Barbara Martinez. Syringomyelia and Scoliosis.

Published by ICSEB at 6 June, 1994

Date of intervention: June 1994

Everything began in one of the last visits at the Pediatrician when I was 13 years old (now I am 32) that noticed a certain deviation in the spine.

It was then when I had an x-ray and I had pronounced scoliosis. Like all those that have scoliosis, I began rehabilitaion, doing exercises just about every day to rectify the curve, including putting me in a type of cage that had iron bars as support and to put pressure on the turned aside part of the cloumn. The good thing is that at 6 months from when I began rehabilitation, I obtained great improvement. What wasn´t understood is that whenever I grew, inspite of doing the same exercises in rehabilitation, the pool and everything else, I returned to fall and the degrees of scoliosis rose. Thus, I was like that for at least three years improving and worsening without arriving to a stable and progressive situation.

It was then when we knew the team of Dr. Royo that planted the problem, or better said, a solution for syringomyelia. Of which one of the reasons of theses changes could be the tension in the column and that every time it grew it tightened and caused worse scoliosis in spite of the rehabilitation exercises.

It was in 1992 when I was 18 years old that we decided to operate me to free my column. It wasn´t an easy decision to make since I was the guinea pig and the third case for Dr Royo´s theory but after the visit and consultatiing various Doctors, to obtain a third opinion, we decided to go ahead with it. The majority commented to us that the operation itself, consists of the cutting of the Filum Terminal, it wasn´t risky, as long as they don´t touch the marrow and there could be an alternative to the operation by inserting an iron bar in my spinal cord.

The truth is that the operation went really well and I feel more free, definetly more stretched out and certainly more relaxed without discomfort in my back.

Bárbara Martínezz

E-mail: [email protected]