Scoliosis: The Forgotten Disease?

There are currently societies for almost every genetic defect imaginable rallying, collecting money, forcing their voices to be heard. The problem with that is for every horrific defect that will kill one person in one thousand, there are ten defects that go unnoticed by the general population. These won't kill people, but they decrease the quality of life greatly. They can lead to depression, organ defects, and imbalances that can leave the afflicted person crippled or under constant strain for the rest of his or her life.

Of these, the one that perhaps strikes the largest number of people is scoliosis. But what, exactly, is it? That, my dear friends, is the easy question. Scoliosis is the curving and twisting of the spine.

There are two different kinds of scoliosis, ideopathic and congenital. Ideopathic refers to scoliosis that is caused by no known factors; indeed, many people are not even sure why they have it. Congenital, on the other hand, means that someone in the family had scoliosis, and they passed the trait on to you.

Of these, there are three different subsections: thoracic curve, lumbar curve, and thoraco-lumbar curve. The thoracic curve is when the top half of your spine is out of balance; the lumbar curve is the bottom half. The thoraco-lumbar curve twists both top and bottom, often in opposite directions.

Now, the thoraco-lumbar curve is considered serious, but it is even more so when the curves are not balanced; that is to say, the top curve and the bottom curve do not have the same degree of curvature. This can lead to a rib hump, when a hip sticks out farther than the rest and one side of your ribs is more pronounced.

Scoliosis can pose serious risks to your health. If left untreated for too long, it can mess up your heart, lungs, and spinal cord pretty badly. This happens when your spine twists and bends so much that your ribs begin to press on the organ they are supposed to protect. This begins to happen around fifty degrees of curvature or so.

Early warning signs of scoliosis include pain in the back, uneven shoulders, uneven hips, and pointed-out feet.

Though there are people who have lived with curves more than a hundred degrees, doing so caused them serious pain and injury to their vital organs.

If you are in high school (at least public; I'm not sure about private), you have probably had a scoliosis screening already. If you have not, this is something you would probably want to get checked once a year until twenty years of age.

>10 degrees of curve is considered normal for people. It's actually abnormal of your back is perfectly straight-most people hover around seven.
10-20 is considered the watch point-you should get regular screening.
21-25 is regular screenings to make sure it doesn't get worse.
26-30 is a brace for a few hours a day, mixed in with swimming, horseback, or any other sport that requires your body to work as a whole.
31-40 is 'you're not getting out of that brace'-generally, ten hours or more a day on a prison of fiberglass and padding.
>40 is the cutoff point for surgery.

In my county, scoliosis screening starts in fourth grade. And it's all because of me.

I was five when my back first started to hurt. I had just gotten a new mattress, so my mother thought that it was from the unbroken-in springs. She got me a mattress pad and that was the end of it.

By the summer between second and third third grade, it had gotten so bad my back had started to hurt even with the mattress pad. I went for my first physical so i would be eligible to go to camp, and we made an amazing discovery: my back was so crooked it was past the surgery line.

When it was discovered, my thoraco-lumbar was past the cutoff. The thoracic curve was at 47 degrees, the lumbar curve at 54. Recall from earlier 40 is the general cutoff point.

Now, they were not going to attempt a risky surgery on an eight-year-old who would end up popping them out on her prepubescent growth spurt. So I got a brace instead.

What followed was a four-year ordeal of doctor visits, physical therapy, and being unable to bend over if I wanted to breathe. That wasn't the worst of it, though. The worst was being in a brace for twenty-three hours a day, living with constant teasing and mockery until I wanted to die.

I do mean that literally. Ten-year-olds can be really judgmental, if case you haven't noticed. The constant lack of anything to do was also quite a trial for me-would your kid/sibling be able to sit still for twenty-three hours a day when eight years old?

In conclusion, scoliosis is a serious disease. So, next time you go in for a screening, take your shirt off and let them do your job. It just might save your life.

For more information, visit any of these sites:
http://www.pediatric-orthopedics.com/Treatments/Scoliosis/scoliosis.html
http://www.scoliosis.com

A PDF file is available at http://www.apta.org/AM/Images/APTAIMAGES/ContentImages/ptandbody/Scoliosis/Scoliosis.pdf