What's the rush to surgery about??

I received an email from a man in Florida last week. He read my article online (Amazing Brace - there's a link on this blog), and was desperate for help for his 16 year old son. Apparently, an orthopaedic surgeon told them the teenager has a 52 degree scoliosis and "must have spinal fusion in the next two or three months". The boy, a budding football star, was devastated that his football dreams were dashed, and his parents, like any, were terrified of the surgery. Of course, if someone needs the surgery then thank god it's available, but who wants to go into such a dangerous surgery if they don't need it. The dad asked me about the SpineCor brace, and I told him that I've had many responses from people who have had great success with it. Since his son has no symptoms, I was surprised at the rush to surgery. The father found a chiropractor in Miami who fits the brace, and wanted my opinion. I told him that he should definitely give the brace a try, after calling the chiro in Florida, who seems very knowledgeable and committed ti the brace - he's been fitting the brace for years now, and says he has about an 80% success rate. I was most impressed when he told me that t takes him about four hours to do a fitting, since the key to the brace's success is all in the fit.

Well, the boy was fitted with the brace yesterday - and guess what his dad told me - that the curve they got on yesterday's xray was only 39 degrees! That's a big difference from 52 degrees. Why the difference? Perhaps because the xray the surgeon had taken was apparently done with two machines, since they didn't have one long enough. The chiro, on the other hand, had a proper xray machine and feels his reading is the accurate one. The young man is now in the brace, and apparently has some growth left - I think he has a really good chance of avoiding surgery. But why was the surgeon rushing to surgery? Hummm. Makes you wonder. I don't even want to speculate. If you or your child is told you need spinal fusion, then it definitely pays to look further, as this story shows. If you decide to opt for surgery, make sure you have exhausted conservative options first. That's why this blog is here - for information - I have no financial gain from this - I just can't stand the thought that some people , especially children, are being sent into difficult spinal surgery needlessly.