The curve of my life

[sitoutturn]

Hi guys I just turned 18 last month and have a curve of 50 degrees or 47 something around there. Anyways I have been cursed with this since 7th grade the brace helped a lot and slowed it down when I finally started wearing it!! my next appointment is in 2 years. The thing is I really don’t feel much back pain and I train mon-sat in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts aka Cage fighting…UFC) any ways is there any one else out there who has been in my situation and didn’t have to get surgery…The one thing that has kept me away from getting surgery is my love for sports it really keeps me sane at times and I love competing and training and would hate to have it all end!!


I don’t know if anyone else experiences this but I feel so paranoid about my back I always look at it and think its getting worse!! It drives me nuts but I have learned to deal with the emotional side of it and yeah I am done ranting about that. I still wear my brace even though my doctor told me to stop last summer but when I didn’t wear it the curve got 2 degrees worse so now I always have it on when I go to bed……is this bad??

I am pretty much done growing and I don’t know how the scoliosis will get worse but yeah what do you guys think my chances are??

[LindaRacine]

Do you plan to wear the brace the rest of your life?

Braces are meant to hold your curves while you're growing. Since you're 18, and your doctor felt you could discontinue using the brace, it seems reasonable to me that you should consider it. If your curve was only 2 degrees worse than it was while in the brace, you should consider yourself very lucky.

Good luck.

--Linda

[structural75]

Linda Racine,

Braces are meant to hold your curves while you're growing. Since you're 18, and your doctor felt you could discontinue using the brace, it seems reasonable to me that you should consider it. If your curve was only 2 degrees worse than it was while in the brace, you should consider yourself very lucky.

There are lots of things Drs tell us to do, but that doesn't mean it's the best advice...

We're all aware that despite the end of our 'growing' season it's still possible and likely that gravities imposition will cause a slow increase in the lateral curvature over a lifetime. Even if that progression is 1 degree a year... that's 30 degrees in 30 years... Even if it were a half a degree each year or so that is substantial when considering it's being added to his already 50 degree curve. Certainly doesn't sound "lucky" if you ask me, nor "reasonable" to assume it won't progress slowly over time. Many have stopped utilizing a brace only to see their curve begin progression again... so it seems reasonable to me that he might consider it an option, especially seeing as Drs generally have nothing intelligable to offer their patients at this point in their lives, except for surgery down the road if it reaches that point.

Do you plan to wear the brace the rest of your life?

There are lots of people who choose to take drugs/pain meds the rest of their lives... Or sit around and wait for the next study... Or wait for their Doc to be more proactive and versatile in approaches.... Or wait for the possibilty of surgery... Sounds like this is a personal choice regarding management.... Take your pick.

It sounds like he is looking to remain proactive about his scoliosis, which should be appplauded. Your response didn't sound very supportive or productive to me... I'm sorry but it really urks me to know that you sit around taking pain meds etc. and have the audacity to recommend passivity and naivity to young people like this.

[MATJESNIC]

Many young men are still growing at age 18. One thing I wouldn't do is to let too much time pass between x-rays. If it were my teen, I would have her go back for monitoring every 6 months. We read so many stories here about people in their 30's and up who never went back for monitoring and now find themselves with curves in their 60's or over. I vowed I would never let that happen to my daughter. But we never got that far because she is already at surgery level.

I'm sorry. Did you mention whether you are male or female?

[cherylplinder]

Someone posted some information about bracing at night for a few years past skeletal maturity and that it was found to possibly stabilize the curve. I'll try to find out more.

[Cakedec]

Dear Sitoutturn:

If you read the statistics, the chances are probably that your curve of 50 degrees or more will increase as you age. I wore a brace in my teens with curves around the size of yours and they told me it shouldn't progress. The pain just got worse and worse as I aged to the point where I could barely sit or walk and became disabled in my 40's. By the time a surgeon who told me I was a candidate for surgery, I was 47 and my curves were 77 and 72 degrees. The surgery was able to correct me only 50% to about 37 and 36 degrees and it has been a long and difficult recovery at my age. It is very difficult to retrain for a new career now, also.

What I would recommend for you since you're not in pain is to keep watch of the curve over the next 3-4 years while you are in college and still on your parent's health insurance. That is really the best time to have surgery while you still have their support while you recover. If you wait until you are into your career, it may be difficult to take the time off work to recover--which can be 3-6 months to go back full time. If you wait until you have a husband to support you, that might work, but will you have it before you start having children and they require you 24/7 or will you wait until they are grown up enough that they don't need you every minute (usually about the time of menopause!) and your body has already been damaged from the severity of your scoliosis--DDD, arthritis, sciatica, SI joint pain, decreased lung function, etc.

There is no easy answer. We just want you to know the whole story upfront. Most of us did not hear the truth until it was almost too late. Good luck.

Deb
age 48
posterior surgery 7/24/06
DON'T WAIT TO GET STRAIGHT!

[sitoutturn]

First of all I would like to thank you guys for reading my little story and giving me advice on what can happen. I am a male so I wont have to worry about giving birth (This is a very harsh disease on a female because deformity is not fun) but for me it really doesn’t matter I am a fighter and I don’t really care what other think or say about my back I get in the ring and take care of business with a crooked back.

I tend to approach things the natural way and surgery is not really my kind of thing. I travel Europe and go to a special kind of eastern medicine doctor who corrects any kind of spinal disorders he works from the first vertebrate all the way down to the balls of your feet. He told me that my back will be alright and not to get surgery because my spine was already headed in the right direction anyways he explained to me that it was like having a wart…the wart does not hurt but it just doesn’t look very attractive.

One more thing most of this is all mental ladies and gentleman I use to get a little back pain during my wrestling days because I was constantly checking up on my back and one day I just stopped doing it and said whatever I don’t care anymore and the pain was gone and I have broken this habit. Yes I still tend to get paranoid about my back but I just wear the brace because it helps me mentally.

My doctor believes that I am done growing because of my growth chart and I have caught up to both my parents in height so yeah I hope I don’t grow any more and the curve just halts.

[sitoutturn]

Do you plan to wear the brace the rest of your life?

Braces are meant to hold your curves while you're growing. Since you're 18, and your doctor felt you could discontinue using the brace, it seems reasonable to me that you should consider it. If your curve was only 2 degrees worse than it was while in the brace, you should consider yourself very lucky.

Good luck.

--Linda

I mean I don’t think that will be possible Linda. Even though I have stopped growing I train 5 times a week so my body get wider and I will eventually grow out of the brace and have to get a new one....I was looking at spinecore?

[jenae]

I was/am in the exact same situation as you. Except, I was never braced.

I danced a lot through my teens and kept all of it up as well as all of my activities. I wasn't much into sports ever, but it never effected my life to any great extent. I never experienced much pain; just some soreness and stiffness, mostly when I'm less active. I have a 50 degree upper curve and a similar compensatory curve so I am fairly balanced and still experience little pain. I'm now 21 years old and it has remained stable for the past 3 years. Because of my lack of pain and flexibility my doctor did not recommend surgery; I even got a second opinion and he also said that just staying active would be best for me.

I'd definitely wear your brace as much as you can, because it definitely can't hurt, that's for sure. And stay active and flexible, definitely; my doctors have highly recommended it. I think that there is a good chance that it could still stabilize at this point in your life like it did for me. Also, if it does progress a little, but you still feel good, there's no reason to rush into anything, especially surgery. I was also really scared about surgery because it would decrease my flexibility and possibly prevent me from dancing. But regardless, it's always up to you. It sounds like you're doing really well right now, so don't worry about it too much. You'll see how things are in a couple years and go from there.