micros hat geschrieben:I just gonna sum up some points:
- you don't have to close the brace completly, that means you can wear it
while the "lines" aren't drawn together, so it's not that tight.
- make breaks, try it for an hour, make a pause and then try it again
- do you have hematomas or something like this because of wearing the brace? If so, try some special creams like PVC 30 ( I think that's what Toni recommends often). I think you can buy it at Rahmouni.
But when will you see him again? you are now in bangkok.
- Don't give up!!
Hello Sara,
nice to hear from you again.
I can only underline what micros already said. There are certain "tricks" you need to know, otherwise it's rather difficult to get used to the brace.
First of all you should concentrate on
ONLY wearing the brace by night (in bed).
20 hours per day is in my opinion too much for somebody who is already grown up and I believe not necessary any more.
Wearing the brace only by night will already keep your curves stable and will prevent progression.
Secondly you should try sleeping with the brace, and in the beginning DON'T close it at all (or maybe just a little bit, if you feel more comfortable then).
And very important: Try not to throw it out of your bed a few hours later, try to leave it on the hole night.
And then, finally, if you manage to sleep in the open (or hardly closed) brace over a hole night, then you can start closing it a little bit more, and more, and more ...
You will be able to close it increasingly, not at least because of the "foam pads" (?? in German "Pelotten"), which will get thinner with the time, because of the pressure coming from your body (and that also makes it more comfortable to wear
).
My own experiences were the following:
During 5 years, in which I only wore my brace during night (in 4 years of them, I neither went to a doctor nor to Rahmouni for inspection) I could hold my curves stable at about 30 degrees without any effort, just by wearing the brace during night, taking me only one or two minutes per day for putting it on before going to bed and putting it off after getting up in the morning.
After these 5 years at the age of 23, I tried it during two years without brace, only wearing it from time to time against pain, whenever it occurred.
I didn't have major problems then, I just noticed that I lost height. So I went to Dr.Hoffmann again and let make a new x-ray. This x-ray showed about 8 degrees more cobb angle and about 6 degrees more rotation.
Well, after that I decided to restart wearing my brace like I did before, and, luckily, I got back my missing centimeter. So I guess one can presume, that my spine must be a bit straighter now, as an effect of the nighttime brace.
All in all you can say, that the brace kept my curve stable during 5 years (I've got 3 x-rays out of this time with about 30 degrees) whereas I couldn't hold the curve without the brace during the 2 years afterwards.
Thats why I can just recommend this brace, even if it is only during night. There is no therapy whatsoever with such a great efficiency compared with the effort (1-2 minutes per day
).
It doesn't even hurt when you are used to it, on the contrary, it gets rather comfortable.
Don't be too ambitious!!! Don't try to close it completely and do not want to wear it 20 hours a day.
Wearing the brace during daytime naturally handicaps you, but it doesn't when you are asleep. You've got nothing to do while sleeping.
And don't torment yourself with your brace. You are supposed to wear it over a long time (many many years), so in the long run it should rather be comfortable for you and not be a burden.
Keep trying, don't give up, but do it slowly and less ambitious.
Another thing (which is hardly your concern at the moment, but which you should know): If you wear the brace every night, the corrective effect will naturally wear of, due to the "Pelotten" which get thinner with the time.
If you want them to be replaced one day (for a better correction, a better effect), don't go somewhere near you (wherever you are then) but send the brace to Rahmouni per mail with the request of a renewal of the Pelotten and pay for this privately. Comparatively it doesn't cost so much, after all it's not a hole new brace. But if you go to somebody near you, they will mess it up. Rahmouni is using a special material for his "Pelotten", which is produced especially for him, and which has certain qualities to make it more easy to tolerate the necessary pressure (yes it does
) . You cannot use any material for this kind of brace, it would hurt so much, you would be dying (even more
).
So, I wish you Good Luck and success with your brace.
And if you have any questions: ASK!!!
The most important thing is not just to do something, no matter how, but to do it CORRECTLY, otherwise one doesn't succeed.
Cheers
,
BZebra
good doctor, surgeon or scoliosis treatment in Hamburg. Neustadt / Holstein is quite near and at the same time leading in scoliosis surgeries, but for non-surgical treatment you should better go to the southern parts of Germany.
