Scoliosis is a term that is used when a patient's spine is curved. Scoliosis can occur at any age, but most commonly it develops during early adolescence. This is a period of rapid growth when a child’s body starts to grow and becomes more adult.
The most common type of scoliosis is called an idiopathic scoliosis. This means there is no identified cause for its development. We do not know why scoliosis happens in some people and not in others. Some patients have family members with scoliosis. Sometimes there are other problems in the body that may contribute to the spine becoming curved, such as having excess movement of the joints, which is called being hypermobile.
Scoliosis may be noticed for a variety of reasons. Quite often it is first noticed by family members or teachers at school. It may cause a person to lean to one side or clothes may not fit properly anymore. Often, it affects the shape of the hips and/or the chest, which may be the first noticeable sign. These changes in the chest and the hips occur because the spine doesn’t just curve sideways, it also rotates or twists. When the spine twists it causes the ribs to change shape because they attach to the spine. The change in shape of the ribs is what affects the appearance of the chest and the waist. The hips can also appear uneven due to the twist in the spine.
When you come to the RNOH, you may see a variety of people including doctors, nurses, therapists and radiographers. You will always be referred to one of our spinal surgeons whether you need surgery or not.
The options for treatment of your scoliosis will either be conservative:
Or surgical:
At the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust, our spinal consultants use the British Spine Registry which is a web-based database for acquiring information about spinal surgery and for monitoring surgery outcomes in the UK. This is a vital tool in the treatment that we give to our patients and will immensely impact the future of patient care.
Patient involvement with the British Spine Registry focuses on pre-operative and post-operative questionnaires which provide our consultants with information about the pain, mobility and daily activities of our patients. These answers are compared with those of other patients who have had similar treatment which then enables surgeons to evaluate how effective and successful our surgeries are and where improvements can be made.
The information on the British Spine Registry is managed by the British Association of Spine Surgeons (BASS) and all data is kept secure and confidential. Personal details needed by the BSR are: Name, Gender, Date of birth, Address, Email, and NHS Number.
Participation with the British Spine Registry is greatly appreciated by the hospital and the consultants, and NHS England. We thank you for helping us to improve our hospital and the care that we are able to provide.
“RNOH fully embraces the use of the BSR for collecting patient outcomes. It is crucial for the long term follow-up for our patients and also opens up research opportunities. Being able to collect our patients’ outcomes enables the spinal unit to validate the specialist complex spinal surgery that we offer our patients.”
– Mr. Robert Lee, Consultant Spinal Surgeon, British Spine Registry Co-Lead
Further information can be found at: www.
For enquiries, please contact: RNOH.
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