. If at the very bottom, if we have a six inch difference, by the time you get to the top, that whole building is going to be leaning over.It's the same thing with the structure of our spine and our body. So if something happens to one of our legs where it doesn't grow the same as the other, or if we have some type of condition that affects the growth of one of your legs that can actually create that tip on the base of your pelvis and then a scoliosis forms.So I work with quite a few patients that are younger, that have had that happen. So most of the time it's something that happens like early on, like maybe grade school, or something from birth that causes the bones to grow not quite how they should. So that's something that we definitely want to address early.So most parents, if they're told this, they're not necessarily told that that problem can create a scoliosis. It's something that just shows up down the road. So if you're a parent or if you know somebody that has had something like that happen, or there's a problem in like the leg length equality of, of somebody, you know, if give them a heads up because most of the time doctors don't talk about that and then they get like a year or maybe two years down the road and they just happen to find, they're like, oh, you have a scoliosis.Well, we know that that's an indicator that can show us that a scoliosis is much more likely if you have an unstable base. The same thing can be for something going on with the, the pelvis or in your hips. So it would be things like hip dysplasia or if you have any sort of traumatic injury to your pelvis.So whether that's an accident or you know, something from birth or something that comes from a different type of condition. Anything with the legs, anything with the pelvis. It's actually responsible for almost half of the scoliosis cases that show up in that low to low back into the middle back because it shifts your pelvis and then your body tips to try to compensate from that.And over time it develops into a scoliosis. So if you have any sort of indication that that's something that's coming about, make sure that you have a proper assessment to make sure that your spine is developing, growing appropriately. And that's, you know, obviously for children when they're growing, but we can have those same types of injuries as adults if you have an accident and have a, a fracture in your leg or if you have a surgery or even sometimes I have seen adults, if they have a hip replacement or a knee replacement, sometimes that can affect the structure of your legs and your pelvis, and then over time, a scoliosis can develop even as an adult.So those are things that aren't talked about a whole lot, but are really important because I keep seeing it over and over in my clinic and people just aren't made aware of it.In addition... so a lot of times when I'm talking to people, they think that we work mostly with really significant or severe cases, so surgical cases or cases that need braces, and we actually see a really large, uh, group of adults.Well, not just adults, adults and children that have more mild cases. So if you aren't needing a brace, if it's not a surgical recommendation, oftentimes you're just told like, okay, you know, you're lucky counting your blessings, you're on your way. We don't need to do any of these interventions. Over time, even those mild cases can develop into a more significant, I don't wanna say problem, but a more significant, has more of a significant effect on your life. So maybe you're not having pain or a lot of symptoms and maybe it's not preventing you from doing the things that you want, but over time you might notice it more or you might notice how your clothes fit a little bit differently.A lot of women that come in will talk to me about how they look in a bathing suit because their rib cage might be shifted. They might feel like their posture's a little distorted or one shoulder's higher than the others. So more of an aesthetic effect. And those are a lot of things that we can pretty easily do an assessment and give some treatment recommendations and work through that. And they use that in conjunction to the things that they're already doing.So, most of these people are already doing, you know, whether it's chiropractic care or maybe they'

This week we are talking about Braces and school. So as we get ready to go back to school in the next couple of weeks here, one thing that we talk a lot about in our office is we have new classes, we have new teachers. We sometimes have new schools if we're going from middle school to high school or elementary school to middle school.And so what does that look like and how do we need to approach that so that we are successful. Listen in to find out helpful tips and be sure to check out the links below for more information!   *****Resource Links You Need: Contact Dr. Mandy's office to learn how to work with her by calling (701) 223-8413 or email her at [email protected].  Free Online Screening Tool: https://app.scoliscreen.com/ Find out more about ScoliBalance® at https://scolicare.com/patients-scolibalance. Find out more about ScoliBrace® at https://scolibrace.com.    *****Transcript*****  Hi, I'm Dr. Mandy Dietz and you're listening to the Behind the Brace podcast. Each week I'll be sharing conversations and resources to help families and providers navigate the world of scoliosis. This is your place to find hope for a better solution so that you can live your best life.Welcome back. This week we are talking about Braces and school. So as we get ready to go back to school in the next couple of weeks here, one thing that we talk a lot about in our office is we have new classes, we have new teachers. We sometimes have new schools if we're going from middle school to high school or elementary school to middle school.And so what does that look like and how do we need to approach that so that we are successful? So one thing that I have noticed is of course the first week of school there's a little bit of leeway because we're trying to figure out class schedules. We're trying to figure out how our week goes, and especially for those kids that are in middle school or high school, we've got a whole new set of classes.Where's my locker? Or can I even fit my brace in my locker? Do I have a locker? Some of those schools do not even have lockers. So what do we do with our brace and how do we manage that? So the first week, we kinda give some leeway. Kids get to go to class, figure out their schedules, and then we come in and we talk about the struggles they might be having.Now, when I say struggles, it's mostly about trying to find a way to make the brace wear work with their classes and where they have to go in the school. Now, obviously if they're in elementary school, they are in the same class, they have the same teacher. It's actually pretty, it's actually easier because they're just there and they take it off if they go to gym class and they might take it off if they have a field trip or recess or, you know, something of that nature.Um, and then put it right back on. So, for an elementary, aged child, the best thing that you can do is make sure that you're talking to the school counselor and their teacher before they go to school, so that way they can have that discussion and kind of figure out how do we need to make this work throughout our day?And then that way they're not surprised. That's one of the biggest things I would recommend to you. If your child has one specific teacher all day long, make sure they know that ahead of time. Now, I will say a lot of families end up having, what's called it's 5 0 4 plan. And so basically it's just accommodations, meaning that the school knows that they have a scoliosis brace and they're wearing it to school, and they have specific accommodations for that so that they can be successful in wearing their brace.So that goes through all grades, whether you're elementary, middle school, or high school. So that's definitely an option. I've had some parents say that they're like, nah, we don't need one. You know, our school's small enough, the teachers are really good about it. Like, we don't need to do a 5 0 4 plan. And so I think that's where really you kind of get to choose if you are having trouble, in a specific class, teacher, school. That's where I would say it's time to reach out to the counselor. Talk about doing a 5 0 4 plan. That way it's written down, it's in writing. The school knows what you're, you know, working towards and everybody's on the same page so that you have accommodations to make sure that this brace wearing is successful.Because the last thing we wanna do is put in a ton of hard work at home. You know, wearing it overnight while you sleep. And then missing out on the entire day of school because there's not great communication with the school or the teachers or the staff. So that's an option to you. You don't have to use it.Just be aware that if you need it, that's something that your provider and the school can work together with you on. And my experience has been is that schools are really willing to work with you, but they can't help you if they don't know about it. So if you're struggling, you just need to be able to connect with the right people.So I would start with the counselor. If they aren't available or if