Hi all--

I've been having back problems for 35 years (mainly lumbar) and due to increasing pain in my legs and and back and leg cramps which are becoming more widespread and horrible, I finally had my back evaluated yesterday. I know, why did I wait so long, lol. Guess I just figured I wouldn't get any answers so I waited.

Have been taking ibuprofen around the clock for appx 3 months for possible spinal stenosis. When I went in yesterday for evaluation, I was astonished to learn that I have scoliosis--degenerative in nature I guess. I knew I'd been getting shorter over the last 4-5 years (lost nearly 2" in height) but nobody ever questioned why that might be happening but now I wonder if it wasn't the scoliosis starting/progressing (I'm 61 y/o). Have had two lumbar back injuries over the years which they tell me probably resulted in herniations.

Anyway, I've been switched to piroxicam which only requires one pill a day and scheduled for PT 2-3 times a week for 4-6 weeks, with the idea of keeping me from needing surgery. I'm wondering if anybody here has had degenerative scoliosis and if so, what kind of treatment did you have, and did it work? I hurt every day but it's not horrible so the scoliosis is not yet causing me huge problems. He didn't tell me, and I forgot to ask questions because I was so surprised at the diagnosis, but I brought home a copy of my x-ray and I see it has a 25.6 written by the curved area so am guessing that's the degree of curvature.

Thanks for any input you might have!