When I was 15 I found out I had a back problem called Scoliosis, it's a really common thing, it usually happens if you grow really quickly or you have a bad posture during the growth process.
My spine had an 'S' shape, it was curved to the right on the top and curved to the left on the bottom.
I discovered I had it when I was doing some abs and my gymnastic's teacher put her hand in my back and notice that something was wrong. She had the same problem when she was little so she help me a lot and gave me great tips.
I went to the doctor and he made me take X-rays. It was really true, I really had my spine curved and that explained the pain I was having everyday.
The doctor told me the only treatment I had was to do surgery but we should only do it in extreme cases. He told me the only thing he could do for me, at that moment, was to give me painkillers.
Some years later I started having some difficulty walking, especially with ballerinas shoes and flat sole shoes. I went to other doctor and he told me that my Scoliosis was causing me knee problems and that I was going to feel back pain for the rest of my life.
Hearing such a horrible thing was hard, so I started doing exercise at that time, I actually made some posts about it (the first one - it's in Portuguese) and asked you to join me, I even made some freebies for you to download with tips about exercises.
The truth is that it worked! I still have pain everyday, but it's weaker, and the difficulty to walk happens less, and if I didn't hurt my knee last year I bet I'd be even better.
And my spine? It's almost perfect. Can you believe it? My "S" shaped spine is almost like it should be, and the doctor swore to me that I wasn't going to get better.
The first step to get better, and one of the most important, is to set your mind to it! I was focused in getting better and I worked really hard for it.
The second step is to find your own treatment, search for exercises and alternative methods that will help you along the way. Keep a notebook with all your findings, just think of it as a journey and at the end of the road you will find a healthier you.
The third step is to not let yourself down if you don't see results right away. This treatment I've put myself into is hard, I'm not gonna lie. I had to be alert about my posture, every single second.
I have a bad habit, when I feel back pain I start to lose a good posture to ease the pain, and every time this happened I had to force a good posture again. It is so hard, and it hurts a lot, I also experimented with clothes with posture correction and it's the worst, I always ended crawled in the ground with pain.
But now I'm here, healthier and better than I was on that first post, and I'm so happy you accompanied me along the way.
All problems are different and maybe this will work better for you or maybe it won't work. But believe me that you can always try to be healthier, you can't say it doesn't work if you don't at least try.
Don't let anyone let you down, like they tried on me, and tell you can't do something. You can do everything you set your mind to. I tried, will you give it a try?
Be brave and stay strong.
