Learning to live with scoliosis

When Emily Warner learned at age 12 that her spine was slowly curving from scoliosis, she was mildly concerned but it didn't change her routine much.

Now 14, the Fort Herriman Middle School student is Miss Salt Lake County's Outstanding Teen and is becoming a young spokeswoman for others who deal with scoliosis, which usually strikes in early adolescence.

Known as "iron woman" or "mechanical woman" to her friends because she wears a torso brace to school, Warner will appear with two other teens in a new brochure titled, "What to Wear When Life Throws You a Curve," designed to lessen the stigma for teens who find themselves with a disease that can physically alter their posture and good health if left unchecked.

Those with mild spinal curvature are usually monitored by a doctor to see whether the condition will become more pronounced. If it does, a torso brace must be worn to help those patients avoid surgical correction of the curve.

The three teens were all checked by school nurses as part of routine scoliosis screening that takes place in Utah schools, usually with parental permission. Courtnie Coleman's pediatrician had picked up on her spinal curve just days before the nurse screened her, but the other two girls learned from the school screening that they had the disease.

Coleman, a 14-year-old North Summit Middle School student, said her first reaction after learning she had the disease two years ago was confusion. "I didn't really know anything about it. And I was nervous. I wondered if it would get worse and what I would wear if I had to wear the brace."

She now wears a brace both day and night and admits it's tough to do, in part because it's been difficult to find clothes that help hide the brace.

Shriners Hospital commissioned the new brochure and sponsored a photo shoot for the three girls this week. The pictures will appear in the brochure, which will let those with scoliosis know they can continue to live healthy and active lives, and even find clothes that help them feel confident.

Rachael Wainwright, 13, is an eighth-grade student at Mueller Park Junior High. She has a built-in support system because her mother, sister and cousin all have scoliosis, she said.

Diagnosed a year ago, she's finally becoming comfortable with the condition, "because it's not something I can really control," she said. "I might as well know about it and be able to tell my friends about it."

She wears a brace 12 hours a day, and has avoided wearing it to school. "I'm pretty glad I don't have to. The only people that really know about (her condition) were the ones in my class last year when I had the school screening."