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  • #16
    Hello, I'm new to this forum as well. My 9 year old son had his shirt off last week and I noticed a lump between his sternum and nipple. I called his doctor and they asked me to bring him in to be checked. I took him to the doctor the same day and he had x-rays done. His doctor called me the next day and said he had scoliosis, but not to worry about it. Being a parent of one child that is bi-polar, when a doctor tells me to not worry, I worry. My husband immediately made an appointment with a Chiropractor that we know and took him in today for an exam. More x-rays were done and the diagnosis was confirmed so we have another appointment for Wednesday. Right now, like you, I am doing research and getting my "questions for the doctor" list ready to go. My son does suffer from migraines (which are inherited) and I am beginning to wonder if the scoliosis may be causing this. He had screenings done at school, but I never received a letter from the nurse or the school. I wish you luck, and my prayers will go out to you. By the way my father is an OTR driver as well. Small world huh?
    Louhoo

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    • #17
      Louhoo,
      The wife of a truck driver always has an interesting life. Never knowing where they are from one moment to the next. And, how long will it take them to get home in an emergency.

      Anyway, on your sons scoliosis issue, I would highly recommend that you take him to an pediatric orthopedic surgeon. That is the most qualified doctor to evaluate his condition. Scoliosis is rarely an emergency situation and if caught in time, won't end up at the surgical point. The chiropractor can release muscle tension, but cannot really fix the problem. There are basically three levels of scoliosis: 1) wait and watch-not a severe issue; 2)bracing-far enough along to need a brace for correction or to keep from getting worse; and 3) surgery-usually a scoliosis that has gone undetected by a qualified professional for quite a while or a curve that just won't slow down regardless of bracing. I have three girls, and have one in each category.

      If you are interested there are Shriner's Hospitals all over the United States. Their website is www.shrinershq.org. They have some of the best doctors in the world at their hospitals. The other thing is that if your child is diagnosed and treated by Shriners Hospital, they provide all treatments, I mean everything, at no cost to you or your insurance. Some of these appointments and treatments can be costly, even with insurance. Shriners is there for the kids to see that they get the best orthopedic care possible at no cost to you. They do all the xrays, everything right there, and give you a diagnosis right then. They will tell you the degree of his curves, which is very important to know, and what they recommend for treatment.

      I am like you. I worry about my kids health. Nothing wrong with a chiropractor, but you do need to see an pediatric orthopedic surgeon. We use chiropractors at our house, but not for scoliosis correction.

      I will have you in my prayers as you go through this with your son.

      'til later,
      Nikki

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      • #18
        Louhoo, Did you get a degree of curvature from the x-rays? That may help as to how aggressive you get in treatment. Kris

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        • #19
          12 yr old just diagnosed with scoliosis

          Hi. I'm totally new here and was wondering about scoliosis. The school nurse did the screening for scoliosis and sent a paper home with my daughter yesterday and said we needed further evaluation. I take her to the doctor on Monday. I did go see the chiropractor today though and she said that yes she did have a mild case of scoliosis. Can chiropractors help scoliosis or do more harm? Hannah's left shoulder sticks out but I not sure what that means. Are there specific questions that I should ask the doctor? My cousin had it when she was a kid but I was a kid too. I remember her wearing a back brace to help with hers. I am really freaking out right now not knowing what to do or how to feel. She is very active and likes to play soccer and everything else. Is that ok for her to do?

          Thank you,
          Connie

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          • #20
            A good chiropractor should not harm her, but can help her. The chiropractor may or may not be able to do enough help to correct the scoliosis as much as orthopedics can do. If you were told she has a mild case, that is comforting. I personally have a mild case of scoliosis, but do nothing about it. My daughter has a more severe case and has a rib hump, which makes her shoulder go forward. She is 14 and has played soccer since she was 4 years old. She is very active and wears her brace constantly, even finding comfort from it. She has had her brace for a year. She now loves to play basketball, even more than soccer, and she does great with her brace as she plays all sports. Today, she even washed cars all day at a church fundraiser and she is going on a mission trip this summer to Puerto Rico for a week to help teach bible school. She wore the brace as she washed cars and plans to wear it on the mission trip, except if she goes in the water to swim. The best thing for your daughter to do is keep physically active and continue life as usual. Let us know how things go as you see your doctors. Also, let us know what degree she has. Welcome to the group, Kris

