For those that looked into my OT threads about children and Scoliosis.....

My 6 yr old had been diagnosed with Idiopathic Scoliosis...which means that they don't know what caused it. At least 85% of the people with Scoliosis have this type.

Yesterday was her first visit with the Orthopedic Doctor. I found out that he IS a Pediatric Orthopedic Doctor which made me feel better. She was real nervous about her visit although I called the office to find out exactly what they would do that day so I could let her know what to expect. We talked about what she would be doing.....x-rays and all....but that didn't help when they told her she had to wear a little gown without her pants on. She was soooo afraid people would see her undies....lol....she got over that quick though.

Anyway.....after the x-rays were developed we were shown to a room....and the Doc was already in there waiting for us <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" /> , that rarely ever happens.

He looked her over and then studied her x-rays and calculated the degree at which her spine is curving. Now...to me...with all the research and pictures and all I would have thought...or at least I was worried that she was already curved at over 40 degrees. BUT.....the Doc said that she's only 20 degrees....not good of course.....but not severely bad.

At her age....they don't do anything at 15 degrees as they say they will usually grow out of it....but with 20 degrees....there is a good possiblity that it will worsen.....so....a brace was what he decided on. As of right now...she will only have to wear it at night...while she is sleeping and as long as WITH the brace on her spine is straight and she doesn't worsen we will stick with that. If it does worsen within 6 months to a year she may have to wear one for a longer amount of time each day.

The Doc said that the bones themselves look fine....no deformity in the way they have developed other than the curving. She WAS NOT born with this. This just developed over the last year and a half....and our OLD Pediatrician told me there was nothing that could be done about it. After haggeling with him for so long I decided to switch Pediatricians....I'm glad I did. I'm also glad she referred us to this certain Specialist.....he seems to be a really good Doc and my daughter took to him very well...which is unusual. She loved his accent....he's from Bolivia.

The only draw back is the fact that this Doc is so far away.....an hour and a half drive....which anyone with younger kids knows how that is with them. Soooo...this weekend we are having a dvd player and monitors installed in our Van (I've been wanting one for a while)as we will be making LOTS of trips in the next few months.....at least 13 already.

I did ask the Doc if there was ANYTHING at all that we could do with her....such as certain excercises that would possibly help straighten her back while the brace isn't on.....and he said that other than the brace (which won't straighten her back....but keep it from curving more) there wasn't anything that could be done.

I'm going to look into this more though.
BUT....I will not try anything WITHOUT the Orthopedic Doc's permission. Just thought I would add that.

So....I'm not so wigged out anymore. Although I did get wigged out in the x-ray room. I was called in to sit with her while the Tech developed the film....and from the other room all I kept hearing him say was....UNBELIEVABLE....not something I like to hear at that time...lol

He came back in and said....we have to do them again....I didn't expect that she was as muscular as what the film is showing. Well....I could have told him she was muscular...lol....we call her Bull all the time because she is so strong and stout.

Anyway....there is the update for those that took the time to look in here and those that responded to my last threads.

I wish you and your daughter the best.

Miss Priss,

Appears you are doing everything correctly. If you want, get a second opinion. No doctor worth his weight will EVER get upset if a patient wants another doc's input. Please bring ALL your X-rays. MRI's, CT scans and any and all progress notes to the second opinion. It saves an enormous amount of time and posssibly excessive radiation.

Best of luck

I care! I'm glad it wasn't as severe as you imagined!

((((Priss and DD))))

Oh dear...6 years old is young to have to go through this. My sister, my niece and I were all in our teens when diagnosed. And it was tough enough even at that age.

None of us had surgery although my sister wore a brace for two years and my niece not quite a year before she stopped growing and was able to lose the brace.

Luckily my curve didn`t require brace.

We were told to swim. Swimming strengthens the muscles and the water supports your spine.

Have you checked out the Shriners? We were all treated there and had top notch care. And they are free. There are Shriners Hospitals all over the place. You might want to give them a call. A second opinion and even a third or fourth can`t hurt.

