Non-fusion technologies for the treatment of scoliosis in the growing patient, has garnered increasing interest from patients and surgeons over the last 10 years. The advantages have been touted as being a minimally invasive procedure, rapid postoperative recovery, faster resumption of normal activities, less postoperative pain and preservation of more spine motion, when compared to […]
Month: May 2021
What is the Sanders Maturity Scale for bone age?
In the last blog post we discussed the Risser sign, a classic method to estimate bone age to predict the amount spinal growth remaining in adolescents with scoliosis. As you see from the last diagram in that post, the Risser sign doesn’t show up until AFTER the peak height velocity. So why does this matter? […]
What is Bone Age? Why does it matter for treatment of scoliosis?
What is bone age? Bone age is a method to determine the skeletal maturation level of a growing person. The younger the bone age, the more growth is ahead of them. Why not just use someone’s chronologic age? The chronologic age of a growing individual, which is calculated from their birth date to now, does […]
Idiopathic Scoliosis – Lumbar (5CN Curve Pattern)
14 year old female with progressive, painful thoracolumbar curve Highly athletic, three sport athlete. She has tried physical therapy for 3 months but has not helped decrease the intensity or frequency of her back pain. Participating in her sports is becoming difficult and is having back pain which is interfering with normal activities she does […]
Idiopathic Scoliosis
Below is a 16 year old female with idiopathic scoliosis, who is otherwise healthy. She noticed gradual development of waist asymmetry and a right rib prominence in the back. She was have daily back pain with athletics and having pain while in school. The below radiographs/x-rays demonstrate she has a 71 degree right thoracic curve […]
Congenital Spine Dislocation
Congenital dislocation of the spine (CDS) is a rare congenital malformation due to failure of the spine and the spinal cord to develop at a single spinal level. The patient may be completely neurologically intact or, in severe cases, may not have any muscle function or sensation below the level of the dislocation. It is […]