they can't help you, if you're not getting anywhere there, you know, then go up into, whether that's the principal or somebody else in that area that can get you the information or at least connect you with the right person to get, the right people together to have the conversation and get it put into place.Now, when we're talking about middle school and we're talking about high school. These kids are a little bit more independent. They're going to different classes. They generally have gym, they've got lunch, they've got lockers. They're doing all of the things. I have found that they're a little bit more reluctant to talk to their teachers about it. Especially if you have a kid who doesn't really want anybody to know that they have scoliosis. And so we want them to be successful in wearing their brace if they need to be wearing it to school. Sometimes what that looks like is having a conversation again with either the counselor or maybe their home-based teacher.I guess depending on the size of your school, if you have a really like small community school, then obviously it will be easier for you because you'll already know all of these people. In bigger schools, that's where we have to really make sure that we're getting the communication to the right people because we don't always know all of the teachers. We don't always know who's going to be and which classes at what time. And we wanna reach out to the team so that they know what's going on.In high school, a similar thing as middle school, there's definitely the ability to have different accommodation plans and the one thing about the accommodation plan is a lot of the high schoolers will ask me, will everybody know if I have an accommodation plan?Will they know if I have a 5 0 4 plan? Because they don't want, a lot of times that attention. And so I really reassure them, it's something that the school has in writing so that everybody can come back to it. Everybody knows what the expectations are and so that way everybody has the same standards.So for example, if you're wearing your brace and you're sitting in class in a desk and your arms are starting to bother you, or a part of the brace is starting to push on, say like, your hip and you need to stand up and take a break. What I've heard from students is they're like, well, nobody, nobody else is standing up. I'm not gonna stand up in class. Like, my teacher won't let me stand up. And when I ask them, I say, well, does your teacher know that you have a brace? And they're like, well, no, my teacher doesn't know that. And so that's where that communication is important, because when they're coming back into my office and we're talking about the fact that, Hey, we we're not getting enough time in your brace, and then they're saying that they have to take it off during certain classes.They really wouldn't have to take it off for that class if the teacher or the staff in that class knew what was going on, they would be allowed to very quietly stand up, maybe go down the hall, get a drink of water, get some movement, come back in and sit down. Not being disruptive, but they wouldn't even necessarily have to be like a big conversation about it. They would just know that and know that if they stand up and do that, that it's because they need a break from their brace for a couple of minutes. So that's where I'm really encouraging families to reach out to the school ahead of time and to reach out to the teachers ahead of time, because I've seen situations where brace wear is fantastic in every other scenario, but then we look at our wear time monitors and they're supposed to be in it full time and they're only hitting maybe 13, 14 hours in the day. And when we talk through it, the times that we're missing are in certain classes because of either the. Seating options or, because they're afraid that they won't be able to, uh, move in a certain way or they'll say, oh, I have to pick something up.I don't want them to know that I have this situation going on. And, it's really unfortunate because it affects the success of the care that we're providing and it creates stress for the student. So even though they think they're avoiding a stressful situation by not talking about it, it's actually creating more stress because now every single day it's coming up over and over again.Where if we have that one conversation at the beginning, it might be stressful in that moment, but then it's planned out for them so they don't have to have that recurring stress every day about this battle in their head about, do I wear the brace? Do I not wear the brace? What if we do this today? Or what if I do this today?And so that's, that's huge, especially for our older students and especially if they're driving. I found that if students are driving themselves to school, they're putting on their brace, they're going to class, they're really self-su

We are finishing up some of our episodes after Scoliosis Awareness Month and right before we go back to school this fall. And one of the things that we really wanna talk about is the emotional component of a scoliosis diagnosis. Listen in to learn more and be sure to check out the links below for more information!   *****Resource Links You Need: Contact Dr. Mandy's office to learn how to work with her by calling (701) 223-8413 or email her at [email protected].  Free Online Screening Tool: https://app.scoliscreen.com/ Find out more about ScoliBalance® at https://scolicare.com/patients-scolibalance. Find out more about ScoliBrace® at https://scolibrace.com.    *****Transcript***** We are finishing up some of our episodes after Scoliosis Awareness Month and right before we go back to school this fall. And one of the things that we really wanna talk about is the emotional component of a scoliosis diagnosis. And it's easy to be focused on the physical part, the diagnosis part, looking at the x-rays, looking at the spine, talking about whether you need a brace or not need a brace or surgery might be a conversation that comes up. There's typically a lot of conversations in those initial weeks following a diagnosis, and if you are having that diagnosis and that conversation with your teenager or with your child, to be aware that there's also a very big emotional piece to that, that they're not going to be able to probably tell you about or even recognize that they need support in that space. And I see that a lot with the patients that we work with and I really, really am passionate about the fact that we need to talk about it a little bit more.Because as adults, we get caught up in the diagnosis and the what do we do next phase of that diagnosis.And that's the focus, right? Because a scoliosis diagnosis can be a little overwhelming. There's a lot of information, especially if you weren't expecting it or if you are not familiar with scoliosis, if this is something new to the conversations that you've had , it's just easy to focus on that piece of it because we have to figure out a plan.I also want everyone to know that in the midst of that, we also have to have a plan for the emotional and mental health of the patient, whether that's, maybe that's yourself or maybe that's a child that you are working with as well.So, what does that look like? How do we get emotional and mental support surrounding the diagnosis?Obviously everybody's needs are different and people handle things differently. I can say across the board, kids don't have the tools or the skills to be able to process those emotions and to be able to work that out with themselves. So finding the right support is going to be extremely helpful, not just for you and your family, but also for the providers that are working with you as well.And what I mean by that is in a lot of scenarios, if a child isn't handling the news well, if they're not feeling like they can talk about it or maybe they don't know how to talk about it, there's a lot of big feelings that come with that, especially if we're talking about surgery or a brace. Oftentimes they don't even know or understand, or they can't put a word to what they're feeling or how to even explain it to somebody.And so, if they're caught up in that and we're coming to appointments and we're trying to get them into a brace full-time and possibly doing, , rehab appointments where they're coming in more frequently. If they're not able to process those emotions, we can't be as productive in those appointments and we can't be as productive in wearing the brace because every time they're trying to put the brace on, or every time they're trying to do the things that they need to do at home, those emotions come up and can be the focus and they can really inhibit their success as far as going through treatment.So when we're talking about that piece of it, it's about, you know, identifying if and when your child needs support, and then where do we find that support? So that can look different for a lot of different people.What we recommend is you start somewhere where they might be comfortable, and that's for yourself as well. So if you're an adult listening to this and you feel like that emotional or that mental support hasn't been there in your life across the board from either from the, when the diagnosis initially happened or after a surgery or any of those scenarios, you start with some place that is reasonable.So for