The Silent Disease Meets a Fighter: Overcoming Osteoporosis

Dr. Rita Roy: Hi everyone. My name is Dr. Rita Roy, CEO at the National Spine Health Foundation, and I’m your host for the Get Back to It podcast, where we tell real stories of healing and recovery. What does it mean to get back to it? It means overcoming a spine problem through treatments that work in order to return to the people and activities you love, whatever that looks like for you.

It means getting back to your life. We’re here to share the success stories of those who did just that, and some of the best. these stories you’re not going to believe.

At the Get Back to It podcast, our goal is to tell stories of spinal champions who’ve been able to achieve a better quality of life through spinal health care. In today’s episode, I’m excited to be joined by Margaret Brown from Leesburg, Virginia. Margaret is a public relations professional and a writer who loves adventure.

At age 60, she fractured a vertebra during a Muay Thai class. She initially mistook this injury for a muscle strain. Fortunately, her chiropractor recognized the severity of the injury, leading to diagnosis and a successful kyphoplasty surgery. She shares how this experience deepened her empathy for loved ones with chronic back issues and how she balanced recovery with her active lifestyle.

Now that you know what to expect. Let’s get back to it and dive right into Margaret’s story.

Margaret truly enjoys going on adventures and learning new things. She loves throwing herself into new ways of staying active. In 2022, Margaret decided to take up Muay Thai, a Thai martial art that involves full body combat.

Margaret Brown: For almost a decade, I pushed myself to enjoy different experiences. When I had the chance to take Muay Thai, I was all in for the exercise and the fun.

Muay Thai. The class that I took involves kicking, punching, and grappling, and the classes involve warming up and running, jumping ropes, stretching, squats, sit ups, and so much more. Every class that I took involves punching and kicking a bag, which was very fun, as well as sparring with a classmate. It was hard, but I gained skills and stamina over time, and I really enjoyed the sport and my classmates.

Dr. Rita Roy: However, in February 2024, things took an unexpected turn for Marguerite.

Margaret Brown: So, during the morning class, I was jumping rope when I felt a slight twinge in my back. It didn’t hurt, so I continued to exercise. I then practiced elbow strikes with my classmates who were young adult males. They were trying really hard not to.

to be too strong, but they can be dangerous elbow strikes. And so we weren’t attempting to actually hit each other’s bodies. Rather, we aimed for the pads and we defended ourselves with our arms raised in front of our faces. By the time I left class, I thought I had really strained a muscle in my back.

Dr. Rita Roy: Thinking that this injury would resolve itself in no time. Marva decided to seek conservative measures to help her recovery along.

Margaret Brown: So I first, I went to see my chiropractor, Dr. I got a massage from Dr. Chad Parsons in Ashburn, Virginia, and then I also saw my massage therapist within the week. I got a regular adjustment from Dr.

Parsons, and he also suggested traction, which I did. I also had deep tissue laser therapy at his office, which is great for normal muscle strains. The massage therapist did a full body session, concentrating on my back and where I thought the strain was. After my second adjustment, it was clear that something was really wrong.

I couldn’t even get up. off the table without help. So Dr. Parsons said he did not want to do any additional adjustments or traction. So that took about two weeks.

Dr. Rita Roy: Margaret was concerned about her lack of improvement after two weeks. Margaret’s chiropractor sent her to get some imaging of her back. This revealed a vertebral fracture at the T12 level, changing Margaret’s perspective of her supposed recovery and overall health.

Margaret Brown: I was shocked to find out I also had osteopenia. which had made me predisposed to this kind of injury. This led me to seek care with the NOVA neurosurgeon, Dr. John Hamilton. And in April, I underwent a life changing kyphoplasty procedure.

Dr. Rita Roy: Margaret woke up from the anesthesia and immediately knew that the surgery was a success.

Less than a week after the procedure, she was able to do a photo shoot. Her confident outside appearance was a reflection of how improved she felt on the inside. The recovery was not easy. Always easy though.

Margaret Brown: It was exhausting and painful at times and doing a photo shoot almost immediately after surgery I don’t recommend but I walked consistently to build up my stamina and strength for my upcoming trip to europe with my family The recovery process was frustrating too.

