Poll - How tall were/are you?

[lelc2002@yahoo]

I was a bit disappointed with that. If you've seen my blog, I thought I was real tall when I stood up in the hospital. I just felt huge & so straight! Then when I was first measured in the Dr's office I was only 5'5" which freaked me! Originally before surgery I was 5'4"...unless I went down more a bit before the actually surgery....The nice thing is most people tell me they feel I'm 5'7". My family was told in the hospital that I would'nt go up that much since I had a humongous curve. But I feel tall!!!! Lynne
http://lynnebackattack.blogspot.com
fused T-11to L-5 Aug 1 2006

[Linda G]

I only gained 1 inch. I was 5'2" before surgery and now I am a whopping 5'3". I guess I was destined to be shorter. ha
Linda G.

[amae28]

i haven't had surgery, but i think i win the height thing here... i'm 6' 3/4'', so it scares me a little that i could be even taller if i had surgery. I think this poll is interesting, cause i always thought scoliosis tended to affect taller girls... hmm, guess that's what scoliosis does to you, makes ya shorter... even me.

[rachael]

I was 5'1" before surgery, then 5'4" the day after surgery, and also grew 2 more inches the next year...5" in one year woo hoo!

[briarrose]

I was 5'1" before surgery, then 5'4" the day after surgery, and also grew 2 more inches the next year...5" in one year woo hoo!

What was the degree of your curve before surgery?

I'm 5'3". If I ever get surgery, I hope I'll at least be 5'4". 5'5" would be better.

[Trese]

my height

I had surgery when I was 12 and I was 5'3" after that.

Now I am 43 years old and I stand 5'1"...so I am getting shorter!

[rachael]

briarrose:
My upper was 63 and my lower was 47. I had a correction to 11 degrees on top and almost 0 on bottom. Good luck!

[bbest]

I used to be 5' 4", shrunk down to 5' 2" and am now 5' 2 1/2". I wear heels everyday and people are shocked when I take them off and they see how diddy I really am.

[Cina2005]

Height

I'm about 5'10" or 5'11".

I'm hoping not to get any taller then i already am

[MishP]

I used to be 5' 1". I shrunk to 4' 11.5", 4' 11", and most recently 4' 10.75". As my curve has progressed, I got shorter. My curvature is currently 115*T and 85*L.

[Lesly]

I was always 5'5 and before my surgery I was measured at 5'4.
Post-surgery I am just under 5'5 again, but posture is so great that everyone thinks i'm much taller than that!!!

[Frosty]

Usually you gain an inch or two. As an aside having scoliosis makes me people shorter than they would otherwise have been. If you measure your armspan this gives a pretty accurate measure of how tall you would have been without scoliosis.

[Houston Curves]

Thanks, Frosty. I hadn't heard that before. I'll have to give it a try.

Ann

[CHRIS WBS]

I’ve heard about the arm span measurement too, but have discovered it’s not universal. Not everyone’s height equals the span of their outstretched arms from fingertip to fingertip. I tested this on six of my co-workers with normal spines. Three of them had an arm span that equaled their height, and three did not. In fact, one woman who measured 5’3” had an arm span measurement of 5’8”. My arm span measures 5’9” and I stand 5’4”. I was 5’6½” at skeletal maturity, and my guess is that I would probably have reached about 5’8” if I did not have scoliosis. My older sister grew to 5’8” and my younger sister grew to 5’9”. If you have siblings, I think their height is a good gauge as to how tall you would be if you had a straight spine.

Chris

[Frosty]

It's not a 100 % accurate of course, armspan as a substitute for height. Some people have long or short arms relative to height but if you search the net you will find it is a well accepted proxy measure for height. Chris, you said your armspan measures 5'9'' and your estimated height without scoliosis 5'8''. That's pretty close.