I’m Just Curious: Scoliosis, again!

by Debbie Walker

I wrote about scoliosis a couple of weeks ago and since then I’ve had contact with a few people about this hateful defect. The general consensus of the topic is that it doesn’t get talked about enough.

In years past it seems that school nurses and gym teachers did an exam that included looking for scoliosis. The state used to ask for this info to be reported. It was stopped around 2008. Doctors now do the check in a school physical.

Do all children have the fall physical or is it done primarily for kids involved in sports? If that is the case a lot of children are left out. And a large number of our parents are not aware of any part of scoliosis.

So here we are! I am asking that anyone who reads this will pass it on. Pass on by the people reading this to parents. We need grandparents, aunts and uncles, family friends, teachers and on and on to pass the word along.

I have knowledge on this only because my granddaughter was found to have the curvature of the spine at 13 years old. We found out due to a friend of my daughter’s noticing how Tristin had a pretty little waist on the right side and down the left it was straight.

First visit to the doc he knew what it was and referred her to a specialist. There are varying degrees to this problem. Tristin’s required surgery, a seven-inch steel rod and six screws. She wore a turtle shell brace and 12 years later she’s walking straight and tall.

A grandson had scoliosis and Mark was only required to wear a brace for a few months and he is doing fine.

However, I have heard from two women who were not treated for this problem. I have to hope that maybe when theirs was discovered not as much was known about scoliosis.

There is one thing I would like to bring up is most of the people were told that scoliosis doesn’t cause pain. You don’t have to talk with many people before you would argue, there is pain.

This is a column with casual references to scoliosis. I am not a medical person. My information came from the grandkids’ experiences. I have spoken to a couple of doctors and nurses.

Please check the information and act accordingly. I’m wishing you all the best.

In the meantime I’m curious about what we’ll get into next! Thanks for reading, please pass it on. Contact me at dwdaffy@yahoo.com sub: Scoliosis Again.