Scoliosis

Imagine if your backbone was a tree. It grows taller as you get older. Now imagine this tree starts to lean to one side as it grows, and the trunk of this tree starts to grow into a curvature, bending into your neighbor’s yard. When this happens in your backbone, it’s called scoliosis (pronounced “sko-lee-OH-sis.”)

No tree is perfectly straight, and even crooked trees are still healthy and growing. If you have scoliosis, it doesn’t mean you are sick. It just means you might need to have some help – like a growing tree – to straighten out your backbone as you grow taller. (We also call your backbone your “spine.”) You want to grow as straight as possible so that you can move and breathe properly when you’re an adult.

If your doctor or your parents notice a little hump in your back when you bend over, you will have an X-ray taken. An X-ray is like a photograph of the bones inside your body. These pictures will tell your doctors how much your spine has curved.

Scientists don’t know why some people’s spines start to curve. We know that it is not something you inherit from your parents, like brown eyes or red hair. Girls are also are more likely to have scoliosis than boys.

Depending on how old you are and how curved your spine is, doctors might recommend different treatments, or they might recommend no treatment at all. It depends on how big your curvature is and how much more growth you have left until you reach your full height. Treatments include:

Your doctor can connect you with another patient who has gone through scoliosis treatment so that you can talk to someone your age about what to expect.