Elizabeth Taylor - scoliosis

[Pooka1]

I didn't know where to post this... I didn't realize she was in a wheelchair due to scoliosis.

Liz Taylor (http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/09/liz.taylor.outing/index.html)

[Ballet Mom]

Elizabeth Taylor is still a lovely lady. I applaud her. I ran across this article over a year ago about her when I was doing my exhaustive research on scoliosis. It's quite interesting as it says she was apparently born with scoliosis. You would have never known it in her movies.

http://www.askmen.com/celebs/entertainment-news/elizabeth-taylor/elizabeth-taylor-battles-heart-and-spine-problems.html

[LindaRacine]

Her scoliosis is de novo scoliosis. She may have had a small scoliosis when she was younger, but the real damage has come from degeneration.

--Linda

[loves to skate]

Linda, you are correct about her scoliosis. My scoliosis is the same as Elizabeth Taylor's. I always wondered why she didn't choose to have surgery. Maybe she was not a good surgical risk. I know she has been in wheelchair for several years.
Sally

[mamamax]

In an interview with Larry King - Ms. Taylor states that she has had scoliosis from birth (double curve). I can recall several reported hospitalizations throughout her career, for back surgery. While the details of those surgeries were never released, the fact that she had a major spinal fusion in 1957 does appear in her biography.

[LindaRacine]

In an interview with Larry King - Ms. Taylor states that she has had scoliosis from birth (double curve). I can recall several reported hospitalizations throughout her career, for back surgery. While the details of those surgeries were never released, the fact that she had a major spinal fusion in 1957 does appear in her biography.
Thanks for pointing that out. ;-)

I believe the scoliosis she was born with was very minor. Because I have a Google Alert for scoliosis, I've been following this issue for a long time. Rent some of her movies. There are plenty of shots of her back when she's bending over, and there is no obvious curve. The problems she's been having for the last 5 years or so are due to degeneration. She did have a 3 or 4 level fusion in the 50's, but it was thought to be due to an injury, not scoliosis.

[Ballet Mom]

Mamamax,

I happened to see the transcript for that Larry King interview when I was hunting for my original article. Here is the link to the transcript and the interesting comments:

KING: The story about health. There must be -- I mean you are -- you're in a chair, right?

TAYLOR: Yes.

KING: In a wheelchair.

TAYLOR: Yes.

KING: What's the reason for that?

TAYLOR: My back, which has been chronically bad since I was a teenager.

KING: You had that at national velvet time, right?

TAYLOR: Before that.

KING: Before that?

TAYLOR: I was born with scoliosis. But not too many people -- you know now.

KING: Are born with scoliosis, which is?

TAYLOR: Curvature -- double curvature of the spine and osteoporosis.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0605/30/lkl.01.html

[mamamax]

Thanks for pointing that out. ;-)

I believe the scoliosis she was born with was very minor. Because I have a Google Alert for scoliosis, I've been following this issue for a long time. Rent some of her movies. There are plenty of shots of her back when she's bending over, and there is no obvious curve. The problems she's been having for the last 5 years or so are due to degeneration. She did have a 3 or 4 level fusion in the 50's, but it was thought to be due to an injury, not scoliosis.

Welcome. Lord knows i think i've seen every movie she's ever made and i agree, one sure can't tell. Of course, Hollywood is famous for shooting at just the right angles, right lighting, etc. Also - the human body does have an amazing ability to compensate. That's what my doctors have said anyway, looking from my xrays .. to .. me ;-) Hollywood circa her time - may have been prone to hide such things.