Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Free Spine Screening for Scoliosis - 24th April 2016.....

ON 24th April 2016 @ 10am - 4pm

In conjunction with the Community Project of Blood Donation held at St Gabriel Church at
Jalan Intan, Salak Selatan, 57100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I will be there to bring Scoliosis Awareness.

They also giving me a 1 hr slot to share on what is SCOLIOSIS and spine care. There are at least 200,000 Malaysian suffer in silent and living in denial stage on this. FYI I am a walking testimony of what scoliosis can affect a person.

Come meet me in real person on 24th April 2016.



Reports from the event
==================
First of all I want to thank the organizing committee  to allow me to slit in Spine care and scoliosis screening in their blood donation campaign.

Initially I was perplexed on how to handle back screening, explaining what is the next course of action to take to the parent of  a suspected scoliosis kid. Very timely GOD send me two wonderful assistance,  Janette Low and Mr Low (her father).  Mr Low came very handy as he can share his real life experience to the parent of a suspected scoliosis kid of how he and his wife feel and cope when they discovered that Janette has scoliosis.

I also want to gives a good thumbs up for Janette cause even though her eyes was not train to have eagles eyes (bird watching eyes) like me.  She is good and she really help a lot to eliminate erroneous.  She confirmed my  findings of "...oooh this one her right shoulder tilted ... OOoh this one the body posture is towards to the right.." .  Both father and daughter helps also in arranging, putting up  my teaching materials  for the talk.

This was my first time giving spine care and scoliosis awareness talk using my mother tongue (Cantonese).   To prepare myself for some terms and words I use google translations one day before hand to find some of the words that I anticipate I would be using it in my talk.  Of course I pray that GOD would use me as his tools effectively.

The feedback was information was disseminate properly.  I managed to did a good job.





We managed to identified 3 suspect to have scoliosis that need a spine specialist  attention.  This figures do not take into consideration those grown up adults that have mild scoliosis cause  by degenerative.

So catch the curve while it is still small. Early diagnosis is important to gives you more rooms for treatment.  NOT all scoliosis curve are for surgery.  Only the severe curve but it is best to get your abnormal curve being monitor by a spine specialist. He/she will keep you inform  and guide you the next course of action.  When.. What .. 


In the meantime for those who are having growing up children, you can do this DIY check every 3 months on your kids.  Only upon suspect of scoliosis then only seek consultation from a spine specialist..  Remember spine specialist  is the sub-set the niche group from the orthopedician .
 


 Where to find the spine specialist read this guidelines that I share in  10 tips to choose your spine doctors
A simple guidelines is this spine doctor must have a least handle 50 spine ops in a year.  This 50 cases includes deformities (scoliosis), trauma,  fracture, tumor, degenerative.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you have scoliosis, you should consult and be on follow up with an orthopaedic/spine doctor/surgeon.
When surgery is indicated, do not be afraid or feel frightened.
Do not delay the surgery or keep waiting because the disease will become worse and the surgery more difficult.

The good thing is.. Malaysia is now in line with international standards. You should strive to achieve no less.

Wong Chor Mun said...

Thank you for dropping your comments. Well says!

Anonymous said...

Surgery is indicated for curves that has progressed beyond 40 degrees. Meaning surgery is the treatment for curves between 40 - 50 degrees. This is the international standard for treating scoliosis and this applies for Malaysia too.

The surgery is to prevent further progression of the curve. Some reduction of the curve is achieved during surgery. Surgery is individualized and must be discussed with the surgeon who is performing the surgery.

So, take heart.

Wong Chor Mun said...

Yup for those who are have scoliosis do not lives in denial. Scoliosis is a life threatening condition. My advice to you is get your curve being monitor by a spine doctor.

Curve is already severe and if You want alternative treatment such as massage or "bones realignment/manipulation". Yes indeed the person who sells you this ideas have very convincing words.
Wait.. wait.. gather all your thoughts and start analyse..
.... get a crooked animal spine from the wet market, massage and try realign it. Can you get this crooked animal spine corrected?

Anonymous said...

Yes indeed, good comments.

A person who has scoliosis needs to be seen by a qualified doctor/surgeon. The recommended treatment is in general:
< 20 degrees - Monitoring and observation
20 - 40 degrees - Bracing and physiotherapy
> 40 degrees - Surgery

Curves more than 40 degrees are severe and surgery is indicated. The surgery is a considered a life saving proceedure. At this stage, please do not forget to see your orthopaedic/spine surgeon and do not delay. The degree/Cobb angle at which the surgery is oerformed is a crucial matter.

Wong Chor Mun said...

Bracing is only administer for patient who are still in their growth spurts. That is below 17yrs old..Bracing is hopefully it can reduce the curve progression..
For patient who are in their rapid growing period the baseline of 40 cobb degree is being use. This is because when the actual surgery happen in months later after being agreed to take up surgery, their curve usually are > 50 cobb degree.

Wong Chor Mun said...

Based on my real life experience having undergone scoliosis surgery is indeed a life saving procedures.
This morning during my journey yo office..I did reflection of the past..
Actually I had weird back soreness ever since I was only 14yrs old.
My abnormal curve continue to progress it then gives me mild short breath,intestine bloating, hated how I look at myself in a mirror and I unable to sleep on my left side..
Now with the scoliosis surgery I took up about 2yrs ago..all of that is no longer there..
I am a much healthier person..
My old friends commented that they can see much joy in me now..

Anonymous said...

Curves that have reached 20 degrees and above have to be follow up by an orthopaedic/spine doctor or surgeon...to be overseen.
This is recommended.

Curves 20-40 degrees are treated by bracing and physiotherapy, where possible.
In AIS ( Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis ), these usually occur during the early pubertal years,
Therefore, these are done for girls aged 10-13 years and boys aged 12-14 years.
Bracing makes the curve smaller. When the braces are removed, the curve return to it's original position which is usually larger.
So be careful.... the curve is actually larger than it seems.

Curves 41-50 degrees: Treatment is by surgery. This is recommended. Please prepare yourself. Do not freak out and do not delay.
This is extremely important. Remember, now is time for definitive treatment. Surgery..