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            • #21
              mild curve

              I personally would not go to the chiropractor without first having her spine monitored by a scoliosis specialist. Chiropractors are not qualified, despite their claims, to treat scoliosis.
              My experience: In the 6th grade I was discovered to have mild scoliosis. I went 3x a week for "adjustments" for 9 months. When we finally saw a spine specialist I needed surgery for a 100 deg curve. My parents wasted, hope, time and money they did not have. Maybe I could have avoided this with early bracing.

              For more info: http://www.chirobase.org/

              Karen
              Last edited by Karen Ocker; 04-10-2005, 05:50 PM. Reason: Capitalization
              Original scoliosis surgery 1956 T-4 to L-2 ~100 degree thoracic (triple)curves at age 14. NO hardware-lost correction.
              Anterior/posterior revision T-4 to Sacrum in 2002, age 60, by Dr. Boachie-Adjei @Hospital for Special Surgery, NY = 50% correction

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              • #22
                Karen, I agree 100% with you. We took Crystal to a Chiropractor, that made the same claims for a year and a half. Guess what? He couldn't correct her problem, all he could do was just releave muscle pain. If we would of gone to the pediatric orthopedic surgeon we may have been able to get her treated without surgery. Oh well, she has had surgery and absolutely loves her new back. We wasted way to much money and time on the Chiropractor. Sure wish we wouldn't of made that mistake.

                Connie, I am not against Chiropractors. There are just some things they aren't trained to treat and scoliosis is one of them. If they do treat it, they need to be doing it in conjunction with the pediatric orthopedic surgeon's recommendations. Just so you know, these orthopedists don't like to do surgery if they don't have to. They try to avoid it at all costs because it is a huge surgery. The recovery time alone is 9 months to one year. If I were in your shoes I'd be seeing a specialists. Maybe you should check out Shriners Hospital, www.shrinershq.org. They are strictly a pediatric orthopedic hospital and have some of the best doctors in the world working at them. They have hospitals all over the country. Let you daughter do all of her sports and activities that she is doing now. There is absolutely no reason to stop those things. It keeps her well conditioned, and most of all happy. Crystal plays high school basketball, and regardless of how much pain she was in because of her back, that is before surgery, she continued to play basketball and finished her season just a couple of weeks before she had surgery. Her recovery is a little quicker because she was in such good physical shape. So, let your daughter be the wonderful kid she is and do all those things she loves to do. But, do get her an appointment with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.

                'til later,
                Nikki

                Comment


                • #23
                  I wanted to further comment on my statement regarding chiropractic care. My daughter went to the chiropractor while My son and I went a year ago, after my son and I were in an auto accident. My daughter was able to see the chiropractor for free, since my son and I were covered by the accident insurance claim. She was glad to go and seemed to feel better with the adjustments. The orthopedic physicians also approved of the ongoing treatment, while we waited for the brace to be made. Both the chiropractor and the ortho agreed that we should discontinue chiropractic care while she wore her brace, which we did. In our case, the ortho was very cooperative with the chiro, and both agreed there was not much chance of improving the scoliosis without surgery. The chiro was more to help with muscle strain from the curvature, with possibly some improvement in the curvature. I would definitely not depend on the chiro to change her curvature as much as is needed. Plus, I would have to think hard before paying for chiro care on a continueing basis, had it not been concidental with my accident.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    school screenings

                    Hi Cindy,
                    Your post brought to mind a conversation with my PCM. We both were wondering if it would be beneficial to check the length of the legs in school screening. It is becoming more apparent to both of us, that having one leg longer than the other seems to be more than coincedence that affect scoliosis patients. Anyone have any thoughts on that theory.
                    Regards,
                    Gayle


                    November 4, 2004, 57 yo
                    Instrumented Spinal Fusion ~ T 10 -S1

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Thank you.

