A New Treatment For Scoliosis

Everyone has some curvature to their spine, but a pronounced curve in a child's back may mean scoliosis. That diagnosis used to require surgery and a long recovery in a back brace. But modern medicine has simplified the treatment, Health Reporter Helen Chickering of CBS News Affiliate WBTV reports.

Dakeita Klutz, who is a nurse, has gotten treatment for scoliosis.

While Klutz is an adult, scoliosis usually shows up in children between the ages of 10 and 14. The problem is found in girls four times more than in boys.

The cause of scoliosis is unknown, but the results of the common abnormality can be painful.

"I had trouble breathing," Klutz says.

Her physician, Dr. Bruce Darden of Charlotte Orthopedics in Charlotte, N.C., determines treatment for his patients by the amount of the curve.

For Klutz, it was too late for a brace. She underwent a surgical procedure in which hooks and rods fused her spine together. Because of the efficiency of the surgery, she didn't need a cast or brace afterwards.

Now Klutz is literally standing tall.

"I gained two inches," she says smiling.