a teenager it might be maybe a school counselor, or maybe it's somebody at their church, whether it's a pastor or maybe it's, , a friend at their church or someplace that they can have those conversations and feel comfortable talking about those. Now those are obviously, you know, pretty easy supports where it's very general.Sometimes we run into instances in which we need more support. And then there's counselors that are available that are really skilled in working with teenagers, adults, across all sorts of different scenarios and helping them be able to process and work through some of those emotions. And really what I found is when kids can work through that and they can actually, be able to communicate about what they're feeling and maybe put some words to what they're feeling with some help from a counselor, then when they come in to do the appointments that they need to do, whether that's for a brace or that's for rehab, or anything else that we're doing, they're really able to focus and be more productive because they don't have all the background noise going on.And so oftentimes it can be unavoidable, right?If we get new news or if it's something new that we're working on. But I have seen people over 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, really not have the support that they need and not be able to move forward in their care because that emotional piece just wasn't connected and they didn't have the support that they needed.So I really encourage families talk about it openly. Have that conversation. Ask them how they're doing and you'll know too, like, you know, how your kid normally acts if either seeming like they're withdrawn or they're quiet and maybe they're not interacting as much. Or, talking to the providers that are working with them as well, if they're noticing that they're withdrawn or maybe not engaging in conversation or not able to participate in parts of their care. Those are all really big red flags that they just need some extra support, and it can be a lot of different options. Now, obviously it's easiest if you have a counselor that you can find and you can get them in, and they have that like outside person that they can have conversations with and that they can utilize throughout their care. That's a fantastic resource. If you don't have that availability, there are other places, whether that's at school, a school counselor , a church, um, something like that. Just some place that they can get that support.And the other piece to that isn't necessarily as prevalent where we're from because we live in a really rural area. But there are some online support groups. I always caution people, there's two sides to support groups, right? The online forums that you can find, whether it's on Facebook or Instagram, social media, different things like that is obviously when you join a group, you don't exactly know the background of that group or who's running the group, and so you wanna make sure that you find those resources and that they actually fit your needs. If you jump into a scoliosis support group online and every post is about super scary, horrific outcomes of people's stories, that's not going to be a benefit to you necessarily as far as giving you the resources that you need, it might actually just increase your anxiety and make you worry more.So I really am an advocate for good resources and support groups. Be careful as you're digging through social media options and things like that, that you're finding things that are encouraging and good for you. And obviously there are some scary parts to a scoliosis diagnosis, especially if it's significant.So we don't wanna be naive and we don't want to only focus on things that have fantastic outcomes, right? We wanna know. The other side of the coin as well. And sometimes that does include some negative things or maybe outcomes that aren't the best. But it shouldn't be the focus because we wanna find ways to get some solid ground on the new information that you have so that you can move forward in positive ways and to focus on the things that you can control. And then really just gather information as you go through that from trusted providers. So there's a couple of online groups that we have available and I'll link those underneath, um, the episode so that you can find those.And if you would like to join those, you can go into them. See if it's something that works for you.The other thing that you can do too is, sometimes depending on where you're located, there might be local events where, whether it's more for like teenagers or sometimes even parents of teenagers that have scoliosis. There can be some meetups in some groups where you can meet other families that are dealing with some of the same things. So you can look for those resources as well. Sometimes in especially bigger cities, you might find some groups that have those accessible to you where you can actually go do something fun, like maybe go bowling, um, and then catch up and get to know people that are walking that same path as you.And so as far as making those connections to the resources that you need, there's lots of options, locally we've got some really great counselors that have been, instrumental in the care of some of our patients to be able to really help them get to a place where they've been able to process through some of the big emotions so they could make better decisions about their care, and it's just been fantastic to see.So if you

This week we are talking about post surgical options and really specifically, how can we take care of ourselves after we have scoliosis surgery. So this can be related to any age really, whether you are younger just coming out of a surgery or whether you've had surgery 30 or 40 years ago. Listen in to learn more and be sure to check out the links below for more information!   *****Resource Links You Need: Contact Dr. Mandy's office to learn how to work with her by calling (701) 223-8413 or email her at [email protected].  Free Online Screening Tool: https://app.scoliscreen.com/ Find out more about ScoliBalance® at https://scolicare.com/patients-scolibalance. Find out more about ScoliBrace® at https://scolibrace.com.    *****Transcript*****Welcome back. This week we are talking about post surgical options and really specifically, how can we take care of ourselves after we have scoliosis surgery. So this can be related to any age really, whether you are younger just coming out of a surgery or whether you've had surgery 30 or 40 years ago.We see a lot of different types of patients come through our office that have lots of different experiences. And one of the things that is a common theme is. That we've had a surgery and there's follow-up at least probably, you know, for the first one, two, maybe three years, depending on the surgeon or when the surgery was done.I'm finding that right now kids that are having surgery are having a little bit longer of follow-up than they used to 40 years ago. And then what happens after that? Because at some point in time the surgeon will assess you and, you know, either deem the surgery successful or, uh, give recommendations for additional care and then discharge you from their care.So what do you do after that? I have seen lots of different experiences with surgery overall, for the most part. The kids that have had surgery that we've worked with, whether preparing them for surgery, and then seeing them after surgery have had relatively successful results from their surgery when we couldn't avoid that surgery.And a lot of them are still active, they're still doing sports. And that's probably the biggest question. And now I will say I am not a surgeon, so the things that I'm sharing with you are experiences clinically and just from conversations I've had with. Parents and families and patients that we've worked with.Just for some information to first let you know that sometimes surgery really is the better option, and I say that from a place of, you know, obviously really trying to diagnose early, give the appropriate care and recommendations as early as we can so that we can get ahead of it and prevent surgery at all costs.Because surgery is obviously a big decision, it's a big procedure. There are risks with that and you know, can have different health, implications with that. And so of course that's not. Necessarily something that is just chosen flippantly. It's something that we have to come to a decision at some point if a scoliosis has progressed to the point where it's not safe to not have surgery.And I don't think that that's talked about really enough, at least. From my experience of the population that I've been working with, and maybe that's just here in the state of North Dakota because we're more rural and maybe the awareness, isn't quite there. But I find when I talk to other providers, that's also somewhat of a common theme.So we're not on one side or the other necessarily. You know, not all surgeries. Are preventable , sometimes we end up with curves that are really highly progressive and the danger of not having surgery when you need a surgery is that as you get older, your scoliosis continues to progress. And then a lot of those adults that I'm now seeing that didn't have the surgery, that maybe they weren't recommended to have surgery, but it's progressed now into their