This is scarey I know but my family got through it it just fine and your little girl will too. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />

Miss Priss,

Sorry to hear about your daughter at such a young age but pat yourself on the back for taking action and looking into it.. We noticed in my niece when she was 6 that her back had a strange curve and when my parents and i confronted my sister she was in denial and said she was fine (my sister had scoliosis at the age of 13) Anyhow her pediatrician noticed it at age 7 and sent her to a specialist... She too had to wear a brace at night and in six months it got worse and she had to wear it all the time for a year... Well her curve got significantly worse and just had surgery last spring at age 10 and is doing remarkably well... could not correct 100% but made a remarkable difference.. she actually gained 2 inches in height after surgery.. But my niece did go to dancing school and it helped some and help with her flexibilty.. you might want to ask your dr. about that... It may help your daughter.. Hang in there i'm sure she'll do fine and hopefully the brace itself will correct it.. My daughter is going to turn 6 in two months and the drs. say we have to watch her because it is heredity but it is odd to have it at such a young age... My thoughts and prayers are with you...

MP, Glad you are getting some care for you DD. I agree with Cymanca that a second opinion never hurts. I also disagree that excercise doesn't help correct the curve. JMHO

Hi Prissy - you're doing a good job. Keep being yourself and cherish every moment with all three.

Here's something positive. I know a high school girl who has scoliosis. Don't know how severe it is but enough to that she has to wear her brace all the time and has for 2-3 years. I see her at football games and other school events. She has accepted the situation really well. I was tickled to see that she often wears the low-slung jeans and crop tops that teen girls wear. She doesn't care if people see her brace, she still fashionable.

I don't think wearing a brace has affected her self-esteem at all. Soon, she'll be physically heal and still be a popular, happy teenager.

Dear Miss Priss,

I have a friend with this issue and he is a young adult in his 20s. He has had this diagnosed I believe somewhere in his teen years. I just learned of his condition and did some research. Mind you I am not in the medical profession so the info I share is just some experiences from my research:

From: CJudy:
I think I have had scoliosis since an early age, but was not diagnosed until age 21 in nursing school by a PT graduate student. That would explain why all the dresses my mother and I had made for myself when I was growing up never had straight hems. I actually have a double curve that compensates itself and I had no problems even though two normal, uncomplicated pregnancies. My husband even commented that my back was the straightest he'd seen it when I was pregnant. When i reached my late thirties I finally began to have areas of numbness, pain, spasms and weakness of muscles that impeded my job as a critical care RN and mother/housewife. I was referred to one of the country's best specialist in scoliosis who told me I had a "floating curve" that presented different symptoms at different times and was also crushing my lower back discs (lumbar). I had the stabilizing surgery as recommended with no complications, but age and gravity catches up with all of us. I now sleep on the sleep system, wear socks/magsteps, a Max inside the back of my bra, and the Flex inside my waistband. My husband and daughter are waiting for Mom to stick to the refrigerator. You may laugh, but it works! Also it is important to use a Kenkoseat.


From SG:
One day few months back, maybe around April - my husband (Joe) told me that on a Thursday night we would to go a wellness meeting. I didn't have anything better to do, so after work we went. A friendly crowd surrounded us and two three people asked me if I hurt in any place. My answer was "You name it, hurts". I have mild scoliosis, so this brings constant pain on the upper and middle back. Also I have sciatica on my left leg, for the last 19 years. According to the specialist my knees are not aligned, so this bring pain on the knees and the ankles. So actually I didn't lie. I have learned to leave with my pain as many other people. I don't believe in medication. I found some relieve in the hands of a very good chiropractor, but she moved out of the area.

At the wellness meeting they sat me on a magnetic seat, put a magnetic belt on me, gave me magnetic insoles to rest my feet, and a gentleman was rolling the roll magnets close to my knee. An hour later when the meeting finished, they asked me how I felt. I didn't lie and I said that all the pain is still there. I was the one who cannot be convinced easy. Next morning I woke up, got dressed, went to work and only around 10 am I realized that I was wearing high heels, I had walked almost 1/2 mile on hard surface and on carpet, and still was foul of energy and I didn't feel tired at all. The word I used to describe the feeling was "euphoria". this is how i was feeling. Only around 12 noon I remembered that previous evening I had all this special treatment with the magnets. This feeling lasted 2 -3 days. Now I am sleeping on a magnetic pad, have a car seat and the insoles are always in my shoes. My pains have disappeared. I will feel discomfort sometimes, if I'm sitting for too long at my desk.

