Scoliosis

Factual Questions
1

Recently I had an MRI and some X-rays taken for a back problem and I was a little surprised to find out than I have mild – about 15% or degree or whatever – curvature (sideways) of the spine–scoliosis.

What surprising is that I’m 63 years old and in very good health. I thought only children had this condition. My spinal doc said it’s nothing to worry about and I believe him–the only way I know I have it is that he discovered it.

Anyone else have this condition? How badly? How does it get treated, especially in adults?

TIA for answers :smiley: (I’m a very cheerful person)

2

No, anybody can have scoliosis - when you hear of children who have it, it’s because it’s been detected already and it’s severe enough to warrant treatment or to be a problem with (some) sports. Apparently mild cases are common enough that trauma docs are surprised I don’t have any at all.

Treatment ranges from “be careful how you lift weights” (which is good general advice in any case) to surgery.

3

I had surgery for scoliosis at the age of 18. The before and after pics here look more or less like my x-rays. That was some time ago; nowadays I think they’ve improved physiotherapy and bracing techniques and resort to surgery less often.

4

I have life-long scoliosis, which various doctors have described as being from “moderately severe” to “severe”. When I was a young-un, one doctor or another prescribed exercises to strengthen the spinae erector muscles (all those muscles in the back that hold the spine up), which I mostly didn’t do.

Now I have chronic low-back pain that I would describe as moderate or maybe a little worse than moderate. I chow down ibuprofen like they are M&M’s. MRI’s have shown stenosis, which I think means the openings through which nerves emerge are getting crunched. One doctor, about 10 years ago, opined that it would gradually keep getting worse as I get older. So far, I think he’s been right.

I asked a doctor about 30 years ago what causes this. His guess was childhood sub-clinical polio. Note that I was born several years before polio vaccine was invented (and I remember the massive public innoculation campaigns they had when it first came out). In those days, polio was a great terror. (There was a thread about that recently, with links to photos of whole rooms full of people living their lives in iron lungs. And those were the lucky ones who survived, if you call that lucky.)

It was extremely common for very young children to get polio. If you get it before a certain age (like, before you’re 6 weeks old or so), it causes little or no permanent damage, and was commonly mistaken for a cold. AND you got immunity against re-infection later at an older age, when it really did the worst damage. My doctor’s speculation was that I had probably gotten polio as an infant, which was sub-clinical (meaning so mild that it was never recognized). It may have left me a little bit weak in some of my muscles, possibly just on one side. If the erector spinae muscles are weaker on one side, the stronger muscles on the other side will contort the spine into an asymmetric conformation. And that’s what scoliosis is.

All my life, I’ve noticed that I slightly favor my left side, even though I’m right-handed. For example, when I carry things (like carrying books to school), I always carried them in my left hand. And that’s the direction my spine is bent too. So my doctor’s theory seems plausible.

ETA: P.S.: And BTW, back in the early 1970’s, this got me classified 4-F.

5

Actually scoliosis is more common then people think. Most peoples spines aren’t 100% straight, 0-5 degrees is normal.

My mum had it real bad, she had the old school body cast and actually had to have surgery to straighten the spine later on. Because of this, I had to go to an orthopedic doctor every couple of years to monitor for it. If I remember correctly a rough 10% angle equals to 1 inch of height. They actually do scoliosis screening in elementary schools now (at least mine 20+ years ago) so most kids get it caught before adult age. I have a curve that’s like 7 degrees from straight. Doesn’t effect me at all and hasn’t changed in years. My shoulders are very slightly out of alignment if I bend over and if you were to measure, but not noticeable. I would imagine you have something similar, depending on if it’s your lower or upper spine curve.

Running on memory but I believe the orthopedic doctor said they don’t generally brace people unless the curve is more than 20*/or causing pain or disfigurement. Generally surgery is considered at 30-40* if bracing doesn’t work.

6

I have scoliosis, I was born with it, I didn’t know I had it until I was in my late 30’s,
I also have 2 herniated discs in my lower back and 2 crushed vertebrae in my upper back, I fell out of a 3 story building sitting on a window box that broke loose, while washing windows.

I seem to have less pain than people I know with people who have a lot of pain, I did learn to lift things with my legs bent, etc. I do much better than some of my siblings, who have had back surgery.

Years ago it used to be, if you don’t have the curvature fixed before the age of 16, it couldn’t be fixed,

7

I read a suggestion once that kids carrying heavy bags to school might cause or at least aggravate the problem. We have a cousin who had some bones in her neck fused together as a ‘cure’.

8

I am sure there is a perfectly rational explanation.

9

Scoliosis, as noted, is very common. Any curvature of the spine over 10 degrees (measured by the Cobb angle) is considered scoliosis. And it usually causes no symptoms whatsoever, for 99% of the people who have it.

Yes, I know. Many people with scoliosis have back pain. But about the same percentage of people who don’t have scoliosis also have back pain.