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Hello,
I had scoliosis surgery in 1989 at the age of 9 with the CD rod instrumentation that was new at the time. I believe that I had 5 vertebrae fused from T5-L1. I had both anterior and posterior surgeries done.
Now I'm 26 years old, and started visiting doctors for check-ups, and to see about getting a thorocoplasty procedure done to remove segment of ribs to reduce the rib hump. On the third opinion the doctor advised that my rods and spine were mal-aligned and that surgery was probably inevitable to realign the spine under the neck. He said this is known as the crankshaft phenomenon where the spine continues to twist after fusion. It sometimes occurs when individuals are fused at a young age before they reach skeletal maturity. The lower part of my spine is starting to curve contributing to the mal-alignment.
The doctor advised that I not do the thorocoplasty first, and instead, have both surgeries done at the same time. He advised they could do the thorocoplasty, then remove the previous hardware and install new segmentation, and they would need to fuse down to L3. He said it was better to do it sooner then later, as younger people heal quicker, and it would save my L4 and L5 which is the most important for mobility.
I'd like to ask if anyone is in the same situation, or has been, and how has their recovery been from surgery? Is anyone familar or suffering from the crankshaft phenomenon?
I had scoliosis surgery in 1989 at the age of 9 with the CD rod instrumentation that was new at the time. I believe that I had 5 vertebrae fused from T5-L1. I had both anterior and posterior surgeries done.
Now I'm 26 years old, and started visiting doctors for check-ups, and to see about getting a thorocoplasty procedure done to remove segment of ribs to reduce the rib hump. On the third opinion the doctor advised that my rods and spine were mal-aligned and that surgery was probably inevitable to realign the spine under the neck. He said this is known as the crankshaft phenomenon where the spine continues to twist after fusion. It sometimes occurs when individuals are fused at a young age before they reach skeletal maturity. The lower part of my spine is starting to curve contributing to the mal-alignment.
The doctor advised that I not do the thorocoplasty first, and instead, have both surgeries done at the same time. He advised they could do the thorocoplasty, then remove the previous hardware and install new segmentation, and they would need to fuse down to L3. He said it was better to do it sooner then later, as younger people heal quicker, and it would save my L4 and L5 which is the most important for mobility.
I'd like to ask if anyone is in the same situation, or has been, and how has their recovery been from surgery? Is anyone familar or suffering from the crankshaft phenomenon?