Scoliosis

[Mitchell81]

Does anyone have a child with scioliosis (sp?) My daughter had xrays 2 years old and they found the curve in her spine, one year ago they xrayed again and curve was the same. Had an appointment on wednesday, didn't xray, but said we will see her again in 1 year. And mentioned if it got really bad, surgery would be needed. What I want to know is does anyone use a back brace or something similar. Nothing like this was mentioned. But I would hope prevention would be better than cure. I would be petrified if DD would need surgery for this. Has had surgery before, but the spine I wouldn't want. Thanks for reading.

[Heartmum2Jamie]

Hugs! I can't help about scoliosis, but my ds1 (5.10) is awaiting a 1st appt to see a paed physio for suspected lordosis (exaggerated inward curve of lumbar spine). I can fully understand your fear of possible surgery on the spine. Ds1 hasn't even been diagnosed yet, but I can't help but worry. I also worry that scoliosis is more prevalent in kids with congenital heart defects, so often find myself looking at the spine of ds2 as well, especially as he sometimes says his back hurts (but he is only 2.9, so I take this with a pinch of salt!)

Here's hoping that your dd never needs surgery for her scoliosis.

[tomkat]

Hi, my cousin's daughter was found to have scoliosis about a year ago, and has been given a back brace. This is working well for her, but I think they only work if the degree of curvature is within certain limits.

My husband has got a genetic condition that caused scoliosis. He had corrective surgery when he was a teenager. He has been having more trouble again recently, as he had heart surgery in 2003 and this has made his chest weaker. (My cousin's daughter had several heart ops when she was younger too).

Our daughter has inherited the same condition, and the doctors are keeping a close eye on her spine. She was assessed by a physio earlier this week and has got slight lordosis. I suppose anything that pulls the chest at the front will ultimately affect the spine...

[Mitchell81]

Thank you

[mummytosteven]

when I was at school, two of my school mates had scoliolis. One had the back brace and no op, the other was more severely affected and ended up having to have two ops.

[SoupDragon]

Didn't Princess Eugenie or Beatrice have surgery for this?

[SoupDragon]

Oh, and I have it but presumably a mild version since it wasn't discovered until after I'd had DS1. IIRC my osteopath said around 40% of the population has it to some degree or other.

[Alethia]

Yeah, the first treatment is a back brace which must fit snugly and be done up tight. If it doesn't work and the scoliosis progresses, then surgical options can be considered. In some cases fixing the spine with rods may be necessary but there is a relatively new operation called a VEPTR (vertical prothetic titanium rib) which is less traumatic and is adjusted as the child grows so the spine can grow straighter. One of the kids we met when my son was in hospital had this done last year. She is 4 years old and she was on a ventilator via a tracheostomy because her scoliosis was severe enough to be restricting her breathing. Thanks to the VEPTR, she is now off the vent and doing very well indeed.

Hopefully your little girl won't need any of these interventions, but if she does, it's better to be informed abotu what's available, rather than to be pushed into one procedure simply because that's all your consultant knew about.

[Mitchell81]

thanks for that, will look into VEPTR.