Question re: Dr. Boachie's report

[Singer]

I got the write-up from my Dr. Boachie visit, and some of his terminology has me stumped. What's he mean by a lumbrosacral fractional curve? It's at L4-5, and it's 40 degrees. My main curve is the thoracolumbar curve (70 deg) from T9-L3. He also says I have a 56 deg. lordosis -- that's swayback, right? -- is that something that goes away when they correct the main curve?

Thank you one and all,
Chris

[katblack]

I'd really encourage you to talk to your doctor about whether or not the lordosis will be correctable with surgery.

[LindaRacine]

Hi Chris...

I think that it means that the L4-L5 curve is inconsequential, but I could be wrong.

Swayback isn't an orthopaedic curve, so that's not what it means. Lordosis is the normal curve at the back of the waist. Normal lordosis is 30-70 degrees, so they probably won't do anything to change that during surgery.

Regards,
Linda

[katblack]

I was under the impression that lordosis is swayback myself and after googling the terms swayback + orthopaedic, it seems that it is.
http://health.allrefer.com/health/lordosis-info.html

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache%...%20orthopaedic

In the other direction, as the hip flexors contract and back extensors contract, the pelvis is rotated forward -- increasing the curvature of the lower back. If this curve is increased too much another unhealthy posture may result. This condition is called lordosis in medical terminology, or swayback in common terms.

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache%...%20orthopaedic
scoliosis (lateral curvature of the spine), kyphosis (rounding of the back), lordosis (swayback deformity), spondylolisthesis (slippage of a vertebra)

[LindaRacine]

http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/o...ion=Search+OMD

swayback

Congenital locomotor ataxia of lambs, thought to be associated with copper deficiency. It is characterised clinically by progressive incoordination of the hind limbs and pathologically by disruption of neuron and myelin development in the central nervous system. It is caused by a deficiency of metabolizable copper in the ewe during the last half of her pregnancy.

[Singer]

Aaaaaalrighty, then!

I'm not going to worry about the lordosis........!


Chris

[katblack]

Chris, I was posting to you because I had lordosis as well.

But again, talk to your doctor about your lordosis as each person is different and each surgeon handles swayback/lordosis differently.

But on a funny note, I'm amazed to see that my copper deficiency during my pregnancy caused the incoordination in my hind limbs.

[JoAnn5]

Chris, i think everyone has lordosis... it's only when it's beyond the normal degrees that it needs surgical correction. Everyone has kyphosis to a certain degree too. The normal spine curves frontward and backward in these ways to balance itself. Scoliosis, of course you know, is the side-to-side curve. When the dr. corrects your scoliosis, he will certainly make sure that the others are compatable as well.