I really wanted to water walk Which is a favorite of mine and do water aerobics, but I had to hold off until I was fully recovered Luckily all of this hard work paid off because on my trip, the only thing I complained about was sore feet from sightseeing. I was able to carry my luggage, walk through airports, and do activities without any issues.

Now, many months after the procedure, I am back to my normal physical activities. I walk, lift weights, and occasionally participate in Tai Chi.

Dr. Rita Roy: Wow. Margaret, your journey is truly moving and inspiring. I cannot imagine how surprising and possibly scary it went from taking on this new adventure, this new sport of Muay Thai, and then experiencing this debilitating pain.

Talk to me a little bit about how that felt when the pain wasn’t getting better, and you were visiting the chiropractor, was the pain getting worse? What was that pain experience like for you?

Margaret Brown: Yeah, it actually was getting worse, and what I found so shocking was one of the hardest things when you have that kind of an injury is you can’t even get out of bed.

You can’t really move well, and so when I had to have Dr. Chad pull me up off the table, we knew, okay, like he knew. Yeah. It was immediate. There’s something really wrong. The other thing that was so interesting to me is how exhausting having a back injury or having spinal chronic spinal pain can be, um, when I first took the intake form or did the intake form for the neurosurgeon.

That’s the first question is how tired are you? Can you drive your car? I was like, Oh, okay. I actually hadn’t made that connection that it was interesting. So that was really, really interesting to me. I had to take naps during the day. I couldn’t. I’m a writer, as you mentioned, and a PR person. So I basically sit at a desk all day and.

It did require quite a few breaks. The pain of getting out of bed, as I mentioned, it was all just so much harder, and it affects your mood. I didn’t want to go anywhere. I didn’t want to see anyone. I was afraid to be someplace where I might have to stand or even sit too long. And so I just kind of stayed.

You kind of Make your world smaller, right? You don’t want to do the things that you used to do. I couldn’t even walk the dogs. I was afraid to walk the dogs because they might pull. Once I knew I had osteopenia, I was afraid of falling more. Those kinds of things are limiting. And then two of my family members live with chronic pain, and I really didn’t realize how insensitive I had been to that pain.

And it clicked. Why they need to rest at the end of the day. My child is a farmer and that’s hard work and would come home every day and take a nap. And, and then my spouse come home every day and take a nap. And I think, come on, come on, guys, get with it. Yeah. And then, then I was like, I am so sorry that I did not know this and I actually invited my entire family to take Muay Thai and nobody wanted to do it.

So, and I get it now, right? Like it’s too scary. If you, if you’re in pain, you’re afraid of more pain. Right. So.

Dr. Rita Roy: That’s, uh, that’s so well stated, Margaret. We hear that a lot, myself having been a patient and, and gone through, um, you know, back pain and, and coping with that. And one of the things that all of us do when we have pain like that is we just start doing less and less and you start accommodating your life for the pain.

And what that means is you’re just not doing things that you want to do and that you like to do. Frankly, I felt sidelined in my life, you know, just, uh, just not, not able to do the things you want to do. And, and then you get to a point where you can’t do the things you have to do every day. Right. Daily living things like walking your dogs, going to the grocery store, you know, all that stuff gets, gets, uh,

Margaret Brown: sidelined.

Right. Um, picking things up, having your son have to do it for you or whatever. Can you please come over? I needed to clean the carpet. I couldn’t do it. Had to have my son come over and help. Those kinds of things. It’s just too Yeah,

Dr. Rita Roy: and you feel, you, you begin to feel dependent on other people, and then you begin to feel like you’re being a burden, and then you don’t want to bother people, and Exactly.

Yeah, the mental, the mental, um, health issues that begin to arise around that. Feeling isolated, feeling, you know Depressed. Yeah. So, so Margaret, one of the things that we talked about quickly in your story is you found out that you had osteopenia. So let’s talk about that. And, um, what a surprise that must have been for you.

