Not a teen girl, but a friend of mine, his wife has just been diagnosed with scoliosis. She had an exam and then the doctor set up both a MRI (which she had done this week) and x-rays.

My granddaughter was successfully treated for scoliosis when she was 13 to 14. It was caught just as your daughter's was in a check up. The need for and type of treatment was determined by her age, maturity and growth rate as well as the percentage of the curvature. The bad effects are more likely to happen while she is actively growing. Her older sister had a slight curvature also but it was determined that she had almost stopped growing so she didn't need treatment. The younger one wore a brace for about a year--she slept in it but was allowed to take it off while she was playing volleyball. The whole family was quite anxious and upset at first but the whole process was amazingly smooth and effective. They were warned that there was a possibility that the brace would not be effective and more extensive treatment such as surgery might have been needed. Fortunately that was not the case for her.

If you need to have her fitted for a brace, I would suggest that you interview as many places that provide that service as you can. My daughter-in-law did that and the facility they used had wonderful technicians who were very supportive and understanding. The first day they went the receptionist told my DGD that she herself had worn a brace and what to expect.

edited to add that everyone was amazed and pleased at how unobtrusive the brace was under her clothes.

Sending good thoughts for a successful outcome for your daughter.

I had a good experience with someone who studied under this guy:

http://www.egoscue.com

Not for scoliosis per se, but my shoulders, hips and legs were "tilted" and I was having a great deal of pain from a herniated disc.

This is the guy I saw in the early 2000's.

http://www.symmetryforhealth.com/the-founder

Just wanted to throw out some other ideas.

Scoliosis is screened for by having a person bend over and if a 'rib hum' is noted, it could be a sign of scoliosis.

Your daughter should follow up with an x-ray so that the curvature can be quantified and followed or treated.

Conservative treatment can include bracing and physical therapy.

I have no experience. Just wanted to let you know I'll be praying all goes well for your daughter.

My son had a similar experience at near the same age. The doctor doing his physical had him see an orthopedist who did an xray and exam. He said the curvature was less than 5% and since my son was probably done growing, it was something to be aware of and keep an eye on, but not likely something that would ever need serious treatment. He was given some exercises -- might have had a couple of PT sessions (not sure now) but your daughter's gymnastics probably have her covered there.

I would have your daughter evaluated by an orthopedist who specializes in sports medicine (as my son did). Having a second set of eyes. and more specialized evaluation and getting an xray to have as a baseline would be appropriate and it would also give you and her a chance to ask any questions you have about what this means or what to be on the lookout for if things do change.

I suspect your daughter is probably in a similar situation to my son, and since girls generally grow earlier than guys, it may not change. When she is no longer competing, she will probably want to have a routine to keep things in check. And they might add one or two warm-up or stretch type things to her routine to help make sure she doesn't have problems.

The only issue we've really had is buying a new mattress for my son. He was having trouble sleeping, and I do think his old mattress caved prematurely on us, but choosing a new one was really tough. We went through a couple and spent many hours testing them. At least he learned something about picking a mattress -- we just bought a new one for his grad school apartment and he seems happy with it.

Get the referral if necessary, but go see a specialist. I think it will ease your mind tremendously.

Actually, the gymnastics could be feeding into the scoliosis with repeated movements that could exacerbate the curvature and lead to further muscle imbalance.

She needs a PT to prescribe a program and evaluate what if anything is making it worse.

Good luck to her!

Mimi, that's interesting you say that, because when I looked up scoliosis online (admittedly not always the most reliable resource), an article specifically mentioned gymnastics as a sport that is beneficial for kids with scoliosis.

Anyway, thanks for all the feedback and experiences. She has an appointment with her regular pediatrician next week. She is probably pretty much done growing. Last spring, her dr. said she had "maybe another inch" to go.

Gymnastics and yoga are great, but think about any sport wherein the athlete performs repeated motions over and over and over again. To wit- always rotating in the same direction, for example.

That repetitive motion could feed into the problem.

It's something that a trained profession could investigate.

SueB I am in this same position with my DS age 14. Last years physical noted slight curve. This years physical noted an increase and I was referred to a Sports Medicine/Orthopedist where I will get an Xray. Our appt is Monday I will let you know how it goes. Its a special x-ray and I have to travel to a partivular facility where they have the right 'plate' I think the pediatrician said. According to our pediatrician this test produces a ratio based on age, other growth indicators and current curvature to help determine specific risk and accordingly, appropriate treatment.

I am totally not worrying about it until I have to- don't borrow trouble -that's what my granny would say.

My son is very active also, he plays year round(except football season) lacrosse and plays HS football, is a runner, skier(nordic) and boarder.

If she is nearly done growing, it is unlikely they will do anything unless it's severe. I think she'll be just fine.

My nephew developed scoliosis when he was growing very rapidly, around age 15, and he wore a brace at night for about a year to correct it. They only prescribe wearing a brace if the patient is still growing-- it doesn't do any good after the bones are mostly grown. After that point, the two options are observation or surgery for severe curvature.

Exercise is good for it because it keeps the back muscles strong. Oh, how kids give us things to worry about! Get her checked out and that will hopefully give you peace of mind :-)

Thank you. I'm trying not to worry about it too much. Now she's saying "Remember last year when I kept landing wrong on my walkover on beam? That's probably why." You know, because she's lopsided! Sigh.

Actually, your dd could be right!

In the spine movements are combined, so her scoliotic (assuming here) spine was bent to one side, and rotated to the other.

As her legs went over her shoulders, the spine directed her pelvis off center.

So, she's not lopsided, rather, she's rotated and off center!

(((I hope things work out Sueb.))) Keep us posted.

The Egoscue stuff I referenced earlier addresses the lopsided issue. Starting with the pelvis. If that's off, the rest of us tilt. This method is a series of exercises that focus on skeletal muscle and repositions the pelvis and body so that is "works right". It's interesting stuff and I was amazed at my own pictures.

Do I still keep up with the exercises? Well, I take the fifth. Moved on to Pilates and not suffering from the same pain.

Sue, Just updating you on my DS's visit to the sport medicine orthopedist for his scoliosis referral. The specialist examined my son and said that it this point he wouldnt even do the xray test, he scheduled a follow up in 6 months since my sons is still growing. On a bright note, my son loved the doctor and they had a fun chat about how my son can best protect his recovering broken rib during football season! (its been a fun summer this year, two sons went to summer camp, one broke a leg at his, the other a rib!)

My daughters pediatrician had marked it as something to follow up on. She broke her ankle the next year and I asked the orthopedist about it as long as we were in doing X-rays there. She had a 6% curve. They wanted to just watch it. She wrapped up growing a year later and it went away. I did prefer the orthopedist appt, they have the X-ray in house and that just makes it smoother.