Avoid Spinal Reconstruction Surgery with Pilates

By Myriam Pelletier

I’m 12, sitting in our family doctor’s office in France. I’m not listening to what they are saying. I’m staring at the x-rays of my spine on a lit up wall. One of them looks like a snake. The diagnosis is scoliosis and my thoracic spine is also showing signs of a hyper-kyphosis. I’m prescribed unlimited sessions at the “Kinéthérapeute”, a cross between a physiotherapist and an RMT. I stopped going after a month, hiding my absentees’ from my mother as long as I could. The “torturer” was the name I gave him. He made me hold strange positions with small weights that ended up causing my body more pain than when I came in.

I’m 27, lying down in bed in the middle of the night wondering what my life is going to be like at 40. Will I be able to walk? My back hurts every day; all day and all night. I use many pillows in bed to support my body and help sooth the pain so that I can sleep a few hours at a time. I was part of the French National track and field team when I was a teenage girl and I consider myself an athlete. I go to the corporate gym three times a week. I’ve tried Yoga, a variety of aerobic classes, and weight lifting; it all hurts. I can’t ski, roller blade or play tennis anymore without three days of intense pain and acute joint inflammation. Swimming, the back stroke only, helps diminish the hyper-kyphosis, however it makes my spine feel stiff like a rod.

I’m still 27, sitting in my doctor’s office in Toronto. I’m really scared now. My doctor is asking me to research my two last options: metal rod or cable with screws that would fuse together most of my spine. I’m so desperate. For the past year, I’ve been going to physiotherapy three times a week and I’m seeing an RMT twice a month. Its helps temporarily with the pain but I don’t see any long term improvement.

I’m 28, the gym manager is looking for me. Would I be interested in signing up for a Pilates Class? “It’s supposed to be good for your posture” she adds. I’m sold. At this point I have nothing to lose. Shortly after, I start my very first Pilates exercises.

PILATES is the miracle workout. It’s the only work that cures my aches and pains, the one that makes me think of my body like I had never thought about it before. The one that makes me stand up straighter, gives me vitality and confidence, and makes my family and friends gawk at me in absolute astonishment.

The first class was confusing. Some of the positions seemed so simple yet unattainable for my body. All of the concepts and ideas the instructor was referring to were new to me and left me skeptical. My breastbone should move when I breathe? Show me! What do you mean “don’t try so hard”? Articulation, sequential, stabilization, it’s all new.

I recognize how fortunate I am to have worked with Pilates Instructors that were extremely knowledgeable in rehabilitative movement and could modify the classical mat workout that was generally taught in gym settings. With this intelligent and caring approach the changes that occurred in my body within three months (one hour of mat group class a week) was extraordinary. An additional three months with two mat group classes a week was enough to make me change careers and enroll in a Pilates certification program. My body feels so much relief that it wants more.

The foam roller work was depressing at first and impossible to stay on. When you have scoliosis that is obvious to everyone, there are two things you do religiously. You work hard at holding yourself in a straight position and you avoid looking at yourself in a mirror. The strange protrusions of one side of your ribs, the unevenness of your collar bones, and the curves or lack of curves in your waist remind you that there is something wrong. The foam roller will shatter your denial world within seconds of your spine touching it. For the first time, I felt that snaky spine I saw in my family doctor’s office when I was 12.

I’m 40, reflecting on my past and typing this article in my studio. I’m a certified Pilates Instructor specializing in correctional and functional movement therapy. Pilates taught me how to use my body efficiently and it became the platform for me to explore many other disciplines. In my journey, I became a belly dance instructor, I train weekly on the silk, and in the winter I’m an avid snowboarder. For the record, I use Rolfing as my method of manual therapy to help my body free itself from its stubborn holdings. In addition, for the past 4 years, I see an osteopath twice a year to monitor and facilitate the sometimes unpleasant transition periods associated with deep changes.

I will never stop the endless process of discovery that Pilates has to offer, and like my osteopath said a while ago “scoliosis…what scoliosis?”

Myriam Pelletier, owner of The Loft Pilates Studio, is a fully certified Pilates instructor with over 10 years of experience in correctional and functional movement therapy. Her clientele ranges from elite athletes to those with specific conditions, from teenagers to “Keenagers” (senior citizens), from the general public to public figures.

Tags: kyphosis, lordosis, scoliosis, spinal reconstruction surgery