PHILADELPHIA — When Trevor Johnson was 11, his growing spine took a detour from the normal straight path. Instead of stacking neatly one atop the other, his vertebrae began to drift sideways into an S-shape and his rib cage started torquing to the left.
This spinal deformity, called idiopathic adolescent scoliosis, is common, affecting nearly 6 million Americans. In its early stages, the long-accepted approach is to wait and see whether the curve worsens.
Trevor’s parents had been down this road before and were not alarmed. His older sister has scoliosis, too. By the time she finished her growth spurt, the slight swerve in her back was hardly noticeable and posed no health problems.
But Trevor would not be so lucky. Periodic X-rays showed his spine bending and twisting like a sapling surrendering to gale-force winds.