I’m looking at you as we’re recording this and I see a beautiful, vibrant, healthy woman who’s obviously active and doing all the right things and you. You do not look like you are harboring a chronic condition inside of you. And that’s, that’s the thing about osteoporosis and osteopenia. It’s a silent disease.

Margaret Brown: And I think we need, if I may get on a soapbox about this. I was actually talking to someone yesterday about the fact that we don’t hear enough about what kinds of things we should be doing as, as humans, but also specifically women about bone loss and how to avoid that. Because you don’t think it.

Happens to till you’re older. And even though I’m a little bit older, I’m not as old as I think I, I mean, I don’t think I’m as old as I am. And so bone loss in your 30s starts in your 30s apparently. So that would have been the time to start the active. Weightlifting and the and the more active dietary, right?

The calcium intake and things like that. But when you’re in your thirties, you’re not thinking that way. You’re thinking that’s for later when I’m 70 even 90. And so I. Think there’s some education that you guys offer and have great resources for that. I’ve found on, on the spine health dot org site, which I love and have been really, really helpful to me, but we just don’t hear enough about that.

And I was very surprised to find that I had, you know, I had extra bone growing up. I’m one of those families that has a lot of extra bone. I actually had extra bone. Like little extra bone piece in my mouth and I knew it was there. It was very painful to get, um, x rays at the dentist for my whole life.

And then all of a sudden I realized it was gone. Oh my goodness. Yeah. And I thought, oh gosh, it’s naughty. It’s a little tiny bump still, but nowhere near where it was before. And I didn’t even notice that it was going away. So. Um, yeah, it just was a surprise and disappointing because I’m the kind of person who’s like, Oh, sure.

I’ll take more time. Why not? You know, it sounds fun. And now, yeah, as much as I would love to do it. I just, Dr. Hamilton said, no, Tai Chi is about as far as I could go in that direction.

Dr. Rita Roy: Yeah. Well, Margaret. Let’s talk about the osteopenia diagnosis. Who made that diagnosis for you and how, how did you find out that you had that condition?

Margaret Brown: Well, during the process before the kyphoplasty, they made me go ahead and do a DEXA scan and I had done one. Was that, was that the neurosurgeon or the chiropractor? Yes, the neurosurgeon. Um, and I will say that I had a DEXA scan probably, Maybe 10, 15 years ago, and they were like, you’ve got the bones of an 18 year old.

You’re perfectly fine. So never thought about it again. Honestly. Yeah.

Dr. Rita Roy: Yeah. Well, and then for women, you know, after 50 and, you know, post menopause, there’s a lot of changes. That happened to our bodies and we just don’t think about that. I think.

Margaret Brown: Right, exactly, exactly. So, um, so yeah, that was part of it. Um, but I have learned that apparently, even though it’s osteopenia, technically, if you have a fracture, it goes immediately into osteoporosis, which was sad.

But, you know,

Dr. Rita Roy: yes, yes. So if you get a fracture, um, yeah. You know, if you fall and you get a fracture and it’s, it’s what we call a low, um, a low energy fracture, that is a definition of osteoporosis. And what I think what most people don’t know is that osteoporotic fractures occur in the spine. More commonly than anywhere else in the body, we think of osteoporosis in the hip or the wrist or in the knees, you know, affecting those joints, but osteoporosis occurs more often in the spine than any other place in the body, and most of the time it’s a sort of undiagnosed.

Chronic back pain, people are just living with it and, and it eventually can cause degeneration and curvature and kyphosis and lots of other conditions. Or, if you’ve got, you know, the type of fracture that you have, it causes severe enough pain that You go and, you go and investigate, like, why, why is this pain not getting better, and why am I getting worse?

Um, so, there’s a range of ways that fractures can occur, very small to very big, and, um, but it’s most common. In the spine. I did not know that. Okay. Interesting. And that’s why we’re doing a lot of work, um, in the National Spine Health Foundation on osteoporosis because it is something that affects the spine as much as any other bone in your body.

Margaret Brown: Really, and the thing I, to your point there, is that part of the thing I learned and I’ve shared with you when I was doing the intake form on this is that your spine is the most important part of your body, period, in my opinion now, if you had asked me in 2022, I would have been like, I don’t know, maybe your brain, but you can’t use your brain if you don’t, if your spine isn’t working correctly, I’ve learned that it’s just so important, it’s just such an eye opening Situation for me.

