Originally Posted by Stacy2012

I have identical twin sons and they both had pectus Carinatum. Carinatum is where the bones protrude out, excavatum is where the bones push in. Carinatum is easier to fix, providing you catch it early enough. You have to treat both of them before the age of 18 while the bones are still flexible.

20 years ago surgery was the ONLY option, and most doctors didn't even bother to treat it, and insurance said it was cosmetic. Things have changed since my boys were little, today there are options, and it is realized that indeed it is more than cosmetic, but much is still unknown to the "modern medical" doctors.

Back 20 years ago bracing was not common. I almost flew my 4th grade boys to Brazil since my research showed limited dr's who believed in bracing over surgery. Thankfully God lead me to a man on the cutting edge of new technology, but my boys were among his first patients. Today he has several locations and is a thriving pectus therapy in New York, New Jersey, and Arizona.

Why did I do it??? Have you seen that gosh awful surgery they want to perform???? They go in and break all the ribs and breast bone to place a bar, close them up, wait 6 months, the do another surgery to take the bar out. N O W A Y. Recovery is AWFUL.

God lead me the correct path, and I am still thankful today. If you heard the whole story you would be amazed. Long story short....2 boys, so double the tests and costs. Because I found this man at the beginning of his trying to get doctors to join him in this therapy, I never paid a dime. 2 kids, means 2 MRI, 2 ekg, 2 stress test, 2 cat scans, list is long. I never got a single bill and thats only part of the story. God is good.

p.s. today they can take their shirt off and you would never know they had it.

Originally Posted by Stacy2012

Melody, did you make your own or did you buy a machine thingy to make the silver????

Mine is good old fashioned home made and when I say rustic, well..its rustic. Like everything, I go in spurts, I use it awhile then quit, then remember it and use it again. Then I ran out of silver and forgot until today.

Originally Posted by skyfox

I have had a doctor recommend alternating hot and cold in the shower - as warm as you can stand it, then as cold as you can manage. Repeat several times back and forth ending with cold.

Originally Posted by mrsD

I cannot stand that heat.... The sauna at the gym would set off my Lateral Femoral nerve (MP--damage from a C-section many years ago), fairly quickly. I loved to sauna after a work out.

Also hot baths are out for me too. I only use lukewarm water today. Too hot a bath and my feet go off into constant pain for days afterward.

I think people are going to be different with this hot/cold thing. So start off carefully with no extremes or long times doing it.

I do use ice treatments for my back and ankle sometimes. No longer than 20 minutes though. I use an cold gel pack that I keep in the frig freezer. Cold treatments like this are recommended for some arthritis patients, but only if done for short periods of time. Use of cold too long can be dangerous to tissues, if your circulation is poor.
They tend to quench inflammation.