First opinion at Pittsburgh Children's Hospital confirms Scoliosis

Following the X-Ray confirmation, we were referred to an orthopedic surgeon at Pittsburgh Children's Hospital, Dr. Timothy Ward. We learned more about the surgery that would be performed on a juvenille with continued growth. A spinal fusion could not be performed until growth is complete. "Growth rods" would be inserted and would require repeated surgery every 6 months to adjust the length of the rods until growth was complete. Dr. Ward explained that the surgery is difficult to recover from and that the rods can break in a young active child. He told us that avoiding or prolonging the need for surgery is the goal. He also told us that the braces are terrible and that keeping a 5 year old in a brace for 23 hours a day would be immpossible. He said that there is little literature to prove that bracing is effective anyway. Dr. Ward advised us to return with Luke in 6 months for additional x-rays to determine if his curve was progressing. The office visit lasted 10-15 minutes, during which most of our questions were answered with Dr. Wards hand on the door knob ready to move on to the next child.
On the drive home, we agreed that the "wait and see" approach did not sound good to us. We felt helpless, the goal is to prolong the need for surgery, although we were not doing anything to prolong it at this point--at least not for six months.

Annual checkup reveals scoliosis

(Roaring Spring, PA) Nason Pediatric Doctor, Dr. Sinder, discovers an abnormal curve to Luke's spine during a routine checkup. His muscle to the left of his right should blade appeared humped out. This was a big shock to us because we didn't notice it previously. As parents, we felt like we should've caught this ealier because it became more and more obvious in the hours following the discovery.

We quickly began researching more aobut the disease. We discovered it's a fairly common disease in teens, but juvenille scoliosis, (which is what Luke has) is more rare and more progressive. Scoliosis progresses as you grow, and having just turned 5, Luke has a lot of growing yet to do.

According to the X-ray, his curve was "32 degrees". A curve of 20-40 dgrees will typically be braced. A 40-60 degree curve requires surgery. The surgery an adolesent will have is a spinal fusion, but can you fuse the spine in a growing child?