This thing that happened in last February. It just changed how I approach everything in terms of safety of my body, but also in just how I approach my family members and other people and trying to I have a friend who was just back from Italy and she broke her foot just walking in Rome. I was like, honey, I think you need to go get a Texas scan.

I’m pretty sure you have osteoporosis. Sorry, I’m not a doctor, but Sounds like it to me. Um, just, just how important it is. You can’t. You can’t do anything if your spine’s not working correctly.

Dr. Rita Roy: Well, you know, it’s interesting, Margaret, and I agree with you 100%. That’s why I do the work that I do, uh, to raise the awareness.

It was an awakening that I had, and I’m, I’m a, I’m a doctor by training, and just didn’t really think about the importance of spine health. Um, it’s just not something that, that we, Focus on, um, you know, in our medical training and, and as well as just in life. There’s a lot of advocacy work around cancer, around cardiac conditions, around, you know, aging and dementia.

There’s just, there’s lots of advocacy there, and I’m grateful for that. We need it, but there, there isn’t, there hasn’t been until now advocacy work around the importance of spine health. And yet in our culture, in our, in our colloquial language, we talk about, you know, we say, get a backbone, get a spine, or that person’s spineless, or that person’s got knock on it.

So we, we know colloquially that you need a backbone to be strong, right? We, we say that all the time, but we don’t make that connection to our general health, our, our overall health and wellness status is directly linked. To our spine health, right? That’s interesting. And you know, until you have a problem, you don’t know that.

Margaret Brown: I think, I think you’re right. I think you’re 100 percent right. Yeah, I hadn’t even thought of it that right that way. But you’re right. We do have all those things. So interesting. Yeah, I mean, and, and, you know, of course, going to my chiropractor, they have all the spine, you know, diagrams and how it affects everything.

I have a child who has spine issues and has digestive issues. That’s related. Right? Migraines, all those things. So,

Dr. Rita Roy: well, and the other thing, yeah, migraines are very connected to spine health for sure. And, um, you know, people don’t think that when you, when you, when your back hurts or you’ve got a problem in your back and maybe you’ve got pain down your leg or pain down your arm or pain in your body, you stop moving.

You’re tired. It hurts to move. You stop moving. Now you’re a set up for cardiovascular problems. Like it’s a domino effect of your overall wellness that that happens. And so, you know, we are so committed to talking about prevention and appropriate treatment. When a condition strikes. So let’s talk about your treatment for a little bit.

Margaret, you first went to see a chiropractor when you had this back pain. Um, do you do you see a chiropractor regularly? And how did you make that decision to see a chiropractor?

Margaret Brown: I have seen my chiropractor since I was. Since I first moved to Virginia. He’s great. We love him. Um, our child, as I mentioned, has spine issues, but also has double vision.

And when you have double vision, you have to tilt your head to the left in order to, to align the vision, which is something that most people don’t know. But so my child was seeing this chiropractor for many years. Because of the pain that comes from always keeping your head tilted to the left, right? So, so we’re very close with this chiropractor and he fusses at me because I don’t go as often as I should.

I usually wait until I’m in pain and then I’m like, Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while. So again, here I go. I don’t. See him for many months. And then I say, Oh, oops, I hurt myself. And then I go in. And, um, one of my favorite things to do in his office is this deep tissue laser therapy, which is always my first choice, but also adjustments and stuff.

And so he he’s always talked to me about the importance and you kind of Like you said, you know about it peripherally, but you don’t really necessarily pay attention until something happens. And that’s what was happening with me and, and Chad is that I would say, okay, yes, I know I should come in more often, but I’m fine.

So I don’t think about it. And so that, of course, it was the first thing I thought it was to go to him. I thought it was a muscle thing. I went in for the laser therapy. I said, let’s go ahead and do an adjustment. And, and he’s just such a great doctor that he was like, yeah. I’m so appreciative of him that he stopped me and sent me for an x ray because I think I would have continued to try to fix it myself and that would have been a problem.

