Possible causes in my case

[cherylplinder]

Very interesting!

[krazytyler]

Hello to all. I'm 42 yr old male who was diagnosed with severe Kyphoscoliosis somewhere in the 74 to 87 degree curviture back in July of 1981. I have thought about the possible causes to any spinal curviture and mine. I thought hard over the years. One idea dawned on me back in the mid 90's. I vividly remember a position I slept in from ages 11 to 18. In bed face down with my right arm folded under my right side of my chest, possibly pushing the rib cage and spine into a Kyphoscoliosis curviture over the years when your growing. Parents need to monitor there children's sleeping positions. Another cause maybe double jointedness. I was very double jointed as a kid and teens. Children are very limber. They may be playing in ways that may contribute to a spinal curviture over the years when they are growing up. So the important thing is to monitor children's backs as they are growing up. Especially from ages 10 to 18 yrs old. Watch out for the poor postures and when watching TV,Video games and working on PC's. My grandmother back in 1975 said something about my back and no listened. By 1977,my sisters boyfriend at the time said something about my back and then everyone listened. I'm afraid that poor sleep position may contribute to spinal curvitures over time.

I agree with the sleeping theory, the only way i could fall asleep when i was 9-17 was with my right arm at my side, head facing left, and left are raised above. I slept like that EVERY night, and think that could be a possible cause, No one else in my family was diagnosed with scliosis.

[RoundTheTwist]

I just wanted to add that a few people have said that sleeping postions could/would affect a spine that is prone or pre-disposed to curving, if this is the case then what is it that makes certain peoples spines prone or pre-disposed????

[scoliocolorado]

I don't agree with the sleeping theory, either, but I think that the scoliosis happened to get like that over time. Mine is horrible. I have three curves in my back and the worst is in my middle back at 90 degrees. I can't have the surgery because of a lung condition I have. I have slept in all sorts of weird positions and they never caused my scoliosis to become as bad as it is. I hoep this information helps you some.

[petyanca]

Hello to all. I'm 42 yr old male who was diagnosed with severe Kyphoscoliosis somewhere in the 74 to 87 degree curviture back in July of 1981. I have thought about the possible causes to any spinal curviture and mine. I thought hard over the years. One idea dawned on me back in the mid 90's. I vividly remember a position I slept in from ages 11 to 18. In bed face down with my right arm folded under my right side of my chest, possibly pushing the rib cage and spine into a Kyphoscoliosis curviture over the years when your growing. Parents need to monitor there children's sleeping positions. Another cause maybe double jointedness. I was very double jointed as a kid and teens. Children are very limber. They may be playing in ways that may contribute to a spinal curviture over the years when they are growing up. So the important thing is to monitor children's backs as they are growing up. Especially from ages 10 to 18 yrs old. Watch out for the poor postures and when watching TV,Video games and working on PC's. My grandmother back in 1975 said something about my back and no listened. By 1977,my sisters boyfriend at the time said something about my back and then everyone listened. I'm afraid that poor sleep position may contribute to spinal curvatures over time.

My scoliosis story confirms this. I used to sleep on a cotton stuffed mattress for way too many years since I was about 6yrs old. My parents got it with an idea that it would be large enough even when I'm a teenager. The mattress developed a depression into which my rib cage would snugly fit, night after night. I was trained to sleep on my right side (supposedly it puts less pressure on heart). My scoliosis was diagnosed only after I left home, and when I went back to visit a year after I left, and slept on the same mattress, I woke up in a lot of pain, all my muscles were aching from the deformation caused by the mattress, although it felt oh so familiar. The mattress theory has been my explanation since then.

[jrnyc]

how...HOW..do they know...prove...that carryihng things on one side, like bag, backpack, etc, does not
contribute to scoli...HOW do they know for sure...have they interviewed enough people who did that
and DON'T have scoli...?
how do they prove these life style theories to be false....
cause they have not convinced me...no way....
i'm not saying sole cause...i am saying CONTRIBUTES....

just sayin....
jess

[Tina_R]

.................................................. .....................

[Tina_R]

how...HOW..do they know...prove...that carryihng things on one side, like bag, backpack, etc, does not
contribute to scoli...HOW do they know for sure...have they interviewed enough people who did that
and DON'T have scoli...?
how do they prove these life style theories to be false....
cause they have not convinced me...no way....
i'm not saying sole cause...i am saying CONTRIBUTES....

just sayin....
jess

I wonder if there is much data being gathered from patients about their conditions. In the months since my surgery I have so far not been interviewed about my lifestyle by any medical people even though I signed something allowing my "data" to be used in studies. That probably just means medical and surgical data.

It's reasonable to ask "How do they know for sure?"

