Tween scoliosis: clothes, especially knickers and tights!

[MerryFirewoman]

My DD 11, has just been issued with a back brace and we are working through the practical and emotional issues. I can find lots of (bleeding obvious really) advice about wearing floaty tops and elastic waistbands but we are puzzling over knickers and tights. Does she just have to get used to somehow scrambling knickers up? Some sites suggest wearing pants over the top but they'd have to be enormous for that to work? She has a teeny bottom! And what about tights - these are required for her uniform. Getting them underneath after going to the loo - is that possible? And if you wear them over the top won't they snag on the velcro straps of the brace??

No experience sorry, but surely she could wear trousers to school? Even if girls don't wear trousers in the uniform could this not be seen as reasonable adjustment for her difficulty?

I’m not sure schools can legally specify that girls can’t wear trousers. But if it’s that she doesn’t like trousers and is already feeling a bit limited/labelled by her brace that’s not much help I guess.

I used to get really bad cystitis and wear stockings and suspenders instead of tights as it seemed to help, but that relies on long skirts to avoid embarrassment bending over so might also be a bit of a crap solution.

Sounds like you and your daughter need to design and market some brace-friendly but appealing-to-wear knickers and tights!

Yes, I should say they can wear trousers, but in practice 99% of girls wear skirts so she would prefer not to be even more the odd one out. I know you can get hold ups (in thicker material now I think, as well as normal opaques) but I can't say I've ever been that impressed with their hold up power. Also, her legs are really thin!

Yeah, in my experience even hold ups need suspenders if you want to wear them all day and walk around with confidence, and annoyingly they have sexy/slutty connotations that I guess could be embarrassing at school.

I once fell down a manhole (don’t ask!!) in Primark 90 dernier tights and although my shin was grazed underneath, the tights were fine, so they might survive the Velcro?

What about leggings under her skirt? They might stand up to the velcro better, and perhaps stretch more over the brace? They might help.hold up bigger knickers too?

I think someone on here was recommending some new really thick gold ups, like wool tights, but I can’t remember the name. I’ll see if I can find it

You need someone like a physiotherapist or ot to go through all this stuff with you. Really Glad she's getting treatment. Mine was diagnosed around that age and my mum refused a brace saying god would heal me. God didn't and I've had chronic pain for years, worsening during pregnancy and now permanently disabled.

Has your DD seen an occupational therapist? They should be able to help with practical issues like this.
Ask your GP for a referral if you haven't seen one yet.

Her school should have a policy for things like this, that might affect uniform. A friends son with foot problems is allowed to wear trainers.

Can’t help with clothes but has she read the book Deenie?

Thanks for ideas. I did think we would get a bit more assistance with this kind of thing. The orthotist was very nice but the message was very much go away and work out how to deal with all this. (And find the money to buy a whole new set of clothes!) Let alone any understanding being shown for how much of a psychological thing this is. It's been rather problem-needs-mechanical-solution-end-of.

www.sauk.org.uk

Maybe you could get some advice here on the practicalities.

Yes, thanks, I did try them but they said nobody had ever asked that question! There is a forum but it's not really used.
We'll get there, just got to keep experimenting.

I wonder if you asked on the Facebook page, or if there are any parents' groups. I'm in a few groups for a different medical thing and everyone uses it for advice on how to handle school trips, children's parties etc. I hope you find a solution. It is very awkward for your DD, poor thing.