I might have made it worse. Right? So I mean, that scares me too. Right? Like, right. I think I don’t think we talked about this. But one thing I did do, I have, I love to go and lay on slant boards to make my spine kind of open up. And I used to have a, yeah. an inversion table in the house. And so I went to the gym during that process to lay on a slant board and then I couldn’t get up.

Oh no. So I, I kind of like rolled off of the slant board onto the floor and nobody seemed to notice. And then I had to get myself up. Get myself up off the floor. It was very embarrassing. I’m hoping nobody noticed and isn’t still talking about that weird lady at the gym. But those were the kinds of things I would have done to myself.

Right? Think about that. That’s scary that I had a fracture and I was going and just kind of self Fixing or whatever. WebMD can be nice but is not a good thing sometimes.

Dr. Rita Roy: Well, and that’s what we’re all about here at the foundation is giving accurate, unbiased, honest, authoritative information. So people have The source to go to that is the source for spine health information and we do it through videos and infographics and podcasts and lots of different modalities people learn in different ways people hear things in different ways so we we deliver our educational information in lots of different formats and just like this today and I’m so so grateful that we’re talking together here um Margaret let’s talk on that treatment journey again so your chiropractor very astutely said You There’s something more going on here.

We need to get an X. We need to see what’s going on before we do anything else. Sends you for an X ray. And what did you do after that?

Margaret Brown: They ordered an MRI. Well, I called, you know, I called my favorite Uh, hospital system and found out what I should do and Chad smartly said, I am not going to touch your back until further notice.

And so I got an MRI to confirm. And then saw the, you know, the neurosurgeon I’d already seen, and he, um, he ordered the MRI, got the MRI, then went in for the, and actually, honestly, I chose for the kyphoplasty because, you know, the options were wear a brace for X amount of weeks, six, eight weeks, but I knew we had this big family trip to Europe.

And I said, okay, this is an important trip. We had a wedding, a family wedding to go to. And I did not want to be in pain while I was traveling. So I talked to them and I, they, I said, look, can’t I just go straight to Kaifo plus day of hermit? It might be an option. I didn’t know. Dr. Hamilton and I talked about it quite a bit.

He was very honest. It might not work the best, but you know, because not everything works well for everyone. Right? Yeah. So, but it was my choice to go straight to that instead of doing the brace first because I was just so afraid that I’d wear that brace and then it would be time to go and I would still be in pain and we already had the tickets and yeah.

You know, my niece was getting married. I didn’t want to miss it. Yeah, and I woke up Still under anesthesia, but I’d had that, uh, had the procedure woke up and I knew immediately it was better. That’s incredible. I was like, I’m fixed. This is fine. That was so

Dr. Rita Roy: nice. That’s amazing. It was thrilling. That is amazing.

Well, Margaret, it sounds like you informed yourself well before making a treatment option. You knew what the Uh, should I say risks of a kyphoplasty were you knew that it may or may not work for you, but it was worth a try. And you went into that procedure with confidence with the surgeon who you trusted.

And those are all, those are all the perfect things. That’s like a poster child of how to, how to approach spine health. It’s, it’s inform yourself, educate yourself on, on the treatment options. Find a surgeon who’s competent, well trained, who you have a, a nice rapport and connection with, and then, and then go for it and, and, and see how it goes.

And you set yourself up for success in that way. And that is awesome. So bravo on that. Yeah. And I

Margaret Brown: was lucky. I felt, I still feel lucky. Like I think that there are people who are out there knowing my family situation that might try something and it doesn’t necessarily do what it did for me. So I am very aware that this is a lucky thing that happened for me that I don’t know that it always happens this way.

And so, um, I try to approach life like, you know what I mean? Like, let’s try it. But I’m also appreciative that I have those opportunities and, um, and that this was a good one. This was a good outcome for me. Yeah. Um, I still have a little pain on occasion. I was in pain for the past couple weeks. I tried some new walking shoes.

