Double curve

[Ukman]

Has anyone had surgery for a double curve where they just fuse the thoraic curve and leave the lumbar curve unfused? Apparently when they 'correct' the upper/thoraic curve the lower curve is straightened out by a pull effect. They leave the lower unfused because a fusion here restricts movement. I had this a few yrs ago and am now experiencing pain. Could this be due to worsening of the lower curve? I'm a little concerned as I don't really fancy more surgery.

[itsjustme]

Has anyone had surgery for a double curve where they just fuse the thoraic curve and leave the lumbar curve unfused? Apparently when they 'correct' the upper/thoraic curve the lower curve is straightened out by a pull effect. They leave the lower unfused because a fusion here restricts movement. I had this a few yrs ago and am now experiencing pain. Could this be due to worsening of the lower curve? I'm a little concerned as I don't really fancy more surgery.

My doctor did that only because my lumbar curve was a compensatory curve. I don't know about the other part of your questions I'm not even a year post op. Hope everything works out! ~Shelley

[sweetness514]

I had a double curve, and they fused me down to L2, not that low according to most orthos, b/c they wanted me to keep some flexibility. My ortho did talk about the pulling effect.

Gettting an Xray done would answer your question if your curve is either coming back or worsening.

[laurad]

Hi, I had a double curve in my spine but they only corrected the top curve. I was fused two years ago from T2 to T12, and had the metal work removed a year ago because of the pain it caused. But over the last 9 months I have been experiencing excrusitating pain in the lower part of my back, into my hip and down my leg.

I have been to see a hydrotherapist but she actually made the pain worse. I now see a physiotherapist who has given me stretching exercises to do to increase the flexibility in the lower part of my back. He has said that there isn't much he can do for me as the pain is caused by deteriation of the spine because it does the work of my other vertebrae. However I find that the stretching helps a bit with the pain and using heat pads also help sometimes.

Laura

[marmyte]

last july i had a section of my lumbar spine fused although i had a thoracic curve too (it was a compensatory one, the lumbar was the structural one).

the first way to rule out a source of your pain is to get a spinal xray and see if there are any problems with your fusion or remaining free vertebrae. have the xray checked by the consultant who did your surgery or at least their registrar. if the xray doesn't show anything unusual i'd imagine they would recommend physiotherapy to try and determine the source of your pain, but you may yourself be able to tell if it's skeletal pain or neuromuscular (does the pain feel like it's in the bone or is it similar to a muscle strain or nerve damage?)

so i'd say get an xray to check your spine out as a first course of action and see where it goes from there.

out of curiosity, where did you have surgery?

[Ukman]

marmyte I had surgery in the Middlesex in London 2001. Am going for checkup next month and will find out if there is a prob then. Whatever happens I still think it's the best thing I've ever done.