Scoliosis: Life, Support & Friends

Many teenagers will probably recognize Shailene Woodley. She plays Hazel Grace in "The Fault in our Stars" and Tris Prior in "Divergent". But did you know that she also suffers from Scoliosis? Shailene Woodley was diagnosed with Scoliosis when she was 15 years old. She had to also wear a back brace,18 hours a day for two years. When doing an interview for Marie Claire, Woodley said "Some people have crooked teeth, some people have broken fingers; and I've got a back that has my initial on it". Such an inspiration to us twisties, eh?  There are many more celebrities that have scoliosis; whether they've had bracing, or whether they've had the surgery. But I will be posting more celebrities, possibly once a week! I find that many of their stories are such an inspiration, and it shows that you can still go out there and do what you want even with Scoliosis!  If you want to read more about Shailene Woodley's Scoliosis then here's a lin...

Authors: Theodoros B Grivas, Achilles Bountis, Irene Vrasami1 and Nikolaos V Bardakos Department of Trauma and Orthopaedics, "Tzanio" General Hospital - NHS, Tzani & Afendouli str, 18536, Piraeus, Greece Scoliosis & Spine Unit of "KAT" Orthopaedic Hospital, Athens, Greece The South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre, Denbies Wing, Epsom General Hospital, Dorking Road, Epsom, KT18 7EG, United Kingdom Background The dynamic derotation brace (DDB) was designed in Greece in 1982, as a modification of the Boston brace. It is a custom-made, underarm spinal orthosis featuring aluminium blades set to produce derotating and anti-rotating effects on the thorax and trunk of patients with scoliosis. It is indicated for the non-operative correction of most curves, barring the very high thoracic ones, (when the apex vertebra is T5 or above). The purpose of this article is to familiarize physicians with the DDB, analyze the rationale behind its design, and pre...

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Emily Kalda to our Scoliosis blogging community, we look forward to reading her experiences with Scoliosis and her comments on the SpineCor brace that she is currently wearing. We have pages about Spinal Bracing on the website where we discuss each brace individually, I have linked those pages below for your convenience. Spinal Bracing Boston Brace Charleston Brace Jewett Brace Milwaukee Brace SpineCor Brace Bracing in the 19th Century Brace or not to Brace Once again welcome Emily, please make yourself at home, blogging with you is myself (Simone Icough), Tiz, Judith, CupCake and JoJo.

Author: Laura Buchholz Although there is some evidence that adolescents with scoliosis may benefit from wearing hard or elastic braces to correct spinal curvature, research thus far has failed to prove definitively that bracing works, the investigators conclude. The evidence for bracing is weak, as is the evidence of any long-term benefits of bracing, Dr. Stefano Negrini of the Italian Scientific Spine Institute of Milan, Italy, and colleagues report in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of the Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Negrini and his team searched the medical literature for studies comparing braces with no treatment, other treatment, surgery, and different types of braces. From a pool of 1,285 titles, the researchers read 128 full texts, and found only 2 that fit their criteria. One study involved 286 girls; some wore a brace, some received electrical stimulation, and some received no tre...

Author: Katherin Kahn The use of braces to correct excessive curvature of the spine, or scoliosis, in adolescents is still an area of controversy — and is likely to remain that way until there is better evidence, concludes a new review of published research. Although some evidence points toward a benefit from using braces, research has failed to prove definitively that they work. Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis — curvature of the spine in which the cause is unknown —affects about 1 percent to 12 percent of the general population. Scoliosis is much more common in girls and is more likely to be severe in girls. About 10 percent of children and teenagers who have scoliosis will require treatment, based on the severity of the spinal curvature. Others can have monitoring without treatment to see if the spinal curve worsens. In severe scoliosis that remains untreated, lung, heart and spine damage might occur in adulthood. “Bracing is regarded as effective by some and as useless b...

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Discuss Scoliosis with other patients on our scoliosis support group Orthopaedic surgeons are optimistic about recent improvements in operative treatment of very young children suffering from scoliosis severe enough to consider surgery, even for those under the age of five years. For decades, spinal fusion surgery has been the prescription for severe scoliosis. The significant drawback of early fusion is that growth of the spine stops and this, in turn, interferes with the development of the lungs and chest cavity. "Scoliosis surgeons are exploring opportunities to treat a child's chest and spine to allow continued growth," reports B. Stephens Richards, MD, moderator of a media briefing on scoliosis treatment advances on Friday, February 16 at the Academy's 74th Annual Meeting. "Although the majority of scoliosis surgical patients present in early adolescence when spinal growth is no longer an issue, there are some v...

Three to five of every 1,000 children develop spinal curves serious enough to warrant medical attention. And yet, in general terms, the cause of these curves – known as “scoliosis” – remains unknown, and the effectiveness of the most common treatment is in question. Researchers at Shriners Hospitals for Children are working hard to discover answers to these questions, and to improve the quality of care and quality of life for children with scoliosis, a curvature of the spine greater than 10 degrees, which makes the spine look more like an “S” or a “C” than a straight line when viewed on an X-ray. Once scoliosis has been diagnosed, the primary concern is whether the curve will progress, and treatment is aimed at stopping that progression. While scoliosis can occur at any age, the most common type, adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), affects 2 to 4 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 16, particularly girls. Treatment options include observation for small curves, bracing in ...