They weren’t the best fit for me. I mean, they fit well, but they didn’t do well. Um, so I have been to see the massage therapist, the chiropractor again, that kind of thing. Deep tissue laser again, I know now to just take care of myself and, and again, Chad did more x rays because he wanted to be sure again, like he didn’t adjust me until he did some more x rays to make sure I didn’t have any additional fractures or anything else going on and did the laser therapy.

Once we found out I didn’t have any more fractures, we took a conservative, um, approach with the, instead of like a. him with the hands on adjustment. He used the tool, um, that they have. I don’t know what it’s called. But, um, and then also did the massage and, um, and still walking, right? And doing my weightlifting and my other stuff you can do at home, like your squats and things like that.

Yeah, the movement

Dr. Rita Roy: is key. And, and that’s such a good point. You don’t have to belong to a gym to do many of those things. core strengthening exercises that are so important for your spine health. And when we talk about core, we’re not talking about a six pack ab, we’re talking about those deep stabilizing muscles, you know, of your spine that are deep inside your body that you’ve got to exercise so that they are strong, so they keep your spine strong.

And the exercises are not ones that you might You know, think about it. It’s not, you know, it’s not crunches. It’s, you know, leg lifts and getting into those deep muscles, um, takes different kinds of activation activities. And so learning what those are, um, and then just doing them, um, is really important because it’s a journey we talk about.

It’s a journey and, you know, a procedure is a one and done thing, but then it’s your life and it’s your journey. So you’ve got to continue to care for. Your body and the area that was treated, uh, so that you can stay strong and stay moving. And that’s the key, right? Is to keep moving. Whether it’s just simply taking a walk every day, setting a step count, uh, goal for every day and just doing that, um, that’s so, so important.

Mm-hmm . Margaret? I think one of, one I was gonna say, I just wanted to say one

Margaret Brown: thing. Other thing I, I took up during Covid and I don’t know. How you feel about it, but you’re a doctor so you can tell me. Um, I have a little mini bouncer Right, and I don’t bounce bounce on it It’s like a little mini tramp And I got that because of the core strengthening that it does for you and I kind of do different things on that I haven’t done it lately, but I think that was a very helpful thing.

Yeah to have that really quick break You might do two or three minutes. Yeah, you

Dr. Rita Roy: get on there and do some movement. All of that is good Watch your balance on those, those devices. I have a

Margaret Brown: little, I have a little holder thing. Because

Dr. Rita Roy: balance is something that we have to, uh, you know, be mindful of, you know, particularly as we age, practice your balance because balance is, you can build a balance bank.

So, if you practice the balance, it stays with you longer, um, but it does begin to diminish. So, there’s a, there’s a neurodegenerative, neurodegenerative process there that you can slow with practice on the balance. Um, so that’s, that’s an important aspect. And for people with osteopenia and osteoporosis, it’s all about fracture prevention, right?

So, in your case, Margaret, we want to make sure you don’t get another fracture. In your spine or anywhere else. So how are you managing your osteopenia now? And what are you doing to prevent more fractures for yourself?

Margaret Brown: Try not to be too scared of doing things, but also not jumping out of airplanes, right?

So that’s one thing. But I do take medication. I don’t know the name off the top of my head. My doctor prescribes it. It’s once a week. Um, during the process, I found out that one of my older sisters also has osteoporosis and she has taken the same medication. Um, she lives in a different country and They took a different approach, but she actually broke her wrist falling on ice.

But the good news, that was three years ago. She’s taken the same medication again. I’m, I apologize for not knowing what it is, but she recently tripped over her son’s dog. fell and did not break her wrist. They, yes, they discovered that it actually helped grow the bone back a little bit. So, um, and she’s very, very active.

She hikes, she skis, she does all these things and, uh, you know, went from downhill skiing to cross country skiing. You know, you can make those adjustments. Yes. Um, but still is very active in a, in a modified way, as you said. Um, but has found that the growth, that the, that the bone has grown back and she’s doing better.

So she’s going to be off of it for a while and continue to do those kinds of things. So that was very, actually very, um, encouraging for me to hear that. She, she had the exact same, not the same reason, but the exact same fall, you know, when you fall, you put your hand out. Yep. That’s it. And. Broke the left wrist had pins the whole bit.

