How a Package Designer Thinks About Correcting Scoliosis

The way I sought to correct scoliosis

A posture trainer who is a former package designer

#DearFamily "The illness I want to cure"... I introduced myself with this, but the foundation of my career as a posture trainer was my experience as a former package designer.

I only began to seriously learn about the shape, size, and relationships of human bones and muscles after I started thinking about wanting to correct my daughter's scoliosis myself and bought books on the subject.

With severe scoliosis, the compression of my daughter's internal organs, who had no muscle mass, was progressing. The lateral compression from a corset was stopped, and then she suffered an intestinal obstruction due to vertical compression from gravity.

It is meaningless if the internal organs are not healthy

I thought the properties of cardboard, which I often used in package design, were very similar to muscles.
In package design, to protect the product inside without damaging it, we consider the necessary volume so that it does not move around, does not get compressed or rubbed, and we consider the strength of the box according to the weight.

When I thought about wanting to acquire a body that can easily maintain muscle strength through posture building to make my daughter's internal organs healthy, package design was exactly what I thought was necessary for my daughter.

I felt keenly that correcting scoliosis does not make sense if it only means straightening the spine; "it is meaningless if the internal organs are not healthy."

In search of ideal internal organs

Daily life when internal organs are not healthy

With the progression of muscle weakness and a severely curved spine, my daughter's internal organs were barely functioning. I wondered how her organs were even fitting inside.

Feeding her while worrying about aspiration
Days spent feeling anxious because her bowel movements were unstable and her food intake was low
Worrying that cold drinks would chill her stomach directly
Adjusting her clothing in the summer, fearing that even the air conditioning would chill her stomach

These worries were my daily life.

I want to make all of her respiratory and digestive organs healthy

In winter, no matter how much care I took, there was no true comfort for her.

She was so weak that she couldn't even express joy happily, and to be honest as a mother, it was difficult and daily life was dull.
How happy would it be if this care and effort were spent thinking about making her favorite things or delicious food!

I want to make my daughter's internal organs healthy. I want to make them organs where her respiratory and digestive systems function vividly.
Even if it is difficult to achieve, I thought it would be much better than spending our time worrying as we are now.

Forces that inhibit internal organ function

Artificial compression

My daughter worked hard to keep her spine straight with a scoliosis brace. To wear the brace correctly, it must be tightened with Velcro straps.

Does wearing it build muscle? Can we say the internal organs are being protected?

What are the sacrifices made to keep the spine as straight as possible?

In my daughter's case, she is a child with physical disabilities and lacks muscle, so the compression is significant. However, it is not just because she is my daughter; wearing a scoliosis brace for many hours a day compresses the internal organs regardless of who wears it.

Even if we think of it as stopping and preserving the curvature of the spine, can we say that the body's tissues, including the muscles and internal organs around the spine, are being protected?

By using a scoliosis brace, I was the one compressing my daughter's internal organs. After realizing this, I decided to stop the use of the brace, fully prepared for the fact that the spinal curvature might progress.

Compression due to gravity

The result of thinking that I just needed to have her move her body to build muscle is this state. Once my daughter stopped wearing the scoliosis brace, the more she moved, the more her body succumbed to gravity, twisting and bending.

The way she exercised was wrong, and the spinal curvature progressed. As the asymmetry of her body increased, it became difficult to build muscle, and I keenly felt that a symmetrical skeleton is essential for maintaining muscle.

I realized that to protect the internal organs, building muscle symmetrically is what leads to creating a body that does not succumb to gravity.

The importance of muscle that Western medicine does not consider

A box of muscles that protects the internal organs

Due to the compression of the internal organs, there was a concern about recurring intestinal obstruction, which strengthened my desire to make her internal organs even healthier.

For example, what about a crate of mandarin oranges?

Even mandarin oranges, which are loose and easily damaged, can withstand transport and arrive in perfect condition without being crushed if they are placed in a cardboard box with appropriate space and strength.

Building muscles like a wrapping box to ensure space for my daughter's internal organs has become my life's work.

Focusing on muscles that Western medicine does not consider necessary, and using exercise therapy to maintain the space needed to keep internal organs healthy, is what I mean by curing scoliosis.

Exercise methods to revitalize internal organs

I thought about what kind of exercise is needed to revitalize a body that has been compressed horizontally and vertically. To protect the internal organs, I had to consider the original human skeletal structure.

I also realized that the human body, which walks upright on two legs, has a skeletal shape designed to maintain walking muscles, and if the body's axis cannot be maintained, the entire body's muscles cannot be fully utilized.

I don't know if it is possible for my daughter's body axis to become firm and for her to gain the ability to walk. But when I think about wanting to make her internal organs healthy, I have no choice but to aim for it without giving up.

For those who want to cure scoliosis and revitalize their internal organs

My daughter's current health condition no longer requires the excessive care it once did.
I feel happy every day being able to think, 'What does she want to eat? What will make her happy?'

From a time when she had more medicine than food, the types and amounts of medicine have now decreased, and the number of hospital visits has also dropped drastically.

Using the gymnastics method I devised to make my daughter's internal organs healthy, I now also provide training in posture correction and walking correction for seniors in Hirakata City, Osaka Prefecture.

By facing the posture of each student one by one, the gymnastics method has been established, and research continues so that I can always help with posture correction and walking correction training more efficiently and safely.

If you found this article helpful or inspiring, please click 'Like' 💗
If you would like to see more articles, please follow me!