Study looks at whether back braces offer benefit for scoliosis Author: Blythe Bernhard Kelli Sargent, a seventh-grader from Belleview, Mo., takes off the back brace she wears to treat her scoliosis as she gets ready for basketball practice. (Emily Rasinksi/P-D) Scoliosis screenings in middle schools find thousands of teenagers with curved spines each year. What happens next isn't as well planned. Treatment for scoliosis hasn't changed in five decades — if the spine is curved to a certain degree, the teenager gets a back brace. But research has not conclusively proved the benefits of the braces. Some young people who don't wear a brace never have any problems and their curves never worsen. Others wear the braces for years and still end up needing back surgery. A long-term study at Washington University and more than 20 other research centers hopes to figure out why. "If we can say that bracing doesn't change (the progression of a spinal curve) then it's a treat...

ScoliosisJournal have reported on the effectiveness of complete conservative treatment for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (bracing and exercises) based on SOSORT management criteria: results according to the SRS criteria for bracing studies - 2009 SOSORT Award Winner Authors: Stefano Negrini, Salvatore Atanasio, Claudia Fusco email and Fabio Zaina Published: 4 September 2009 Background The SRS criteria give the methodological reference framework for the presentation of bracing results, while the SOSORT criteria give the clinical reference framework for an appropriate bracing treatment. The two have not been combined in a study until now. Our aim was to verify the efficacy of a complete, conservative treatment of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) according to the best methodological and management criteria defined in the literature. Methods Study Design. Retrospective study. Population. We included all AIS patients respecting the SRS inclusion criteria (age 10 years or older; Ris...

Braces and Plaster Casts Orthotic management of spinal disorders dates back at least to the Middle Ages. Some of the concepts underlying those primitive devices, notably three-point forces, remain valid today. Fabrication materials have progressed from metal and leather to light weight thermoplastics allowing many new designs and a new level of comfort for the patient. Braces help control the curve as you or your child grows. These braces are sometimes prescribed post surgery, along with plaster jackets. I had a plaster cast for 7 months after my Harrington Rod surgery. They are designed to protect the back while the tiny bone ships used for grafting fuse to form a solid bone mass. Unfortunately for me my bone chips have not all formed a solid mass and I now have terrible problems with my donor site. There are many different braces in use today, however, they all present similar problems in finding clothing that is both comfortable and trendy! The Milwaukee Brace Developed by Drs Al Sc...

Scoliosis Journal posted the following information regarding: Specific exercises performed in the period of brace weaning can avoid loss of correction in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) patients: Winner of SOSORT's 2008 Award for Best Clinical Paper Published: 7 2009 Authors: Fabio Zaina, Stefano Negrini, Salvatore Atanasio, Claudia Fusco, Michele Romano and Alessandra Negrini email Background Exercises are frequently performed in order to improve the efficacy of bracing and avoid its collateral effects. Very frequently there is a loss of correction during brace weaning in AIS treatment. Aim: To verify the efficacy of exercises in reducing correction loss during brace weaning. Study Design: Retrospective controlled study. Population: Sixty-eight consecutive patients (eight males), age 15+/-1 and Cobb angle 22+/-2degrees at start of brace weaning. Methods The start of brace weaning was defined as the first visit in which the wearing of brace for less than 18/24 hours was pre...

We have blogged about the SpineCor brace a few times and had many discussions about this brace on the Scoliosis Online Support Group. For those of you that have not heard of the SpineCor brace then here is some blurb for you to get your head round, along with a link to a study that was carried out :) Rigid braces have already proven to be ineffective and a lot of surgeons do not prescribe braces nowadays. Rather, they ask patients to just have normal life until surgery is required. What's the point of letting kids go through the experience of wearing a brace for years when they are going to do surgery anyway? Last June Journal of Pediatric Orthopedic published spinecor study analyzed with new criteria set by SRS...all braces were analyzed this way so that direct comparison would be possible. SpineCore Brace Study We have a few members on the group have been fitted with this brace, below are some comments from Verda Tondevold. Connect with Verda on the Scoliosis Online Support Group...

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...

Mary has 3 siblings, 2 brothers and 1 sister and they live in America, Mary was diagnosed with Scoliosis when she was just 10 years old, I was 11 years old when I was diagnosed so I know exactly how Mary was feeling when she learnt that she required spinal surgery and all the hopes and dreams that seem to come tumbling around your life, my surgery was carried out in the UK. Mary had a 75º curve compared to me with a 76º curve, we were very similar in age and curvatures, we were both diagnosed with idiopathic adolescent scoliosis. Mary was very scared when she was told that she had Scoliosis, she would break down in tears at the very thought of scoliosis surgery, woindering if she would even be able to go through with the surgery, I am sure we are familiar with the words "why me?" Gregory White MD - Phoenix Children's Hospital "Scoliosis is a curvtaure and a rotational deformity of the spine, if the curve had gone un-treated then it eventually would have progressed t...