(Part 2 of 2)
If you are reading my blog posts you just heard me talk about the delicate scenario of taking pictures of scoliosis patients at a doctor’s office.
On a similar train of thought, I sometimes hear practitioners and researchers use standard language around scoliosis that makes me wince. I will state again— I do not question their good intentions, but they might not realize how the words they use can land on the patient.
Recently I have been going through my own health issue which required me to see many doctors. At times I was startled by what (well intentioned) doctors would say to me that often left a mark on my psyche for a long time after the appointment. If you need to go see a specialist about something then you are already in a very vulnerable, fragile state. Most likely you are suffering, whether physical, or mental, or both.
Once again, I’d like to open up the conversation to scoliosis patients and practitioners to hear about your experiences. Here are some examples we can look at:
Normal— does anyone have a normal spine?
Straight— does anyone have a straight spine?
Crooked— I am always surprised when I hear this used, but I think we could just leave this one out altogether. Curved or rotated works, depending on what you are referring to.
Fix— Are we trying to fix the scoliosis, or find a way to live (happily) with it?
Balance— Yes, we are trying to retrain muscles, move towards steadiness, etc. but there is no human whose proportions are equal in measure.
And here are some ideas for word substitutions:
Instead of Hump— Prominence
Instead of *Deformities— Asymmetries
*It turns out the noble young women of the Curvy Girls Scoliosis Foundation have already asked the Scoliosis Research Society to remove the word “Deformity” in their description of the condition.
These substitutions are by no means perfect, and I do not propose to have all the good ideas, so let’s hear your ideas!
As always, feel free to respond to me privately if you don’t want to be in the open discussion.
Gabriella Barnstone is a certified yoga therapist with the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and has been teaching since 2008. She worked at Manhattan Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation from 2015 to 2020 where she specialized in treating patients with back pain using yoga as therapy. Gabriella has taught courses with Dr. Loren Fishman on Yoga for Back Pain, Yoga for Osteoporosis, and Yoga for Arthritis at Kripalu, Yogaville, and Omega Institute. She was on the faculty of Prema Yoga Institutefrom 2017 to 2020 where she developed her own course on functional anatomy, and mentored emerging yoga therapists. She was the resident Yoga Therapist at Healthquarters (now Mount Sinai), which brought top medical providers together with clinically-backed wellness services to provide connected, seamless, and comprehensive health services. She introduced her curve specific programs at Samamkaya Back Care Studio in 2023. She currently offers virtual sessions and in person sessions at SoulBeingWellness in New York City.
