patient stories

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....

In 2016, when I first discovered scoliosis, it was December 26th in Tunisia. I didn't know what scoliosis was. There was no information available, and even the doctor didn't provide much explanation. He simply said that I had curves measuring 40 and 37 degrees and that I needed surgery,...

As a 13-year old girl my scoliosis journey was not easy.  Instead, it was extremely difficult, both physically and emotionally.  Sixteen hours or more of bracing every day impacted every aspect of my life including my relationships with friends, participation in sports, focusing in school, and eating and sleeping....