patient stories

Hi, my name is Sophia. I’m 14 years old from Hong Kong, and I was diagnosed with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis at age 12. I was prescribed a full-time WCR brace and physical therapy. I had heard from the doctors that scoliosis was something that couldn’t be cured, and the best…...

Hello! My name is Bindi Weiland and I am 16 years old. I have been dancing for 13 years and dance has always been a big part of who I am, but my journey hasn’t always been easy. When I was five I was transported by life flight to Children’s…...

Diagnosed at age 11, I was just finishing up my sixth grade year. Middle school is probably one of the toughest times in anybody’s life, so adding in doctor’s appointments and a spinal fusion only made it much more so....

At just 12 years old, I discovered that I had idiopathic scoliosis. Quickly being reassured by my pediatrician, I left the children’s hospital not worrying about this. Apparently, a lot of people had scoliosis and are completely fine, so nothing was going to happen to me, right?...

When I was 10, I went for what I thought would be a regular checkup at my doctor’s office. Everything seemed routine—until my primary care provider asked me to bend over so she could check my back. What happened next was different: she paused, stepped out, and returned with a…...

Being diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis when you’re 12 years old is a whirlwind. At this age, I was so overwhelmed with all the changes my body was undergoing already, and now scoliosis was added to the list. The multiple appointments quickly changed to X-rays every 3 months, which ended up…...

As my 10 year annual check up began to creep up on me I was bombarded by thoughts of what kind of shot I was going to get. I had a fear of any kind of shots. Am I just getting a finger prick? What if I was due for…...

Hi, My name is Chaheti Mathur, and I am a high schooler from California. Since I was 7 years old, I have been a singer and vocalist. I was diagnosed with idiopathic lumbar scoliosis at age 11 in a school physical exam, but my spine was only curved one degree…...

I was just four years old when my general physician diagnosed me with idiopathic scoliosis. At the time, neither my parents nor I knew what it was. All we knew was that we needed to attend follow-up appointments every six months to monitor the curve before it became too severe....

At the University of Michigan hospital, a ten-year-old me had her world turned upside down when I was diagnosed with scoliosis. I love baton twirling more than anything else. My afternoons were spent practicing in my backyard, imagining myself twirling in front of cheering fans at football games....