So fibromyalgia comes in many varieties of symptoms and most doctors agree that though it's genetic it's also multi-causal. For me I've been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia with Cervical Positional Myelopathy. In my case this means when I lean my head back the channel that allows spinal fluid to flow up and down the spinal column narrows. What this means to me is if I sleep wrong or tilt my head badly say watching a movie, my fibro will flare with a lions roar.
Though I was initially skeptical about corsets because any time I wear tight, elastic waist clothing my hip and foot pain skyrockets, the mentions of improved posture struck a cord, literally my poor impinged spinal cord. My first corset was a Orchard Corset 426, longline, underbust model. What I found is that even though it must be tight around my waist because it laces my waist down a number of inches, that compression is distributed from underbust to the top of my tummy. And, that compression is fixed, it doesn't continually squeeze and squeeze they way an elastic garment would.
I was really surprised that right away it felt good. Some people say corsets are uncomfortable or painful to wear and I haven't found that to be the case for me, and I'm so sensitive to the tiniest of pain triggers. What I also realized was that in my constant pursuit for comfort, my chair of choice, my lazy boy rocker recliner, was a bad choice. In it, my spine rounded like a C, I'd rock back and forth trying to soothe my cramped, painful back which though it helped distract me from the pain, it didn't actually diminish it.
Corsets really don't let you slump. For so many years I'd been trying not to let my head lean back that I'd actually over compensated so my head always tilted forward. Simply straightening up felt wonderful and didn't cause any flaring. I found right away that I had to sit in upright chairs with my feet flat on the floor to feel comfortable and that it felt natural. It also changed the angle that my body weight lined up over my hips, instantly shifting my weight away from my most troublesome trigger point in my right hip.
You have to allow a corset to "season" which means you wear it loosely and for short periods at first while the boning and seams begin to conform to your body shape. For me this was a negative, I knew immediately the corset as helping me because I dreaded taking it off. When I have it off, I try to continue to mimic the posture that it's helping me to learn.
You might be saying but I've got good posture. That's what I thought as well, people would even comment on my good posture while standing. But, sitting/standing up straight is actually a kind of misnomer. With my corset on my shoulders fall back, my spine develops a gentle s curve, back between the shoulder blades then curving in at my waist and then aligning between my hip bones, just like those skeletons you might have seen in 8th grade biology.
Posture was the first, most noticeable benefit of my corset. But it was by no means the only benefit. In my next blog I'll talk about some bodily functions people tend to not discuss in "polite" conversation so be warned :)
Though I was initially skeptical about corsets because any time I wear tight, elastic waist clothing my hip and foot pain skyrockets, the mentions of improved posture struck a cord, literally my poor impinged spinal cord. My first corset was a Orchard Corset 426, longline, underbust model. What I found is that even though it must be tight around my waist because it laces my waist down a number of inches, that compression is distributed from underbust to the top of my tummy. And, that compression is fixed, it doesn't continually squeeze and squeeze they way an elastic garment would.
I was really surprised that right away it felt good. Some people say corsets are uncomfortable or painful to wear and I haven't found that to be the case for me, and I'm so sensitive to the tiniest of pain triggers. What I also realized was that in my constant pursuit for comfort, my chair of choice, my lazy boy rocker recliner, was a bad choice. In it, my spine rounded like a C, I'd rock back and forth trying to soothe my cramped, painful back which though it helped distract me from the pain, it didn't actually diminish it.
Corsets really don't let you slump. For so many years I'd been trying not to let my head lean back that I'd actually over compensated so my head always tilted forward. Simply straightening up felt wonderful and didn't cause any flaring. I found right away that I had to sit in upright chairs with my feet flat on the floor to feel comfortable and that it felt natural. It also changed the angle that my body weight lined up over my hips, instantly shifting my weight away from my most troublesome trigger point in my right hip.
You have to allow a corset to "season" which means you wear it loosely and for short periods at first while the boning and seams begin to conform to your body shape. For me this was a negative, I knew immediately the corset as helping me because I dreaded taking it off. When I have it off, I try to continue to mimic the posture that it's helping me to learn.
You might be saying but I've got good posture. That's what I thought as well, people would even comment on my good posture while standing. But, sitting/standing up straight is actually a kind of misnomer. With my corset on my shoulders fall back, my spine develops a gentle s curve, back between the shoulder blades then curving in at my waist and then aligning between my hip bones, just like those skeletons you might have seen in 8th grade biology.
Posture was the first, most noticeable benefit of my corset. But it was by no means the only benefit. In my next blog I'll talk about some bodily functions people tend to not discuss in "polite" conversation so be warned :)