[Tina_R]

While I don't think anyone knows for sure, it seems that most scoliosis specialists agree that posture, sleeping positions, carrying a backpack on one shoulder, etc. cannot cause scoliosis. There has been some discussion in the last few years, about the possibility of an infant's sleeping position causing scoliosis, but I don't believe there's been anything definitively published. Here are a few references on the subject:

From http://www.intelihealth.com:
One thing does seem clear: Sitting up straight in your chair or while walking will not prevent scoliosis. Improved posture may have other benefits, such as preventing muscular back pain or making your mother happy, but there is no evidence that consciously trying to improve your posture will have a long-term effect on the alignment or health of your spine.

From http://www.iscoliosis.com:
iScoliosis.com: Is it behavioral, do back packs or poor posture cause scoliosis?
Dr. Newton: It is not from any of those things that we know of; it seems to be a growth related phenomenon that occurs during adolescent growth. I don't believe there are any external causes, such as backpacks or poor posture that can cause scoliosis to develop.

My mother was a proponent of the Heavy Backpack Theory. She must have noticed that my posture wasn't the greatest and I did carry a ton of textbooks to college, more than the average student for some reason. I dragged them around on my commute on public transportation and on campus. Didn't I have a locker? I don't remember. Mom was trying to help and constantly nagged at me to reduce my load.

It's natural to invent theories and try to explain the unknown. If only you knew, you would have some control. My scoliosis accelerated in my later years. I have wondered if raking leaves for the last 20 years (80 big bags per year) could have been a cause. It's an asymmetrical, twisting exercise which might have been in just the wrong direction for my curve. Who knows?

[LindaRacine]

I wonder if there is much data being gathered from patients about their conditions. In the months since my surgery I have so far not been interviewed about my lifestyle by any medical people even though I signed something allowing my "data" to be used in studies. That probably just means medical and surgical data.

It's reasonable to ask "How do they know for sure?"

Some centers, especially the ones we hear about most here (Columbia, HSS, Wash U, UCSF), collect questionnaires on most patients. Additionally, many centers conduct research for specific multi-center studies. Other centers typically don't have the staff to collect and interpret that much data.

If you ask most specialists, they'll tell you that carrying a heavy backpack is probably not good for you, but that it doesn't cause structural scoliosis. When I was a teenager, everyone thought my asymmetry was caused by carrying my baby brother on my hip all the time.

--Linda

[Tina_R]

Some centers, especially the ones we hear about most here (Columbia, HSS, Wash U, UCSF), collect questionnaires on most patients. Additionally, many centers conduct research for specific multi-center studies. Other centers typically don't have the staff to collect and interpret that much data.

If you ask most specialists, they'll tell you that carrying a heavy backpack is probably not good for you, but that it doesn't cause structural scoliosis. When I was a teenager, everyone thought my asymmetry was caused by carrying my baby brother on my hip all the time.

--Linda

I'd like to know how carrying a heavy backpack is not good for you according to these specialists. If it doesn't contribute to scoliosis, what other harm does it do? It seems like they're covering all bases by discouraging it without really having a solid reason. Obviously a link to anything negative has not been proven but common sense might tell us that it's bad for us to be unbalanced too much.

I heard a story where some women in a remote part of southeast Asia developed hunched backs (though not necessarily scoliosis) as they aged. The cause was found to be using brooms that were too short and made them bend over, over a lifetime. The brooms were short because wood was very scarce.

We should never present our theories as truth unless there is scientific evidence. Especially not lay people, obviously. But it's tempting to have theories. What harm does it do to think about it and say, is it possible this thing in my life contributed to (without being the sole cause of) my scoliosis? From what I hear they do think there are environmental as well as genetic factors involved.

People get frustrated because they don't think that scientists are working hard enough on the causes of (or cures for) illnesses. That's when they either start speculating on their own (which can be harmless) or they fall for quackery (which can be harmful).

[titaniumed]

Zebrafish have also had problems with backpacks and beds......(smileyface)

https://www.princeton.edu/news/2016/...nal-fluid-flow

Ed

[Tina_R]

Zebrafish have also had problems with backpacks and beds......(smileyface)

https://www.princeton.edu/news/2016/...nal-fluid-flow

Ed

Fascinating. Until recently I never even considered that animals can have scoliosis as well as humans, but of course they would. Even four-legged animals. Even fish. This is an avenue for study.

[Pooka1]

We should never present our theories as truth unless there is scientific evidence. Especially not lay people, obviously. But it's tempting to have theories. What harm does it do to think about it and say, is it possible this thing in my life contributed to (without being the sole cause of) my scoliosis? From what I hear they do think there are environmental as well as genetic factors involved.

When scientists talk about "environmental factors", they are not generally talking about back packs. They are talking about maternal age and things that lay people do not generally think of as "environmental."

In re back packs, I think scientists have ruled that out on the basis of the percentage of kids who develop scoliosis is about the same irrespective of weight of back packs and that kids who develop scoliosis often have a family history of it. I also suspect lab studies have shown it is not possible to cause the wedging and rotation from carrying unbalanced weighs.

[LindaRacine]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30461512
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24095102