
Originally Posted by
KathyInIowa
My case is similar to yours - I probably had a slight case when I was younger and it went undetected. I had "low back pain" for most of my adult life - starting in my early 20s but pretty tolerable. I just dealt with it. It did get worse as I got older, but it was all muscular pain that I could handle. There was nothing noticeable about my spine being slightly crooked. At some point around my early 40s, my rib hump appeared but I didn't know what it was. I went to a local orthoped and he said that was the "classic scoliosis hump - how long have you had that?" I had noticed about 4 months prior to that appointment. He did scoliosis xrays and my curve was around 24 degrees. He said that in adults it usually doesn't change much. But mine did, - my curve was getting about 2 degrees worse per year. By age 52 I was having all sorts of issues but was still fairly active so they weren't really treating me. By age 54 I was when it got really bad and I had surgery at age 55.
By the time of my surgery, my curve was around 32 degrees - so not really all THAT bad - but it was pain the drove me to surgery. I had everything on the list: rotted discs, the one half decent disc had ruptured, stenosis, nerve impingement....
I had a great outcome, all things considered. I still have residual "pains" that we all probably have - but they are very tolerable - nothing near what they were before surgery.
My surgery was at TCSC - so I felt that I was in good hands. I am going up next week for my 4-year follow up x-rays. Hopefully I will hear that my nothing has shifted and it all still looks good!!
Kathy