BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) -- Mary-Jim Blackerby is used to lying down on what looks like a medieval torture machine. She lies face-down on a cushioned flat surface while the doctor straps her in. But for her, this is nothing. The real torture happened before she set out to find some relief from her scoliosis.
"It wasn't until my husband passed away and I lay on a couch and cried for a year," she says. "And when I got up, I could not walk."
That's when she came to see Dr. Berry in Vestavia Hills. He's one of 10 doctors in the country who uses a new treatment that doesn't involve a back brace or surgery. Dr. Berry says those options are unacceptable.
"We had to develop a better way," he says.
For people with scoliosis, it's all about the brain and how it tells the body to respond to gravity. For unknown reasons, the brain misinterprets how gravity is pullinig on the body, telling it to move too far one way or another. This throws off the balance of the body, resulting in an uneven posture.
Dr. Berry uses a digital motion x-ray machine to detect spinal damage that wouldn't normally show up on traditional tests. He uses what he learns about patients from the motion x-ray and develops a treatment plan to suit their bodies. One part of the treatment is to place weights on certain areas of the body to re-train the brain how to properly react to gravity.
Mary-Jim says all her work has paid off. "I think that's why I had good success. Because it's going to take some practice, it's going to take commitment, and it is going to require you to do some work at home," she says. "But it's worth it. It is worth it."