                      Originally posted by nikyergen
                      Karen, I agree 100% with you. We took Crystal to a Chiropractor, that made the same claims for a year and a half. Guess what? He couldn't correct her problem, all he could do was just releave muscle pain. If we would of gone to the pediatric orthopedic surgeon we may have been able to get her treated without surgery. Oh well, she has had surgery and absolutely loves her new back. We wasted way to much money and time on the Chiropractor. Sure wish we wouldn't of made that mistake.

                      Connie, I am not against Chiropractors. There are just some things they aren't trained to treat and scoliosis is one of them. If they do treat it, they need to be doing it in conjunction with the pediatric orthopedic surgeon's recommendations. Just so you know, these orthopedists don't like to do surgery if they don't have to. They try to avoid it at all costs because it is a huge surgery. The recovery time alone is 9 months to one year. If I were in your shoes I'd be seeing a specialists. Maybe you should check out Shriners Hospital, www.shrinershq.org. They are strictly a pediatric orthopedic hospital and have some of the best doctors in the world working at them. They have hospitals all over the country. Let you daughter do all of her sports and activities that she is doing now. There is absolutely no reason to stop those things. It keeps her well conditioned, and most of all happy. Crystal plays high school basketball, and regardless of how much pain she was in because of her back, that is before surgery, she continued to play basketball and finished her season just a couple of weeks before she had surgery. Her recovery is a little quicker because she was in such good physical shape. So, let your daughter be the wonderful kid she is and do all those things she loves to do. But, do get her an appointment with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.

                      'til later,
                      Nikki
                      Thank You. We did go to the doctor yesterday(regular) and she sent us for x-rays. Have to wait until tomorrow or thursday for the results. If it's bad enough then she'll send us to an orthopedic doctor. I'll stop the chiropractic care for now and ask the orthopedic if we go to one. According to the school it was 11 to the right. Not real sure what that means though. The doctor said that more than likely it is a watch situation. We have to wait for x-rays to come back though. Thank you again. Connie

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Just want to say thanks!!!!

                        Just want to say thanks to all of you. It helps knowing that there are people out there that can help us new ones out. I'm not as jumpy about it as I was before. I'm letting her do what she wants for now until somebody tells me different. I'll keep you guys posted when I find out about the x-rays. Again, Thank You!

                        Connie

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                        • #27
                          Connie,
                          Good for you. You need to know where you are at before you get started. The important thing is the the degree of the curve(s). I am not against Chiropractors, as they can releave some muscle pain. But, scoliosis really needs to be monitored, because the degree of the curve(s) can change very slowly, very rapidly, and sometimes not at all, and you need to be right on top of those changes. Most likely, if you daughter is a wait and watch, she should go in for follow-up xrays every 4-6 months. That way you won't get to terribly far behind the battle. It sounds like you doctor has it going on, telling you that you needed to come back to get the results of the xrays, which means they have to measure the curves.

                          I just hate to see someone make the mistake with a chiropractor that we made. It was our mistake by not seeing a specialist. Because with a specialist and a chiropractor we may have been able to stay ahead of Crystal's curve. Now she is 16 and 1/2, and going crazy because she has to slow down for nine months. That is really hard on these active kids.

                          Let us know how things go.

                          'til later,
                          nikki

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Hannah's progress

                            What do the curves actually mean? Does it mean something different if it's on the right than the left or the left than the right?

                            Connie

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Connie,
                              The degree, whether to the right or left, tells how far the spine has curved out of position. The body can only handle so much of a curve before it can possibly cause other problems with the internal organs. Usually, the curves can be taken care of before there are any problems. Scoliosis isn't usually an emergency situation. The higher the degree of the curve the more twisted the spine is. Crystal's curve was at 88 degrees. I will get her corrected curve next Wednesday for one of her follow up appointments after surgery.

                              Have you doctor explain the curves more thoroughly with you. Don't be afraid to ask your doctor questions either. There is never a dumb question.

                              'til later,
                              Nikki

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Gayle,

                                I like your thought about checking the limb length in school screenings. Good luck getting it done, however. Our school district doesn't seem interested in checking the kids any more often than the law requires them to do so. There reason, it is time consuming. The first time my daughter was seen by an ortho. for her Scoliosis, the doctor did mention a little difference in the limb length.

                                Mary Lou

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