adult life.They're really struggling with some things because it continues to progress and can become unstable. Now I know everybody has probably had some type of a story where they know somebody who's had a surgery and then maybe have had some complications afterwards or some undesirable results afterwards, things like that.And so there's both sides of this, and it's really not black and white. There's a lot of gray area. There's medically very, uh, specific guidelines for when surgery is necessary and what the research says. Um, but it's really about what's best for you and your family. And so I wanted to talk about that too because I think that there's a lot of, fear surrounding those decisions.And we wanna know that , you know, we're making the right decisions. So, once we've come to that conclusion that a surgery is necessary and you've had the surgery, now what? Now what can we do to help keep ourselves healthy? And of course, normal health habits are super important. I love that some of the surgeons that have worked with our families and patients are talking about that with them now about, you know, how do you make healthy choices and your foods, um, getting good sleep, staying active, getting exercise that's appropriate for you.Making sure that you are taking care of your body in ways that are really helpful for anyone. Not just if you have a surgery, but even more important if you have had a surgery or some type of procedure that, um, has put your body in a position where it needs some healing and it needs some strengthening.So all of those general habits are really, really important. So focus on those for sure. If you haven't been doing those, definitely start with that. From a physical perspective, some of the things that I can see...when I'm working with patients is post-surgery. Obviously there's some loss of flexibility. If your spine is now fused or if you've even had a tether in through there, it changes how your body works to some extent. And so the examples that I have for you today, most of those patients have had rods and they've had them in the last few years so it's either like a younger population that are coming back from that, or patients that are now in their forties or fifties that had surgery when they were young, uh, adolescents. And so, flexibility, stiffness, pain, some of the normal daily activities, you know, up going up and down stairs, picking up things, carrying things, stuff like that.And so one of the things that we've been able to implement in our office that I think is really important to talk about is our Scully balance Rehab programs that we use. For patients across the board, we've been able to implement those for patients that have had surgery. And what we've noticed is, you know, first and foremost, they've gained strength.They've been able to increase their flexibility, their normal day-to-day things that they were struggling with have gotten better over time. And so that's really been helpful. Now the question is once you have surgery, what types of things are safe for you to do and your surgeon will guide you with that.So some of those questions where it's like, can I still play volleyball? Can I still play basketball? Can I still dance? That's going to be specific to you, your diagnosis, the surgery that was done, the outcome of your surgery, and really, uh, focus in on the recommendations of the care team that you saw and what they've recommended for you as you move forward.As far as the rehab programs that we have to offer, those are tailored very specifically to your needs. So you are not going to have the same rehabilitation program that the next patient would, or that a patient who hadn't had surgery would have. And those are assessed off of x-rays and evaluations and an exam that gives us very specific details about how your body's functioning, how your body's working, what are you having trouble with, if you're having trouble with anything. And I say that because you don't have to be having trouble with something to want to try to get stronger and to be able to build your health and help your body heal and, um, get strong after a big procedure like that.So, that being said, we make it specific to what your goals are. So if, for example, you are having pain and if that's your goal, we work on that based off of our findings and we help implement that for you both in the office with us and then also at home to go through your day-to-day. Say if you are coming back from a surgery as a high school student and you're an athlete, if your goal is to.Get back to a sport that you love, then that would be coordinated in your plan. How do we make this as specific for you as possible so that we can get you healthy and strong and back to doing the things that you love to do, and hopefully not having any pain or any, uh, restrictions as far as you know, what your body's able to do just from a movement perspective of how you feel during the day. So that's the goal with the rehabilitation programs that we have to offer. They've been really powerful for patients across the board.Young patients post-surgery, older patients post-surgery and then also even, you know, in that like 25 to 45 range when we are still, whether we're young parents or we're, you know, active adults.We've been working with patients in that sense as well, where you don't have to be necessarily working specifically to. Like a sport or necessarily working specifically to, um, address pain or a symptom, but you just wanna be healthy and strong. And so those goals are different for everybody. And, tailored specific to you. So this is, uh, an option and a program that I really am hoping reaches the right people because I am finding more and more through even parents bringing their kids in for scoliosis, checks or scoliosis treatment. Finding that now as an adult, they haven't had any care for their scoliosis for 20, 30 years perhaps and may have some challenges that they want to work through, but they're just not aware that there's anything there for them. Or maybe the

In this episode, Dr. Mandy discusses: WHO is affected by scoliosis? WHEN you may have to make changes to sports activities. HOW a brace affects summer family vacations (and when it might be needed).  Listen in to learn more and be sure to check out the links below for more information!   *****Resource Links You Need: Contact Dr. Mandy's office to learn how to work with her by calling (701) 223-8413 or email her at [email protected].  Free Online Screening Tool: https://app.scoliscreen.com/ Find out more about ScoliBalance® at https://scolicare.com/patients-scolibalance. Find out more about ScoliBrace® at https://scolibrace.com.    *****Transcript*****  Hi, I'm Dr. Mandy Dietz and you're listening to the Behind the Brace podcast. Each week I'll be sharing conversations and resources to help families and providers navigate the world of scoliosis. This is your place to find hope for a better solution so that you can live your best life.Welcome back. This week we are talking about how a scoliosis diagnosis can affect your child's day-to-day life. The last few episodes we've been talking about scoliosis, how we detect scoliosis, who's at risk, and treatment options regarding bracing and different things like that. So today I wanna talk a little bit about what it means moving forward after a diagnosis.A lot of patients that we see are extremely active when you're younger. Obviously it's playing, maybe it's recess or, recreational sports, things like that. We have some patients also that are really competitive athletes, so whether that's dance or wrestling, football, lifting, lots of different, uh, activities, softball, gymnastics.The list goes on.Swimming also is a really big one where, a lot of the swimmers that we see definitely, have some questions about that and how that might affect their sport or how they move forward with that. So we'll talk about that today as well.First I just wanna kind of go back and talk about, you know, who's typically affected by this.So kids between the ages of 10 and 14 are really at the highest risk of progression because that's when they're growing the fastest. Five percent of the adolescent population is affected by scoliosis, and so we wanna make sure that we are aware of that, and we're looking at our health and our kids and making sure that we have ways to check their spines because they're not typically doing it in schools anymore.And so sports physicals are a big part of that. And if you've got an athlete, you know that every year you're doing a sports physical. So make sure that you are asking those questions when you're in the physical, if they're not bringing that up on their own.So once you have a diagnosis, typically speaking, you don't have to change a whole lot as far as activity unless you have something else going on.And so an example of that might be if you're an athlete and you're having pain, then that tells us that there's something going on in your body. And so there's two different sides of how we treat scoliosis. There's more of a functional piece of that, and then there's a structural piece of that. So, the structural piece is what's shown on x-ray, whether or not you need a brace, whether or not we might be doing rehab, things like that as far as how do we get your curve stable, first of all, and then