Kimberly Temple was diagnosed with scoliosis in Middle School when she was around 12-years-old. She was given a brace, but was not compliant as she was not fully aware of the effects that her scoliosis would create if she didn’t address the problem.
“I saw first hand how bad it could get,” Scotty Temple said when explaining her mom’s painful journey with scoliosis.
Many adolescent scoliosis patients don’t have pain and may not understand that their curve can progress and cause pain if not treated years later.
Kimberly’s doctor told her not to worry about her curve after she finished growing at 16-years-old and told her to throw her brace away.
Years later, she started to feel severe pain. So, she went to Dr. Hey and he suggested surgery as an option based on her curvature and pain.
Dr. Hey showed Kimberly research from the Weinstein study about the probability of curve progression as well as their own data from the clinic. Kimberly noticed that Scotty’s curve was on the cusp of progression in the ‘yellow zone’ and wanted to bring her in to see Dr. Hey too.
Scotty said that if a parent without scoliosis saw the chart of curve progression, they might not understand how painful the curve could be without experiencing it themselves and thus not see the need for surgery.
The surgical recovery time is much shorter for adolescents than adults. Kimberly stayed in the hospital for 5-6 nights, while Scotty stayed in the hospital just one night.
“It was a lot easier recovery than my mom’s I’d say,” Scotty said.
The next day after Scotty’s surgery she was up and walking. She continued to walk with a walker everyday and was back to work in about 2 weeks.
Kimberly said she was not sure if pediatrician’s screen children, but she hopes they will look at evidence based medicine to guide their patients to a place where they can seek treatment.
Deciding to have scoliosis surgery is a big decision. Dr. Hey and his team are available to help guide you through the process and share all available treatment options. For more information please call the clinic or make an appointment to speak to one of our spine specialists.
