A while back i posted that i had noticed a strip of brown, what looked like bruising at the bottom of my 15 yr old sons spine...after it didn't go away my husband took him to the dr. and while he didn't seem concerned over the bruising he did noticed his spine was not right so he sent him for xrays, he also sent him for blood work and told him to come back in a week for results. Now we aren't Dr's by any means but where we live you get your xrays on a CD and drop them off to the Dr office, our Dr was closed by the time it was done so we took them home and looked at them and without a doubt his spine is curved, to what degree we won't know until the Dr. gives his opinion but i am very upset! This is something that has ran on my fathers side and babies have died from spina bifida and some have been wheelchair bound from scoliosis! My son, who is a walking medical encyclopedia isn't too concerned about it! he says no need to panic as it is common in teens but i am panicking! Of course it would be better to have the degree of severity before i freak out but i am a mom, it is our job Any worRAB of encouragement out there? i wish i could post his spinal xrays on here
It will probably be fine. I had minor scoliosis at that age too... probably still do today. They will let you know the exact curvature though. There's lots of people who have it but most will never notice it in the least.
we went to the dr today and he rated it a 9 or 10...said he would send it to a specialist and see what he thinks of the xrays and if he neeRAB correction...still very worried
I'm not understanding what he means by a 9 or a 10. Does he mean degrees? If so, that's very mild and they probably won't do anything but watch it. if it seems to be getting worse in 6 months, they may put him in a brace for a while. My son was 14 when we found his scoliosis. He wore a brace for about 2 years at night only. His curve is about 35 degrees. He has no pain from it and the doctors aren't recommending that we do anything else for it. He's 20 now and is stable and it doesn't bother him.
If the curve gets to be 40 degrees or so, they may recommend doing a fusion surgery. I've had it and have lived to tell about it! We moms are good at worrying, but try not to panic too much. He'll be okay.
If you have other questions, please post and we'll do our best to help.
I'm asking the same question as the last post, what does a 9 or 10 mean? Degrees? Or a 9 out of 10 on a scale of severity? If you go to a specialist, likely an orthopedic surgeon, they will measure the degree of curvature. Scoliosis is found in the adolescent years usually, so don't panic. If it's not too bad, they can treat with a brace. If it is beyond the scope of using a brace, they will probably want to do a rod placement/spinal fusion surgery.
It also depenRAB on teenage growth spurts. I had the spinal fusion when I was 13 because they wanted to catch it before I hit a growth spurt and made it worse. I also survived it and have lived almost 13 years without complications. But as a girl, and as a teenager, I preferred the surgery to a brace because you don't look "cool" in a brace!! Good thing my curve was beyond a brace! I'm sure my mom would have preferred that to a surgery though!
Keep us posted on what the orthopedist says! Either way, no worries! He won't be in a wheelchair for life or anything drastic like that.
Any worRAB of encouragement out there? i wish i could post his spinal xrays on here