can we gain correction in that curve.The other piece of that is the functional piece, so that would be pain, stiffness, trouble sleeping, trouble doing certain activities, um, things of that nature. I would say a large portion of the people that I see at least come in and they may not have glaring symptoms. So it's not always that we'll have a 13 or 14-year-old come into the office and they're having, you know, massive headaches or extreme low back pain or, really big symptoms like that.Most of the time they actually tell me that they don't notice anything. If I say, "do you have pain anywhere? Are you noticing anything? Has anything changed?" They usually say like, "Nope, nope, we haven't experienced that."Now that doesn't mean that it doesn't happen, but I really want to, you know, show that just because you have a scoliosis doesn't mean that you're going to have extreme pain.And the level of the pain that you have doesn't always necessarily tell us the severity of the scoliosis. So somebody with no symptoms could have a really significant curve and somebody that has really extreme symptoms could have a lower curve, but just isn't adapting to that well. So that's why for sure, regardless of symptoms and regardless of if you're noticing things like that from a functional side, you wanna make sure that you've got really good evaluations and you wanna make sure that you have x-rays.So, just a tip that I'm throwing out there for you, because a lot of people think that pain and severity go hand in hand and they really don't. I have noticed that, you know, over the time that we've worked with patients is that you really can't link those things together. I've had some really severe scoliosis cases and they don't have symptoms at all.So depending on the sport that they have, and depending on the level of the sport that they have, will guide your provider in how you may need to change or alter some of their activities. So for example, if you have, uh, a wrestler or a football player, and if he has a kyphosis and the spine is coming forward on itself, normal activities can be day-to-day things, um, even still playing the sport. But what might change is, at least in my experience, the lifting piece of that. So a lot of the wrestlers and a lot of the football players and really any athlete in high school these days are doing some sort of lifting and strengthening program, at least most of the high school athletes that we work with.So some of that piece might change. Like you're not going to load the top of your spine with 150 pounds to do back squats if you have an issue in your spine. That doesn't mean that you can't strengthen those muscles. We just have really in depth conversations with their trainers or with the student or the athlete who's, who's doing the lifting, and we find different ways that they can strengthen without loading their spine.And that's really one of the biggest things that I've seen lately is the lifting piece of the higher level sports. Um, even up into college because they want that strength so that we can prevent injuries and they can be faster and they can be stronger. But we need to be conscious of whether it's a scoliosis or a kyphosis, how they're using their bodies and, and making sure that they're not doing a ton of work in the office, whether that's with a brace or with rehab.And then going into the gym and compromising their spine, and not getting anywhere because that's frustrating for everyone. As far as the rest of the activities, so summertime activities, going to the lake, going to the pool, being outside, playing volleyball, any of those sports, most of the time kids can continue to do those sports.I would say most kids are not practicing something multiple days a week, multiple hours at a time. The only time I've come into that, um, where it's maybe become a topic of conversation is if somebody's, for example, doing dance and they're dancing every single day and they're extremely competitive and they're dancing for anywhere from three to five hours every single day.If they have a significant curve and that's impacting or affecting their ability to complete their treatment, or if it's affecting how their body's responding to treatment, then sometimes that might become a conversation. But those are in more extreme and rare cases. So generally speaking, as long as your child isn't experiencing pain or extreme symptoms, we can find a way to manage the treatment that they need for their scoliosis and still be able to participate in all of the activities that they would normally participate in.Regarding family time, it's the same scenario. I know especially when kids get braces, the first question is, you know, we have a lake house, or we like to go out on the river in the summertime and so it does become tricky because if you're in a bathing suit and they don't wanna wear their brace, if they would have a brace all day long, we have to figure out where the balance is for that. So obviously, if you're supposed to be wearing a brace full time we can't have a child out of their brace every single day in the summer for 12 to 14 hours a day.But we can compromise. So if they're wearing their brace, compliantly and for the amount of time they're supposed to be, and you're going on a family trip for five days, then that's where we make some of those concessions where we'll say, "okay your average wear time is really good during these periods of time, and so over this trip we'll have you wear it at night and for as much of the day as possible, outside of doing your, you know, family activities, whatever that might be on their trip."And they're able to do that because they're being really compliant on the front side and the backside of those types of events.So there's ways to work around family activities, sports, recreational activities, you just really have to be intentional because time really does slip away, and especially when school is in session. If you're in school and your child's supposed to be wearing a brace, but they take it off for gym and then they have lunch, so they just decide not to put it on for lunch.And then they have band, and then they decide not to put it on for the last hour of the day, but then they have track, and then they get home and they shower, and they don't get it back on until nine, 10 o'clock at night. You've now missed an entire portion of that day without even realizing it. So those times in between the activities are really crucial if you're in a brace to make sure that you're getting your wear time.So that might look like you take the brace off for gym, you put it right back

In this episode, Dr. Mandy gives an inside look on the new approaches she offers at her clinic for advanced bracing for scoliosis patients. Listen in to learn more and be sure to check out the links below for more information!   *****Resource Links You Need: Contact Dr. Mandy's office to learn how to work with her by calling (701) 223-8413 or email her at [email protected].  Free Online Screening Tool: https://app.scoliscreen.com/ Find out more about ScoliBalance® at https://scolicare.com/patients-scolibalance. Find out more about ScoliBrace® at https://scolibrace.com.    *****Transcript*****   Welcome back. Today we are talking about some advanced bracing options that we have in our office. As most of you know, we have been talking about ScoliBrace® since we started using it over 10 years ago, and   ScoliBrace® is a hard brace that we use in our office. It's specifically made for each patient.Um, we have a lot of tools and resources that we have to offer that aren't available at other places. And so I just wanna share a little bit, uh, today about what we've been doing the last couple of years specifically, um, and how we use ScoliBrace® um, how we've changed some of the approaches, um, to utilizing this type of brace when it's appropriate and things like that. Um, so if you've listened to any of our previous episodes, uh, you know that bracing is something that we use when it's appropriate, and it's really important to have the right. Recommendations at the right time and that we look at the whole picture.Um, there's sometimes a small window in a scoliosis case, um, especially with adolescents. So if your child is between the ages of, you know, 10 and 14 and they have a scoliosis, um, sometimes there can be a short window that we really need to jump on the opportunity to be able to take care of that in a timely manner.So we're gonna talk about that just a little bit. Um, but first I just wanna reintroduce you to the ScoliBrace® . So I started using ScoliBrace® over 10 years ago at this point. Um, I had looked into different types of braces. There's a lot of different options. If you go onto Google and type in scoliosis, braces, you're gonna see a lot pop up.What I really like about the ScoliBrace® is that there's research behind it. Uh, there's a team of people that have been utilizing this, working with this, uh, clinically with patients and. It provides correction for scoliosis. So it's a, an actual 3D over corrective brace. So when we fit you for this brace, we're using um, a 3D image.So we have the patient stand and we create this 3D image. Um, and it's. It's almost like if you are familiar with 3D printing, I'm sure almost everybody has heard of 3D printing at this point in time. Um, where