At 12 years old, freshman Print Staff Writer Valeria Garcia-Pozo wore a back brace, which was often visible beneath her outfits, as a treatment for scoliosis. Garcia- Pozo remembers feeling scared that her peers would make fun of her beacause of her brace. Cartoon by Ashley Lawrence.
By VALERIA GARCIA-POZO – Print Staff Writer
Freshman Valeria Garcia-Pozo recounts her experience with a back brace after being diagnosed with scoliosis and the challenges that came with it.
My brace was made of white, hard plastic. It hugged my torso, starting below my chest and strapping around my back.
I wore this contraption over a thick cotton undershirt for the next two years. It forced me to stand and sit up straight. Slouching was not an option.
My brace prevented the curvature in my spine from getting worse and made me incredibly self-conscious of the way I sat and stood.
It didn’t matter that the brace would be hidden under my clothes. I would always know it was there.
The day I received the brace at the doctor’s office, I was 10 years old. I stood perfectly still as my brace was fastened on for the first time. When the doctor left the room I burst into tears.
The fear of the other kids teasing me was worse than my discomfort.
Moving forward from that horrible moment, I learned to live with the brace. It became routine to go to sleep with it at night, the sharp metal buckle in the back ripped holes in my bed sheets.
It became routine for my cheeks to burn with shame whenever someone asked me what was sticking out of my back.
The brace did a good job of hiding under the loose, unattractive and oversized clothes I wore to make it less noticeable, but it ripped holes in them as well.
As I became used to the brace, the discomfort slowly decreased. As more of my peers found out, the questions were asked less and less.
A sense of normalcy began to settle in.
When I was 12, I finally stopped growing. I got rid of the back brace that had become a part of me.
Four years later, it’s like the brace is still with me–I never forget to stand up straight.
