Scoliosis: Life, Support & Friends

The Scoliosis Association (UK) will be holding a meeting specifically focused on infants in London. The meeting will be held on Saturday 26th June, 2010, at the Sir Herbert Seddon Teaching Centre at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, London. The meeting will be hosted by Mr Hilali Noordeen FRCS who, along with a team of scoliosis specialists, will be discussing the causes and diagnosis of infantile, juvenile and congenital scoliosis, treatment options and current research. There will also be parents discussing their personal experiences of coping with the condition and opportunities to ask questions and chat with other families. This is the first infantile meeting that SAUK has held for many years and it is a fantastic opportunity for parents of infants or young children with scoliosis to get dedicated information and to pose questions to scoliosis specialists. For more information please contact: 020 8964 5343 or visit the SAUK website where you can sign up onl...

Reported in The Daily Telegraph of 20th May 2010: Two sisters with a rare curvature of the spine have both undergone life-threatening surgery to straighten their backs. Lucy Dover, 14, and her sister Naomi, 11, both had titanium screws and rods inserted into their backs in operations lasting almost six hours each at Freeman's Hospital in Newcastle. Their mother Sarah Dover, 41, a data analyst from South Shields, Tyne and Wear, spent 16 days in hospital praying that the operations would prove a success. Naomi underwent surgery on March 31 and her sister's operation was due to take place the next day but was delayed to April 7. When Lucy woke up groggy from the anaesthetic, her sister was there by her bedside to give her a hug. Naomi said: "We both chose to have the operation at the same time - we thought we could keep each other company in hospital. "It was scary going for the operation and having my sister there really helped me get through it. I feel muc...

Severe axial vertebral rotation treated with a modified Boston brace: a case report Authors: Eustathios I Kenanidis, Michael E Potoupnis Abstract We report the case of a 13-year-old Caucasian girl suffering from severe axial rotation of the T5 to L4 vertebrae. The patient (initially examined during a school screening study) was at first considered to be suspicious of suffering from scoliosis due to a highly positive Adam's forward bending test. However, her radiographic evaluation revealed the existence of axial rotation in 12 of her vertebrae, without inclination in the sagittal and coronal planes. After an observation period of 12 months and due to the fact that both her physical appearance and the measured vertebral rotation deteriorated, the patient was given a modified thoracolumbar Boston brace that had an immediate positive derotational effect on all but two vertebrae. Twenty four months later, the progress of the vertebral rotation(s) seems to have been halted and mos...

Genetic aspects of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis in a family with multiple affected members: a research article Authors: Marcelo Wajchenberg, Monize Lazar, Natale Cavaçana, Delio Eulalio Martins, Luciana Licinio, Eduardo Barros Puertas, Elcio Landim, Mayana Zatz and Akira Ishida Background The etiology of idiopathic scoliosis remains unknown and different factors have been suggested as causal. Hereditary factors can also determine the etiology of the disease; however, the pattern of inheritance remains unknown. Autosomal dominant, X-linked and multifactorial patterns of inheritances have been reported. Other studies have suggested possible chromosome regions related to the etiology of idiopathic scoliosis. We report the genetic aspects of and investigate chromosome regions for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis in a Brazilian family. Methods Evaluation of 57 family members, distributed over 4 generations of a Brazilian family, with 9 carriers of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis...

I just sent this letter to the Authorities of the Alberta Health Services. I believe it speaks for all of us in some way or another. Dear Authorities of the Alberta Health Services, Thank you so much for your prompt response on my referral to the Calgary Pain Clinic. I was so pleased to be referred back in October of 2009 to your stunning facility. In January of 2010 I received your gargantuan questionnaire requiring me to tell you not only about my pain but also any suspicious activities I believe my neighbours have been up to recently. Thank god you did because I'm fairly certain the family next door might be passing secrets to Nazi Germany. I don't have the heart to tell them that the war has been over for several years, after all, elderly people need something to occupy their time, and I can't quite understand what 2/3 of your lovely survey actually have to do with my patient care. Fortunately all the back surgeries and chronic pain have given me a lovely sense of humor...