Scoliosis

What is Scoliosis? “Scoliosis is not a disease—it is a descriptive term. All spines have curves. Some curvature in the neck, upper trunk and lower trunk is normal. Humans need these spinal curves to help the upper body maintain proper balance and alignment over the pelvis. However, when there are abnormal side-to- side (lateral) curves in the spinal column, we refer to this as scoliosis.” -

Causes “Scoliosis affects 2% of women and 0.5% of men”. Idiopathic scoliosis is the most common form which makes up 80% of the general population. Idiopathic means ‘unknown cause’. I was born with scoliosis. It seems to me that it more common to have through birth, but sometimes, it can develop during puberty.

Treatment Sometimes, scoliosis is treated by an orthopedic back brace. The brace will simply hold the spine in the spot that it is so the curve does not progress. The brace helps in some places, but sometimes, it does not work according to plan. My doctor did not like how my kypho progressed, so he decided it was time for surgery. I am glad that I am getting it done now rather than later because since I am very young, I will heal a lot quicker and I won’t have to wear my brace any more!

I have a specific kind of scoliosis called kypho- scoliosis. A kyposis, by definition is: an abnormal, convex curvature of the spine, with a resultant bulge at the upper back.

What are they Going to Do? It really sounds a lot worse than it is, they are going to insert two rods in my back rite along the sides f my spine. The main part of my surgery is a spinal fusion. A spinal fusion is the correction of an unstable part of the spine by joining two or more vertebrae. The rods and such are to help my back heal in the right way. After a full recovery, I don’t really need them anymore. Surgeons don’t remove them because they aren’t hurting anything and in fact, my bones actually start to grow around the rods. If they were to remove them with another surgery, it would take a long recovery.

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