Scoliosis: Life, Support & Friends

Trunk Aesthetic Clinical Evaluation Routine clinical tool to evaluate aesthetics in scoliosis patients: development from the Aesthetic Index (AI) and repeatability Authors: Fabio Zaina, Stefano Negrini, Salvatore Atanasio Published: 20 January 2009 Background Aesthetic appearance is of primary importance in the treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), but to date tools for routine clinical practice have not become available. The aim of the present study is to develop such a tool and to verify its repeatability. Methods Instrumentation: At first we developed the Aesthetic Index (AI), based on a three-point scale for asymmetry of the shoulders, scapulae and waist that we tested for 5 years. From this experience we developed another tool we called TRACE, the acronym of Trunk Aesthetic Clinical Evaluation; TRACE is a 12-point scale based on four sub-scales, shoulders (0-3), scapulae (0-2), hemi-thorax (0-2) and waist (0-4). Population: Posterior-anterior (PA) photographs of on...

I have been seeing pòsts around and about on the web about Medtronic's Infuse Bone Graft. They are facing a lawsuit from a woman in Texas who is blaming them for off label use and for the injuries she has suffered after her cervical spine surgery! Mary Selke who is the claimant has saud that she suffered from breathing problems and was unable to swallow due to bone that formed in her neck! Mark Selke has also got her physician on side who will provide testimony about Medtronic and the promotion of their product. We would love to hear from any InFuse Bone Graft patients, have you had problems similar to Mary? There is an estimated half a million people each year that undergo spinal surgery to repair/correct/fuse patients who experience damage to discs or to stablise Scoliosis. The InFuse Bone Graft is a device to help fuse vertebrae in the lower spine in order to treat degenerative disc disease. It differs from other, similar devices in that it uses genetically engineered protein to...

Scoliosis Journal posted the following information regarding: Guidelines on "Standard of management of idiopathic scoliosis with corrective braces in everyday clinics and in clinical research": SOSORT Consensus 2008 Published: 16 January 2009 Authors: Stefano Negrini, Theodoros B Grivas, Tomasz Kotwicki, Manuel Rigo and Fabio Zaina Background Reported failure rates,(defined based on percentage of cases progressing to surgery) of corrective bracing for idiopathic scoliosis are highly variable. This may be due to the quality of the brace itself, but also of the patient care during treatment. The latter is sometimes neglected, even though it is considered a main determinant of good results among conservative experts of SOSORT. The aim of this paper was to develop and verify the Consensus on management of scoliosis patients treated with braces Methods We followed a Delphi process in four steps, distributing and gradually changing according to the results a set of recommendations...

So, first of all... Confession. :) Well... I have been a member of this blog for a while now but haven't really gotten around to posting. Sorry! But for now... here's a little intro on me! Name (For this blog, anyway): Tiz Age: 13 Scoli type: Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis treatment: bracing for 10 months now, still ongoing :( Scoliosis curve before treatment: 31 degrees Scoliosis curve at last check-up: 20 degrees! (Both lumbar and thoracic, by the way) Brace type: Boston (could be much worse, I guess) Estimated time to continue bracing: 2 years, until I stop growing at least Next scoli appointment: 5th Feb, update will be posted hopefully, if I remember COOL scoli sites for teens: www.spinekids.com --> good place to post scoli story and excellent forums, mostly girls That's it for now! Thank you heaps, Simone and Judith, for letting me be a part of such a cool blog!

Remember I posted yesterday about an episode coming on TV called Two and a Half Men: Thank God for Scoliosis? Well, I watched Paramount Comedy last night on the look out for this episode, however, I was unable to see any reference to Scoliosis, and in fact I don't think the UK have the new episodes out yet, I have crawled the internet and yes I have found videos titled this but not one of them makes any reference to Scoliosis at all...... confused. If anyone has seen this episode and knows why they called it "Thank God for Scoliosis", please let me know, I am interested to know about this episode and what happens, even better if you can send me a clip of this episode. I will continue my search for this and report my findings when I can :) Be well and stay safe

I keep seeing this mentioned on various blogs about Two and a Half Men, I have never watched this before but tonight they appear to have an episode entitled "Thank God for Scoliosis" Now, I can't say that I have ever thought "Thank God for Scoliosis" so I am intrigued as to why they would title their episode with these words. I will watch tonight and report back tomorrow. I am not certain at what time this episode is on, cannot find much information but I think for those of us in the UK, Two and a Half Men is shown on Paramount Comedy, if anyone manages to see this and I don't please do stop by and let me know what it is all about - thanks! For those who have not heard of Two and a Half Men, here is some blurb. Charlie is a well-to-do bachelor with a house at the beach, a Jaguar in front of the house and an easy way with women. His casual Malibu lifestyle is interrupted when his tightly wound brother, Alan who's facing a divorce, and Alan's son, Jake...

Get this! Does yer man have scoliosis or what? I'm afraid that for me, this ad doesn't work - I can't remember the name of the product itself and all it does is make me wonder why he never got fixed when he was younger, and (sorry) how fit he looks (from the neck down)...must get a life, get back to work, or both!!

Scoliosis Journal just published the latest information on Juvenile Scoliosis. Juvenile idiopathic scoliosis treated with posterior arthrodesis and segmental pedicle screw instrumentation before the age of 9 years: a 5-year follow-up. Published: 6 January Authors: Ahmet Yilmaz Sarlak, Halil Atmaca, Levent Buluc, Bilgehan Tosun and Resul Musaoglu email Study Design. Retrospective Study To evaluate the radiological results of fusion with segmental pedicle screw fixation in juvenile idiopathic scoliosis with a minimum 5-year follow-up. Summary of Background Data. Progression of spinal deformity after posterior instrumentation and fusion in immature patients has been reported by several authors. Segmental pedicle screw fixation has been shown to be effective in controlling both coronal and sagittal plane deformities. However, there is no long term study of fusion with segmental pedicle screw fixation in these group of patients. Methods Seven patients with juvenile idiopathic scoliosis trea...

Health Central published this story about a procedure that is helping children under the age of 5 to reverse their scoliosis! Ivanhoe Broadcast News Tuesday, December 30, 2008; 12:00 AM (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new procedure is stopping and reversing scoliosis in children -- without a brace. Doctors at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian are using a novel procedure called spinal stapling to treat scoliosis in children under 5. The procedure is not only stopping progression of the condition, but reversing it. Until now, no treatment existed to straighten the spine of children with scoliosis. "For the first time, we have a way to potentially reverse the scoliosis," Michael Vitale, M.D., chief of pediatric spine and scoliosis surgery at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian, was quoted as saying. Spinal stapling is a two-hour, minimally invasive procedure during which doctors implant staples across the growth plates of the sp...