I had to retype this experiences since my reader acrobat is not letting me cut and past the info. I left the typos as they were in the writeup. There are several more experiences in this writeup. Let me know if you want to read about it, I can print it out and fax it to you or maybe even e-mail it.

As for the validity of this alternative treatment, I can say that I have tried some of their products and it has been helpful for me with other discomfort and health ailments.

This is not t/b viewed as a sales pitch. I do not personally know the 2 persons in the above experiences. I am merely sharing what I found and if it helps you in your search for finding a way to help reduce your daughter's discomfort, then I am glad to share it. I hope this helps. Also, I know of a lady in Southern CA who is willing to talk about her scoliosis condition and how she is dealing with it. The above 2 experiences and others in this writeup have e-mails and some phone numbers. I can share them with you if you'd like.

Also see if there are any support groups either on-line or in your area.

take care,
L.

Thanks for the replies all.

HurtingCarol,

I don't think that my daughter, or any of my daughters for that matter will have a problem with self esteem. They've all already been through some pretty rough times so early in their life that has made them stronger and they have pulled through MUCH better than I EVER expected.

Not bragging at all but.......

All 3 of my daughters are very empathetic to others. They are very popular, liked by everyone. They are the kids in school that talk to everyone. They don't belong to different little groups of kids....they are accepted by everyone....and they make sure that EVERYONE is included. All their teachers have commented on this.

They will stand up for other kids that don't or can't stand up for themselves...and they are the first ones to try to beak up a fight or argument.

I'm very proud of them for that.

Now....they certainly don't act like this at home with each other though.....lol

------------------------------------------------

Orchid,

Actually....in all my research on Scoliosis, I've read one thing over and over. Scoliosis itself does NOT cause pain or discomfort. There has to be some other factor to cause pain. The only limitation is that with the curvature of the spine, people with Scoliosis cannot bend like those with a straight spine. Like bending from the waist to tie your shoes or things like that. The Pediatrician and the Ortho Doc told me the same thing.

Now...if she were to suffer from back pain the Ortho Doc said that we need to get an MRI on her spinal cord to see if it is affected in any way. She USED to complain of back pain....mainly in the mornings when she woke up......but that could be caused by the position in which she sleeps....or the fact that on top of the Scoliosis she inherited a "sway back" from my side of the family. An inward "arch" in the lumbar region of the back. She hasn't complained of pain in a really long time. She hasn't ever complained of pain when doing any activities either. She doesn't have any limitations at all.

Of course...if she starts complaining of back pain in the future I will be worried, but right now we are just dealing with the cosmetics of it.
Her whole torso shifts to the left...one hip is higher than the other etc. Although it's mainly noticable without clothes on....you notice it only a little when she has clothes on.

I am most interested in finding anything on research that shows information about different types of excercises that can be done to possible help straighten the spine. The Docs have told me that there are none....but I've seen articles and have heard of people that have been through certain things that have helped. I haven't seen any specifics though....like exactly what was done....how it was done.

Anything would help as I'm interested in making sure that the curvature doesn't get worse....but more interested in how to help my daughter have a beautiful body to match her gorgeous face and personality.

It doesn't really affect her socially yet since she's only in first grade....the other kids don't notice it at all...unless she tells them about it and points it out.

Thanks!

I was diagnosed in jr. high with about the same curve your dd has.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"> Anything would help as I'm interested in making sure that the curvature doesn't get worse....but more interested in how to help my daughter have a beautiful body to match her gorgeous face and personality </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Ballet, gymnastics, swimming and diving. I was in ballet for years, but you said your dd was stocky, so gymnastics would suit her body type (I also did gymnastics, but quit in favor of ballet). I eventually quit ballet to join our high school swimming and diving teams. My curve never worsened through the years. While I've no medical data to back it up, I'm pretty certain the gymnastics and ballet helped - at least to build confidence and bearing.

- Kimmy