Early Checks Can Prevent Later Pain

ANNUAL check-ups at schools around Australia are needed to help improve the early diagnosis and treatment of scoliosis, a developmental deformity that is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to treat without surgical intervention.

A Hidden Back Problem

SCOLIOSIS, which affects three in every 100 people including a student at Avoca Beach Public School, is a little known or understood problem in society.

How It Feels . . . To Have Steel Rods In Your Spine

When Tracey Caulfield was diagnosed with scoliosis as a teenager it was the beginning of a long and painful quest for a straight spine.

Russell's Pain City's Gain

RUSSELL Young endured chronic back pain for six years as a scoliosis sufferer, but all it took was one yoga class to change his life.

Play It Straight

At age 12, during a school medical, I was asked to touch my toes. Delighted with my flexibility, I did so, only to be told I had scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and to find myself in hospital just a few weeks later.

Spinal Danger For Teens

The adolescent growth spurt can produce all sorts of problems. For more than one in 50 girls, a sideways curve of the spine, known as scoliosis, can be one of them. It's not clear what causes scoliosis, or why adolescent girls are at much more risk than boys. Early detection is vital - the earlier the treatment is given, the better the prognosis, says Thomas Taylor, emeritus professor of orthopedics and traumatic surgery at Royal North Shore Hospital. He says scoliosis screening used to be ...

Scoliosis Treatment Backed By Study

A new study will radically improve the treatment of scoliosis, the curvature of the spine which affects one in every 100 teenage girls, researchers said.

When A Disability Is Art In Person

MARYANNE Ireland has turned her disability into an art form. The 36-year-old Belmont visual arts student, born with a spinal cord injury that resulted in severe scoliosis, has immortalised her nude photographic images and plans to exhibit them to raise public awareness about spinal injuries.

Shane Joins The Classroom Crowd

Emma Moss, Shane Niblock, Neil McLean and Antony Clements - Year 7 and 8 students in wheelchairs - all had difficulties adapting to school life when they were integrated last year into St Clair High in Sydney's west. Crippled by spina bifida, cerebral palsy or scoliosis, they were in cons