Kyphoscoliosis in 15 year old boy . . .

[Joe's Mom]

I have a 15 year old son diagnosed with Kyphoscoliosis. He is getting an MRI on June 17. I have been told over the last year that it isn't the Scheurman's (sp?) type, but who knows!

He also has flat feet and his left foot had a taleocalcaneal coalition which was surgically removed 5 years ago. He wears an orthotic in that shoe now.

So far, we are going by idiopathic. His scoli curve is now around 28 degrees; he now has curves in cervical, thoracic and lumbar areas and the kyphosis curve too.

We are in wait and see mode, but the doctors seem perplexed by him. We have been to two major children's hospitals for his spine and three for his foot.

Any input is so very welcome!

[wishfulthinker]

I joined last night

[wishfulthinker]

sorry about that. I ment to put that somewhere else. Anyway, about your son. I've been to a few hospitals myself. My mom is going to try another one to see if mine can be helped. my scoli is about 85 degress and it HURTS. If you need to email me, my addy is vdawg2007@yahoo.com


Good Luck,
Virginia

[Mary Lou]

Kyphoscoliosisi

Hi Joe's Mom...I too am a mother of a child (daughter) with Kyphscoliosis. Also, we live in PA as well. May I ask why your son is having an MRI? Did your doctor say if his flat feet has anything to do with his Scoliosis, because my daughter too is flat footed. What children's hospitals have you dealt with? We've dealt only with the Children's Hospital at Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA and will be taking our daughter to Shriner's in July. I would love to be in contact with you and exchange more information. Please send me a private message or I'll send you one and send you my e-mail address. Thanks in advance and good luck!
Mary Lou

[matt]

Re: Kyphoscoliosis in 15 year old boy . . .

Hi. I'm a 14 1/2 y/o boy with 21* scoliotic curve and a 57* Scheuermann's Kyphosis Curve. These numbers were taken 3 months ago and i am going see a pediatric scoliosis specialist at Shriners Hospital on June 22. The weird thing about me writing to you is that I AM FLAT FOOTED TOO!! I ahve even had 5 bilateral surgeries for having flat feet!!Out of the 3 people I know from this website who have Kyphoscoliosis is that they all have flat feet!! I think we're kinda going some where with this. If anyone needs to talk my email addy is hard_roc_child08@hotmail.com!!

[Joe's Mom]

Matt, if you are going to Shirners in New Orleans, are you going to see Dr Pickvance? She was Joe's doctor in Pittsburgh before moving there!

I do think there is a relationship between the flat feet.

[mcgntl]

My daughter was recently diagnosed with scoliosis and we are waiting for measurements and will be going next week for more x-rays. The initial reason for the doctor visit was due to knee pain and it was found that she is flat footed. This is very interesting to me. I know I should have read up on this before posting but what is Kyphoscoliosis? As far as we know she just has scoliosis.
Thanks,

[Joe's Mom]

Kyphoscoliosis is two distinct deformities of the spine. The scoliosis is a twisting of the spine. The kyphosis is a rounding of the spine. When you have both, you have deformities of the spine in multiple dimensions.

My son at first just had a dx of scoliosis (Feb 2003). By December 2003 the dx of kyphosis was added.

Ortho told us that usually with scoli, the spine flattens and to have it round, while not impossible, is rather unusual. My son is getting an MRI of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spines on Thursday to rule out any problem with the spine itself (said the odds of this are remote but the MRI is a standard test with Kyphoscoliosis).

Welcome.

Oh, I forgot to add, he also has flat feet! While both feet are very flat, his left foot had a taleocalcaneal coalition (a mass) in it. It was there from birth but we didn't know until he was 9. He began to limp and his leg bone began to torque. The mass was big and surgery had to be performed to remove it. His foot bones could not be held together with a tendon in the foot, as they would like to have done, as his foot went spastic. Since then we have learned that he has/had the coalition WITH peroneal spastic left foot/leg (perhaps left side of the body - I'm not totally sure).

The flat foot complaint is one that I read a lot in kids scoliosis and kyphosis but the doctors claim it isn't related. Interesting tho. Seems like the incidence of flat footedness must be higher in this group of kids,

[mcgntl]

Thank you for your response. It sounds like you have been through alot. Is the overall prognosis good or do you think there will be ongoing issues? I am curious about the outcome of these different treatments.

I can not see any roundness in my daughter's back, however, I did not see the crookedness either. We are going for a DEXA series of X-rays next week. From what I have read about this series, it seems to be more for bone density. Does this sound familiar to you?