you can put stuff into a computer and it prints something. Right. Um, so similar to that, the technology obviously is, is way more involved.Um, but so you can kind of understand what that looks like. We're not using plaster, we're not, um, simply just taking, uh, measurements of your spine. It's an actual 3D image. Um, and we use posture, uh, photos and we also use very specific measurements during our exam as well as your x-rays, uh, so that we can get a brace that's made specifically for you that's over corrective, that can stop progression and provide correction in the appropriate cases.Um, so we utilize that the most, I would say. With kids, especially if we're worried about progression and we're wanting to be proactive and get correction. However, we use this brace in a lot of other, um, places as well. So when I first started doing this, we didn't work with a whole lot of adults with bracing, and as I started to continue to do this type of work, we started to realize that there's a lot of adults that.Didn't have care, didn't have access to care, or maybe they had care and then their scoliosis continued to progress. And so we started utilizing this brace for adults. Um, as I continue to practice and the goals are a little bit different, but we've seen really great results, um, in adult populations as well, um, as the adolescent populations.And I wanna talk a little bit about the different types of braces. Um, the reason is, is because over the last few years I've done a lot of additional training, um, advanced brace training. Really learning how, you know, the brace that we're using isn't necessarily different, but it's the application of the brace.It's how we implement it, it's what types of cases we use it in. And really being able to learn from the ScoliCare team and the ScoliBrace®, um, clinicians and having them kind of pour into us and share their resources so that we can better use the brace, um, that we have available to us. And so it's really changed how we've.Been able to implement it in different scenarios for different people. So one of the things is, is that this is really a custom brace. If, if you're getting a brace, um, depending on where it's from, and this is where, you know, it's hard because if you go to, say. A facility at one hospital versus another hospital.Um, different brace, uh, providers build their braces a little bit differently. Um, there's a lot of different kinds and, and not that it's necessarily bad, it is just to say that, um, if you're at a different place with a different provider in different scenarios, the same patient might get a different brace where.Everything from ScoliBrace® is standardized, meaning that it goes to the same team, the same team builds it, and so it's reproducible, you know, it's not going to vary one day versus the other because they have the same team and the same facility and the same people working on it, um, so that it is reproducible so that it is, um, implemented in the same fashion with the same technology.Uh, with the same expertise every single time. And then when the brace comes to us as providers, we're able to take the knowledge that they give us and to be able to. Utilize that brace in different ways, depending on what our goals are. So sometimes that goal might be when you're young, preventing progression and preventing surgery.Um, sometimes that that goal might be delaying surgery safely. Um, making sure that we don't get progression. But instead of doing surgery at say, 10 or 11, you know, pushing that out to allow a child to grow so that they can have that surgery at 15 or 16. And we work with the surgical team on that as well.Um, sometimes that goal might be as an adult, um, creating stabilization. So say you're an adult that has, we'll just say, you know, a scoliosis from when you were a kid that maybe has degeneration and instability, um, things like that. But you're not a candidate for surgery. Or you don't want to have that surgery.Oftentimes the brace can provide that stability so that you can enjoy a better quality of life that you can, you know, move forward with hopefully, um, less pain and that we can prevent progression as you age. So that's a different type of goal as well. Um, so not only are these braces made for scoliosis and different types of scoliosis, but these braces.Are also made for kyphosis. It's also made for, um, degenerative spines. There are specific braces that we make differently. If you have a really high curve, like up in your upper back or your low neck, um, those braces are gonna look different than say. A brace. If somebody's got a really low back curve, um, the kyphosis braces are gonna look a little bit different.And that's really the beauty of it. You know, there's a different type of brace for different types of spinal conditions, so. The technology comes from the same foundation, but the braces are made very individually and it's tailored to you. And I can honestly say, you know, the patients that come in, we don't have the same brace twice.You know, we're not, we're not providing the same brace every time you come in just because they've grown. Um, even a patient that say has an initial brace and they've outgrown. That brace and they need a new one. When that next brace is made, it's made off of new 3D scans, new x-rays, and it's over corrective in the way that their spine is in that moment, um, to help them get the best correction.So I. It's really been interesting to see over the last 10 years how bracing has impacted different patients, what we've been able to do with those braces and even noticing and being able to identify like, where do we need to be in this window of time so that it can best benefit our patient, um, and learning more about it as we go.Uh, there's uh, a whole finesse to working with adult scoliosis patients because the technology that we had 20, 30, 40 years ago. Was not like it is now. And so the options that we have available to us are really, um, expanded. They, we have way more resources, way more ability to, um, help you address that and to be able to really give you your options, um, whether that might be.A brace, whether that might be, uh, part of rehabilitation program or oftentimes, I would say most often now that we have it available, um, patients are doing both, uh, a rehabilitation program along with the brace. Um, and that has really helped as well. Uh, one of the things that I realized I didn't mention in our last episode when we talked about ScoliBalance® is, um, we use the rehabilitation program to aid in our brace wear.So essentially what that means is. You know, as you can imagine, um, just like if you put braces on your teeth, when we have a brace that we need to get into for our back when we first put it on, our body's not used to that. And so there's, uh, a wearing period where, um, we have like a 30 day protocol to get into your brace full-time.And the ScoliBalance® program is really helpful for that because we start the program before the brace gets here so that your spine's more flexible. That, um, you're already knowing some of your corrections, so then when the brace comes and you put it on, it's not such a drasti

In this episode, Dr. Mandy kicks off Scoliosis Awareness Month by sharing some early detection tips & tricks for parents, along with summertime things to consider. Listen in to learn more and be sure to check out the links below for more information!   *****Resource Links You Need: Free Online Screening Tool: https://app.scoliscreen.com/ Find out more about ScoliBalance® at https://scolicare.com/patients-scolibalance. Find out more about ScoliBrace® at https://scolibrace.com.    *****Transcript*****  Welcome back everybody. We are talking about Scoliosis Awareness Month today. So the month of June is Scoliosis Awareness and not very many people pay attention to it. But it's something that's really important to us because there's really just not a whole lot of awareness surrounding scoliosis, kyphosis, um, different spinal diagnosis, especially in our elementary schools and middle schools.You know, really where we need those places to be looking for that. Um, if you remember, they used to do school checks all of the time, at least back when I was in school, they used to do those checks. And a lot of schools, I should say, most schools are not doing those like they used to. Um, they're relying really heavily on sports physicals and they're also relying really heavily on our, um, pediatricians well checks to be able to catch scoliosis.And I find that oftentimes those can really be easily missed, especially if. We're in a hurry or we're not really sure what to look for, or even just depending on the provider that you're seeing. Um, so today I really wanna talk to families about what can you do to ensure that you are paying attention, um, and that you are watching for things that you need to look for at home.Then obviously what are you looking for in your providers as well? Because as parents we can do all the things. We see our kids every single day. It's super easy to miss some of these things. You know, we're not, you know, most of us are not medical professionals that know what to look for, uh, for scoliosis.And so even though it's not necessarily our job to make sure that we're figuring this out for our kids, there are some things that I