Oh my gosh. I’m just a bruise. So that was greatness. That is just

Dr. Rita Roy: brilliant and Not surprising that your sister has the osteoporosis as well. It’s there’s this very strong Genetic connection to these conditions, you know, one of the infographics that we have published is The controllable factors for osteoporosis and the uncontrollable factors.

And of course, you can’t control your genetics, but you can control your activity, your, um, you know, your diet, your nutrition

Margaret Brown: status, right? And I take calcium now and I take vitamin D and, and all the other things. So that, you know, whatever the doctor tells me to do, I just go ahead and do it. That’s

Dr. Rita Roy: great.

You know, great for your sister and great for you too, because another little known fact is that the number one reason for women over the age of 50 to be hospitalized is for a fracture. It outpaces any other health condition. Women get hospitalized for fractures more than any other health condition over the age of 50.

So it’s a, it’s a very real health threat. And again, talking about raising awareness of spine health and bone health, people don’t realize. What a significant health hazard it is to have low bone quality, um, that that is directly related to shortening your life. And we don’t think about bones as being a living, breathing, dynamic organ, right?

But it is. We’re constantly building and breaking it down. It’s in a dynamic state in our bodies. Just like you lost that little bone in your, in your, in your jaw. I mean, it, where did it go? It just right. And that’s what happens with their bones. And as for women, we are particularly prone for bone, uh, uh, bone changes.

It helps us in pregnancy, right? Because we’ve got these babies that are great. So literally our bones shift and grow and move to accommodate. You know, the weight and the, um, the extra burden of the pregnancy on our bodies. So it’s, it’s a, it’s, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a gift. It’s a blessing, but when it’s out of, out of balance, then it’s a

Margaret Brown: disease.

Well, to your point, I read a book years ago called Um, being mortal, I don’t know if you’ve ever read that and it’s about the doctor who wrote it talks. It’s mostly about coming. Our culture’s not willing to talk about death, but he talks about falling to your point. Falling is a problem. Usually when you fall in your older.

You may die. Yes, because your mortality rate,

Dr. Rita Roy: your mortality rate is increased dramatically. And so this is what we’ve been sort of talking about here. Balance. Keep your balance, prevent a fall, keep your bones strong. You will live longer, you will live better. And that’s the goal. We all want to live as well as we can, as long as we can.

Right? Sure. We want to be able to keep moving and enjoy life as long as we can. Right. Right,

Margaret Brown: and I appreciate all you do for that, because like I said earlier, didn’t notice my spine because it wasn’t bothering me, started noticing my spine because it was bothering me, was introduced to you guys in the summer of this year, and have found some new friends.

So many resources and so much help and I just have been so appreciative of it.

Dr. Rita Roy: Well, thank you, Margaret. And thank you for sharing your amazing story with us. Um, it’s, it is so important for us to make that connection of spine health and bone health. And you are, again, you’re the, you’re the poster child for what we’re trying to achieve.

And in everything that you’ve done to. Take care of your spine and to stay healthy and one of the things I wanted to say is that, um, we haven’t talked a little bit about your recovery, which I’d like to do now, but I think your recovery went extremely well because you went into your surgery being in good shape, all the things that you do on a normal basis, your regular exercise, you know, you stay fit, you stay healthy and that sets you up to do well in surgery and to do well After surgery.

Um, so you had said that you woke up from surgery and immediately knew that you were better. What were the days and weeks like after your surgery? And what was the recovery like?

Margaret Brown: So that’s funny because, of course, I just wanted to get right back into doing everything. And the doctor said no. You need to stop and calm down.

We need to watch you. You know, you need to come in for your post op and make sure everything’s fine. Um, so I had to not jump right back into the swimming pool and things like that. Um, I was allowed to walk, um, which I did one thing I did, and I don’t know. How appropriate it is, but I was very careful not to gain weight because I have friends who’ve done that because when you’re in pain and you can’t do what you want to do, it’s easy to do that.

