Case Study: Kiara M.

After receiving a scoliosis diagnosis for her 13-year-old daughter, Vanessa did what moms do in that situation – listen, accept the news, follow the recommendations provided by medical experts, in her home country of France. Her daughter Kiara’s curvature warranted bracing – the French word for brace is “corset,”  so Vanessa imagined another, albeit tightly pulled, piece of clothing that her daughter would need to wear. But traditional bracing for scoliosis requires a hard piece of plastic, typically worn 23 hours each day.

“This didn’t sit right with me,” says Vanessa, and as she watched her daughter being measured and sized for this brace, she became determined to find a non-invasive option for her child. This active family also places high priority on daily exercise and getting enough sleep. This bracing option would limit both for her growing teenage daughter.

Through research and help from her extended family in Canada, Vanessa found ScoliSMART. “For me, ScoliSMART places emphasis on using the body to help scoliosis,” says Vanessa. She also liked the idea of Kiara having an active role in her future with scoliosis. After an initial phone conversation with a ScoliSMART doctor, she and Kiara made plans to travel from France to New York to participate in one of ScoliSMART’s BootCamp programs. Amidst a global pandemic, this was no easy feat. Despite travel challenges, they made it to NYC, and began their ScoliSMART journey.

While the idea of visiting New York City was exciting for Kiara, she was nervous about attending her first BootCamp. She was worried about how physically hard it would be for her, but once she got started, Kiara enjoyed the change of stations and active participation. She learned how each station uses different techniques and equipment to strengthen and retrain her spinal muscles, positively affecting her posture and reducing the curvature of her spine. Through her 5-day boot camp, Kiara was able to reduce her curve from an initial diagnosis of 28 degrees to 16 degrees.

Back home in France, she is determined to keep her positive progress. Kiara uses her torso trainer every day, reminding her brain of the desired position as it relates to her specific scoliosis curve. Her biggest challenge is finding time to do the exercises, “but it’s not too bad,” says Kiara.

Both Vanessa and Kiara are extremely grateful that they were able to become part of the ScoliSMART family, and understand that Kiara’s journey with scoliosis is just beginning. “Kiara has already taken control (of her diagnosis) and decided that the exercises were the best for her,” says Vanessa. She hopes that other families with scoliosis learn from Kiara’s journey, and has since begun blogging about Kiara’s visit and continued progress. 

Kiara has simple, straightforward advice for teens who are considering ScoliSMART. “It was a good experience, don’t be scared. There is no reason to be scared of ScoliSMART!”