can, uh, talk to you about today that's really going to be helpful. So one of the biggest things is, is that, especially in North Dakota, right, it's freezing in the wintertime.So if your kids are like my kids, they are bundled up in hoodies and you don't really see them walking around very much. Um, my teenagers hang out in their bedrooms a lot, so if I see them, they might be passing through the kitchen or hanging out on the couch and you know, it's not something that I notice every single day.In the summertime, it's a great opportunity to kind of. Work with your kids a little bit because it's summertime, they're in tank tops, they're in swimsuits. It's a little bit nicer. They're out and about and a little bit more active because the weather is better. Um, and so this is honestly one of the times that, uh, I see parents say like, gosh, like I didn't notice this all winter, but you know, they put on their bathing suit and we went to the lake and all of a sudden I noticed this thing going on in their back.Um, so some of the things that you wanna look for. If you are just taking a peek at your kid, when they're standing in the kitchen making their snack, if you notice that their shoulders are unlevel, so one shoulder to the next, if one of 'em has a big drop or if one is rolling forward, that would be an indication that you probably need to look into that a little bit further.Um, the other thing that you look at is if you're constantly telling them, I mean, sometimes we're telling our kids to sit up straight, right? We're like, stop slouching, sit up straight. If they have a really difficult time, if they just cannot sit up straight or if their head is too far forward from their body.And if you tell 'em, you know, to like stand up straight, stand up straight, if that's something that's happening, it's highly likely that there's something else going on and that you just wanna make sure that a provider's able to look at that for you. Um, so if you're noticing things like that, sometimes the kids will tell me that like their shirt top will, um.Slide off one of their shoulders or their bra strap will slide off one of their shoulders, or, um, their hips will be a little bit uneven. I have a lot of people, uh, that have said they've been having like a dress, um, altered for a pageant or some sort of thing, or a prom dress. The alterations were uneven and they noticed a big shift in their hips, and it was actually the person altering their gown that noticed their scoliosis because their alterations were different from side to side.Um, so if your clothes are wearing differently or something is uneven in through your hips, one of the hardest curves to identify is a low back curve, because sometimes the shoulders are level and you don't notice it, but their hips will be uneven or you'll see a big curve in their low back. And like any other kid, if you've got a 12-year-old or an 11-year-old.It's not likely that you're looking at their low back without a, a shirt on or some sort of clothing on unless it's summertime and you're at the lake. So, uh, those are some things to kind of think about. There's an online screening tool that we're going to link to this podcast where you can go to the site and you click on it.And you answer some questions. And as you get through those questions, it's going to guide you at, if you're at moderate risk or if you're at high risk, and whether or not you need to get your child checked, um, by a, a medical professional. And so we'll link that there. You can go on there, check it out. The other piece of this is, is that if you have a family history of scoliosis, it's highly likely that.You may experience, um, some type of scoliosis issue, um, with. Some of your children Now, it's not a hundred percent right. It's just one of those things that indicates to us like the risk factors are if mom, grandma, aunts, cousins, you know, every, if everybody has had scoliosis or if you've had multiple people in your family have scoliosis surgery, it is extremely important that you have your child.Checked by a professional that knows how to screen for scoliosis at an early age. Um, so between the ages of 10 to 14 is when scoliosis pops up. When it's the most progressive is typically onset of puberty. In through that first year, that 12 to 18 months, um, that's when you have the most progression. And so you really wanna be checking these kids, especially if you have a longstanding history in your family, um, even at age nine, you know, making sure you get these baseline evaluations.Um, and then the other piece of that is, is that making sure that at some point if you see a professional, whether it's uh, nurse practitioner or a pa or an MD, or. You know, myself or anybody, if there's any concern of scoliosis, it really does need to be evaluated with an x-ray. So having that conversation, I've had some people that have seen providers that maybe don't have as much, um, experience with scoliosis and they'll take a look, uh, posturally like from a physical exam, and, uh, they'll say, yeah, there's a little bit of a curve there.Uh, we'll check back in later. The problem is, is that what's actually going on on an x-ray and what can be going on, posturally can be. Different can be slightly different. So the presentation that you see on the outside isn't always a presentation that you would expect on the inside. And so X-ray is really the only and best way to evaluate spinal conditions to make sure that you're not missing something or that, um, there's not something that needs to be addressed early on.So part of the awareness is like sharing some information with the community and with you as parents, um, just so that you kind of know. What you might need to look for and just to be an advocate for either yourself or your child, um, in any of those situations. And if you get that, if you get that intuitive feeling that maybe something's not being addressed the way that it should be, get another opinion.Um, we do discovery calls all the time. It's a 10 to 15 minute call. We go through a case, we look at some x-rays and we just. Tell you if we feel like it needs further evaluation, we ask you some very specific questions, um, questions that, you know, we've been able to change over the years. You know, we've been doing this work for over a decade now.Um, and I will definitely say that the more you do this work just clinically that experience, the cases that you see, um, we're able to ask better questions so that we know specifically what we might need to look at in your case or your child's case. Um, so that's really important. And for that matter too, it is just knowing also like when is the appropriate intervention because you might not need the same, well, I should say, you won't need the same thing at different times in your journey.Right. Um, a child who is a. 10 years old with a really high curve is going to need something different at that time than say somebody who's 19 years old and um, has a lower curve. There's going to be a difference in our recommendations and so it's really important to know. Like what's appropriate at that time so that you get the right care.Um, so that we don't miss an opportunity really is, is the key. Um, and you always have, you always have the right to choose, you know, we make recommendations based off of the knowledge that we have, the research that's been done, the clinical care that we are a part of and, and the best practices, um, the evidence-based guidelines and practices that we have been able to use.Like those are the recommendations we. Give, um, but you are always able to choose. So just because we recommend something doesn't mean you have to do that thing. And we really do encourage, if you're not quite sure what you're

In this episode, Dr. Mandy talks about a physiotherapeutic scoliosis specific exercise (PSSE) program to treat scoliosis in children, adolescents and adults. It's a game-changing scoliosis program that she now offers at her practice. Listen in to learn more and be sure to check out the links below for more information!   *****Resource Links You Need: Find out more about ScoliBalance® at https://scolicare.com/patients-scolibalance. Find out more about ScoliBrace® at https://scolibrace.com.    *****Transcript***** Welcome back. Today I am going to share a little bit about a program. That has really been life changing for a lot of the patients that I work with. And so today we're talking about ScoliBalance®. In the last couple of years I've been able to take trainings and certifications and become advanced certified in this program.And this is what's called a PSSE. And so a lot of people will ask me, what does that mean? And so what that means is it's a physiotherapeutic scoliosis specific exercise program. And so that's different than, say, for example, just a normal rehab program or a program where somebody's working on say, core strength or, um, things like that.This is very specific to your diagnosis. It's specific to your x-rays and the prescription that's given to you. Uh, your specific program that's built is  done so off of your exam, your posture, your x-rays, and really the classification of your scoliosis or your kyphosis. Uh, so basically what that means...Those  are a lot of really big words. So some people look at me like I just turned on the fire hose. But essentially what that means is, is that it is specific to you. We work with what you have going on. We work with what you can do within your program, and we see you consistently throughout this program.So it's not just something that we give you a 10 page piece of paper and then say, come back and see us in three months. Um, this is a combination of things that we do in our clinic with you when you come and see us, and then also things that you do at home. So when you come in to see us... like, say you've never come to the clinic before.What that looks like is you come in, we do an exam, we take x-rays, we identify what's going on, and then we really figure out what's best for you. Sometimes that might mean that people have a brace and we're doing this, uh, rehabilitation program in conjunction with that. Sometimes you don't need a brace.And we're doing this, you know, on its own, along with some other things. Um, and then sometimes we have patients that have already had a surgery and we're doing this post-surgical. So whether that means they've had a surgery and. This is six or seven months down the road, or if they've had a surgery, and this is 20 years down the road, we worked with both types of patients.So obviously post-surgical, we wait until your surgeon has. You know, given clearance to be able to start some of these programs and things like that. So we work closely with your team. Um, if this is a recent thing, uh, ideally if it's something that we know someone's having surgery, we'll do these pre-surgical as well.And so there's a huge benefit to that where we can work with somebody before they have surgery. They have the surgery, they go through that process, and when the surgeon says it's safe to resume some of these things, then we pick up a post-surgical program as well. So there's lots of different options to this program and it really is tailored just for you.So one of the biggest things that I get asked is, who is this for and why would we want to use this? And there's a couple of goals that are most commonly, like the biggest things that families are looking for. So if you have a child that has scoliosis. This can prevent progression and we can actually get correction with this type of program.Sometimes that's alone with this program and sometimes it's along with the brace. Uh, it just depends on what you have going on. Um, but that's one of the biggest things, obviously, is to prevent progression. Get some correction and then also to be able to increase your strength, um, because we want people to be able to go about their normal day-to-day lives and be strong and not be having pain and symptoms and things like that.So, um, this, that comes into the second piece of this is that most of the patients that I work with that are a little bit older, anywhere from that range of. Early thirties even up into, you know, I, I have patients that are in their mid seventies that do this program. Their, their goals are different, but oftentimes it's because they've had a scoliosis and not really given any tools as they age.And so this helps with flexibility, it helps with strength, it helps to be able to have more movement. It helps patients be able to, um, do their normal daily activities, whether that's. Walking two miles or unloading the dishwasher or vacuuming their floor. Um, I've, I've seen this help in all of those respects.Um, one of the biggest things that, that I started to realize really early on when we implemented this is we were already doing scoliosis care with a lot of the patients in my office, and we were getting results, and we were getting improvement. But when we implemented this piece of it, the jump in their improvement was so drastic it couldn't have been attributed to anything else.It was actually surprising to me that some patients, in a very short period of time, like sometimes any, anywhere into that, like six to eight to 10 weeks. We're seeing really big results to the effect of being able to get up and off of the floor, um, independently without having to have help or use something where previously they would've had to have that help.Um, or being able to exercise more, being able to walk a little bit farther, being able to stand up straighter to have more strength. To not be as fatigued as they used to be. Um, just really like day in and day out, like normal life things that we saw huge changes in. Um, the other piece that really stood out to me is we had a lot of patients that at whatever point in their care, ended up needing surgery.And so then post-surgical, what do we do with those patients? It's very common that these patients don't have. A lot of follow up in the sense of like, normal day-to-day life or, um, even pain. So typically they just kind of go on about life unless they're having a lot of problems. Um, and it's been really encouraging to see the difference, even if post-surgical, if they're not having, you know, per se problems or excruciating pain.We've still seen improvement in their day-to-day life by adding in these programs. And sometimes things that they didn't even notice were a problem until we started working with them. They're like, oh, hey, I can tie my shoes easier or I can pick things up more easily. Um, I have more flexibility, you know, I can, I can do these things differently.I can turn around, you know, like turn my head in my car differently. You know, their bodies just work a little bit differently. So, um, that's what it's really exciting for me. Is having done this for quite a while, I can see how patients responded with the tools that I had, and then when I was able to implement this tool along with the other tools that we have, it was just such a drastic difference that it's something that I'm just really encouraging, uh, people to explore and to look at and to see, you know, is it, is this right for you?Because. It doesn't really matter necessarily what you have going on. There's something within this program that we can give you. And you know, obviously if you're an elite athlete, your program's gonna look different than if you are 65 with a degenerative spine or a lot of pain, right? Like those programs are going to be different.And that's the beauty in it, is that we can really, um, perfect it to what you need and your situation and your specific. Um, diagnosis and what your x-rays look like. And we take into account, you know, what do you want to be able to do? What are the things that are important to you? What are your goals? So sometimes it might be that they wanna be able to garden in the summer and not have pain, or like athletes wanna be able to.Uh, pitch, or they want to be able to play tennis and not have pain when they do that. So to be able to improve their game. Um, so we take that into account and then we really work with you to be able to achieve that. Now as a provider, so if you're a provider in our community, and you know, I've shared a little bit about it, but if you're still wondering like, okay, what, but what is that or what specifically, how does that work with, um.What we do in our office, what we've been able to do is coordinate with other providers in our community or other providers in other states even, because we get a lot of patients that come from a really long way away. Um, and so our piece in it is that we evaluate the scoliosis, the kyphosis, whatever spinal issue might be going on, and we determine what would be the most appropriate.Treatment recommendations for that patient. And so we really focus and, um, isolate in that arena. And then we coordinate with whatever you might be doing in your office. So if you're a chiropractor in town, you still provide the chiropractic care to that patient, and there might be some suggestions just depending on what they have going on that we might give you.But you, you focus on that piece. And then we really take care of the scoliosis piece and we just coordinate together if need be. Um, same thing if you are a physical therapist. Uh, we might be doing some things that might be a little bit similar, but the specific program that's the rehabilitation program is very much different than what would be done in a typical PT office.Um, just because of the different types of training and what we're looking into. So we do coordinate quite often with other physical therapists in town, and then w

Since our last episode a few years ago, Dr. Mandy has been busy with exciting new certifications and trainings in the scoliosis world! Listen in to find out more, and be sure to check out the links below for more resources. *****Resource Links You Need: Find out more about ScoliBalance® at https://scolicare.com/patients-scolibalance. Find out more about ScoliBrace® at https://scolibrace.com.  

pThanks for listening to the Behind the Brace Podcast with Dr. Mandy Dietz! We are taking a scheduled podcast break for a few months to enjoy the end of year Holiday Season. Be sure to connect with Dr. Mandy and the Behind the Brace Podcast on Instagram for behind the scenes reels and scoliosis related posts! And of course, binge the podcast again! /p pThe post a href=http://behindthebrace.com/2022/10/11/update-podcast-break-and-ig-reels-about-scoliosis/Update: Podcast Break and IG Reels About Scoliosis/a appeared first on a href=http://behindthebrace.comBehind The Brace Podcast with Dr. Mandy Dietz/a./p