So I was very careful about that because I knew I also know that gaining weight when you have pain, it adds to feet pain. I’ve had, I’ve been, you know, Overweight in the past and my feet would hurt and then I’d lose 10 pounds and think oh look my feet don’t hurt anymore. So Those things Make a difference and so I was very careful to keep walking That was one thing they told me I needed to do and I did it all as much as I could I did not get on to the mini tramp.

I did not get into the swimming pool until I got permission The biggest thing was walking and doing some. Um, I I promise you they got sick of me I would call and be like, are you sure I can’t Do this and they’d say, no, you can’t do that. And I feel, and I feel better. I know I felt great. Um, but I did, I did listen to my doctor and I waited and as soon as I got clearance, I went back into the pool, um, and did some water walking.

I do a lot of exercises in the pool, do water aerobics. That’s great. I find that actually. Less scary in a way, you know, because jump, I can’t run anymore. I have run in the past. I don’t, I haven’t done it in the past 10 years, but I, well, that’s not true. Anyway, I love to run. I, you know, I can’t necessarily do that.

And so water walking and water aerobics is great for me, but they really just didn’t want me to do it until they told me I could. Yeah. And, and I add back yeah. Stabilizing exercises when I’m in the pool. And then sometimes there are people in there for physical therapy on one side of the pool. So I just learned from that, of course, and steal their exercise.

But yeah, that was the hardest part because I did feel better immediately. That’s amazing. And And I was so lucky, and I just wanted to go right back into all of it, and they had to keep me from doing that, so.

Dr. Rita Roy: Well, Margaret, this has been an amazing conversation. Are there any last pearls of wisdom you’d like to share with our audience as we wrap up here?

Margaret Brown: I think the biggest things would be to pay close attention to your bone health and spine health earlier. Right. If as early as we can teach people, even when they’re young. Yeah. Right. I think figuring out ways to, even if you don’t have it or you have children and you are hearing this and you think, okay, what could my child do?

You know, go to spinehealth. org, look those kinds of exercises up to your point about, um, what I didn’t, I can’t repeat the name of the bone loss disease we get or the bone loss that we have, but yeah. No, not bone muscle, sarcopenias. Oh, I was right. Sarcopenia. Um, I knew about that. So I was already doing the arm exercises and things.

Um, so, but people don’t even realize that. And I think we take our bodies for advantage. We take advantage of the fact that we’re healthy. Many of us who are. And you think about things like, Oh, I want that stomach thing. Or you To your point earlier about like, I’ve got to protect my brain or I’ve got to protect my heart, but you also have to protect your bones and your spine and your, your muscles and all those things.

It’s all a big, all connected organism, right? And it’s, it’s important. And we don’t think of these things as much as we should. And, and those are the things I think I wish I’d known. And I think people that would be what I’d tell people is take care of it. As early as you can and and make it a part of the routine.

It’s not just about how you look. It’s about the inside and being strong and healthy and balance and all those things. So

Dr. Rita Roy: yeah, yeah, that that is great advice, Margaret. And we have a spine and bone health task force with seven surgeons, orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons from all over the country that are working on this information with us.

And one of the statements they came forward. Up with is that it’s very simple, but everyone at every age should think about their bone health. And I think that’s just simply stated. There it is, right? So there are different reasons at different stages that you should think about bone health. And, um, and I love what you said.

If you’re a mom, you’ve got kids there, they’re different, you know, make sure they’re getting their calcium and build up those bones. They’ve got up until about age 25 or 30. And then it’s You know, no more building, it’s, it’s just been using those phones. So, very well said. And, and thank you, Margaret, for your time and sharing your story and congratulations on your recovery.

Um, your spinal champion story is so awesome. And we’re just so thrilled to be able to share it.

Margaret Brown: Well, this was fun. I appreciate your time. Thank you.

Dr. Rita Roy: At the National Spine Health Foundation, something we believe in most is providing hope for recovery through sharing stories of success and expertise. It isn’t always easy to find someone to relate to, even though a hundred million adults suffer from neck or low back pain each year.

To hear more stories of spinal champion recovery and access educational materials about spine health, visit us at spinehealth. org. If you’re interested in supporting our show financially, you can contribute at the link provided. Thank you for listening.