Lynn Joyner discovered her scoliosis at 14 years old when her doctor ordered a spine x-ray after she complained about one pant leg being longer than the other. Her curves reached 35 degrees thoracic and 40 degrees lumbar before the doctors caught her curve.

The doctor told her to monitor her curve, but did not give her any choices when it came to treatment.

Over the years at annual checkups, her doctors would give her medications for her heartburn and told her to stay active.

In her 50’s Lynn began physical therapy when her scoliosis and back pain began to interfere with activities of daily living. At first, she thought her symptoms came from getting older.

“I woke up one morning to get up and there was a shift somehow,” Lynn said. “And I started having this shock and nerve pain down the right leg…and that was so scary because I could not get dressed.”

When Lynn would bend over she felt like there was a kink in the chain of her back that would catch as nerve pain shot down her leg.

The Difference at the Hey Clinic

She found Dr. Hey through a Google search. Dr. Hey offered her conservative scoliosis treatment options as well as scoliosis surgery because of the high degree of her curve at around 55 degrees thoracic and 65 degrees lumbar. He went through all of the potential risks and complication potential with her so she would feel she knew enough to make an informed decision.

“Dr. Hey was very upfront about what he could do,” Lynn said, “and gave me the choice.” Lynn eventually decided that the best path forward was scoliosis surgery.

“When I woke up after surgery… I felt like I could take a deep breath and I didn’t realize that that was something that I wasn’t able to do before,” Lynn said. “I had been experiencing a lot of heartburn and since surgery, I haven’t had any of that anymore.”

“I didn’t really realize how much I was dealing with pre-op until I got to the other side,” Lynn said. “I’m sitting here thinking, well, you know, I’m, I’m not able to take a deep breath cause I’m aging, but it was related to worsening scoliosis.”

After surgery, she returned to washing dishes and doing laundry, daily activities she couldn’t participate in before. Her nerve pain disappeared. After six weeks, she started biking again.

“The scoliosis surgery that I had with Dr. Hey offered me such relief that it’s just indescribable,” Lynn said. “Cause you don’t realize what you were putting up with that was related to the scoliosis until you get to the other side.”