Scoliosis

We had the last of Bella’s big bunch of doctor’s appointments yesterday.  The appointment went fairly well, this one was for her scoliosis.  The curvature of her spine measured 30 degrees and looking at the x-rays we have, it looks pretty bad.  But the doctor said she actually looks much better in person and at this point we don’t need to do anything medical.  He also believed that in a child this young that shows scoliosis it usually means that they are genetically predisposed to getting scoliosis and that bracing often doesn’t work to correct the curve.  This basically means if we get to the point where the curve is bad enough we need to correct it, then we are looking at surgery (metal plates attached to the spine) to fix it.

In the meantime there are plenty of things we need to do to help Bella, including having her really work on trunk stability (physical therapy), and making sure she is correctly supported when sitting in her chairs.  The doctor mentioned that most kids will try and right themselves when their spine in curved, which then creates a curve in the other direction.  Bella ALWAYS leans to the side.  But I am fairly certain she isn’t trying to right her curved spine, she just prefers to lean that way.  Just likes she prefers to hang upside down instead of right side up.  And that is my frustration.  We should be doing more with her, but if she doesn’t want to do it, we really can’t make her.  If she refuses to hold her head up because she prefers to let it hang, then she isn’t going to be sitting upright unless we put a strap on her head.  And for now I am refusing to do that.

I feel like I am in a losing battle.  There are just so many things that I should be doing with Bella.  I literally think we could fill the whole day with therapies for Bella, and in the end not only would she be overworked, but it might not even help anything.