Hi,
My daughter was diagnosed with scoliosis when she was 7. She is currently 13. She has used both a Spincor brace and more recently a Rigo Cheneau brace faithfully since that time to the present. At her last appointment with her orthopedic Dr. her curves were still not looking good. She has progressed over the years to 52 thoracic and in the 40s for her lumbar curve. Her thoracic curve has always been the curve of major concern, but is very high up so it is difficult to brace. The lumbar curve only developed about 1.5 years ago, most likely in response to the worsening of the thoracic curve. My guess is that she still has quite a bit of growth left and has not started her period.
Anyway, her doctor recommended surgery. While he said it did not have to be done immediately he feels like her outcome might be more pleasing if we did it sooner than later. His reasoning was that he felt he could probably fuse from about T3-T9 and that the bottom would straighten out on its own. His concern with waiting too long is that he might eventually have to fuse more levels and may end up in the lumbar spine. He thought this would not sit well with our daughter as she is very athletic and would want as little loss of mobility as possible for her future.
On the other hand, she has been doing gymnastics her entire life and is very skilled with it. Gymnastics would not be an option after surgery, so she is dead set against surgery right now. She is also terrified of procedures in general, so an undertaking like fusion is not looking inviting to her. In addition, as she points out to me, she has no pain, her body does amazing things for her and she wears her brace for about 19 hours a day. She also looks pretty balanced, not perfect, but pretty good. Her x-rays always shock me, because I feel like she should look more crooked from the outside.
So, here we sit, wondering if the benefits of an earlier surgery are worth it or not. I am afraid her bottom curves won't keep holding in her brace and she will need a larger surgery down the road. On the other hand, it is really tempting to just keep letting her be a kid and do the things she enjoys.
Your thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks.
Sarah
My daughter was diagnosed with scoliosis when she was 7. She is currently 13. She has used both a Spincor brace and more recently a Rigo Cheneau brace faithfully since that time to the present. At her last appointment with her orthopedic Dr. her curves were still not looking good. She has progressed over the years to 52 thoracic and in the 40s for her lumbar curve. Her thoracic curve has always been the curve of major concern, but is very high up so it is difficult to brace. The lumbar curve only developed about 1.5 years ago, most likely in response to the worsening of the thoracic curve. My guess is that she still has quite a bit of growth left and has not started her period.
Anyway, her doctor recommended surgery. While he said it did not have to be done immediately he feels like her outcome might be more pleasing if we did it sooner than later. His reasoning was that he felt he could probably fuse from about T3-T9 and that the bottom would straighten out on its own. His concern with waiting too long is that he might eventually have to fuse more levels and may end up in the lumbar spine. He thought this would not sit well with our daughter as she is very athletic and would want as little loss of mobility as possible for her future.
On the other hand, she has been doing gymnastics her entire life and is very skilled with it. Gymnastics would not be an option after surgery, so she is dead set against surgery right now. She is also terrified of procedures in general, so an undertaking like fusion is not looking inviting to her. In addition, as she points out to me, she has no pain, her body does amazing things for her and she wears her brace for about 19 hours a day. She also looks pretty balanced, not perfect, but pretty good. Her x-rays always shock me, because I feel like she should look more crooked from the outside.
So, here we sit, wondering if the benefits of an earlier surgery are worth it or not. I am afraid her bottom curves won't keep holding in her brace and she will need a larger surgery down the road. On the other hand, it is really tempting to just keep letting her be a kid and do the things she enjoys.
Your thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks.
Sarah
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