As an osteopath, Richard’s scoliosis is another aspect of his life that fascinates me. It came to my attention that a contestant on Britain’s Got Talent, Julia Carlile, aged 16, had a scoliosis treated privately in the USA, which was paid for by Simon Cowell ($175,000)
Click here to read more: Here.
This was interesting, but even more intriguing was the way it was treated. Scoliosis is usually treated by inserting metal rods each side of the spine. The operation is very invasive, involves large scars and leaves the patient with a spine which is very stiff, although straighter than it was. The old way would have meant Julia would never dance again, which is why Simon Cowell stepped in when he heard that the new technique would allow the spine to still be flexible enough to dance.
The operation is called vertebral body tethering, although the place in the USA that formulated the technique prefer to call it ‘Anterior Scoliosis Correction’. It involves screws being fixed along a cord inside the back. The recovery time is just six weeks and the operation is reversible if it doesn’t work. Here is a link to the place that pioneered the technique if you want to find out more: Here
Just imagine if Richard had had access to this kind of treatment!
murreyandblue 
Reblogged this on Jo's Historic Collection.
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As my daughter was diagnosed with this condition at 11 years old, I found this article really interesting. It sounds far less invasive, and nowhere near as traumatic as the original operation of putting rods down the length of the spine. Recovery time is so much better too. The wonders of modern medicine, how fortunate are we? x
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Absolutely, Glenis!
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My daughter was diagnosed with a 55 degree lateral curve of the spine this week. She has decided to blog her experience so that other children in her position have a better understanding of the road ahead and that this is not the end.
Please see here for the link – https://faithsblog.news.blog
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Thank you for posting – your daughter is very brave and compassionate to do this to help others. Good on her!
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“It wouldn’t necessarily be possible to distinguish such signs,” Lund told LiveScience. “Richard had idiopathic adolescent onset scoliosis, which means that the cause for it is not apparent, and that it developed after the age of about 10. So he would probably have been treated as an adolescent as well as during his adult life.”
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I’m not sure what your point is!
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