Scoliosis screening petition. Please sign.
Discussion
Apologies if this is bad form. At least I only want your signature, not your money ;-)
My girlfriend was born with Scoliosis, which is a spinal curvature. These days she helps run a website - http://www.scoliosis-support.org/ - which provides support to other sufferers. She has asked me to pass on this request to everyone I know, so that they can get 1000 signatures on the petition. It would totally make their christmas:
Scoliosis and Kyphosis are curvatures of the spine that usually develop during the teenage years. If not caught early enough, these curvatures become deformities that require bracing and often a long and painful surgery to fuse the spine. In America and other countries, kids are regularly screened at school in order to catch cases before they become serious. This system works well; the screening simply consists of getting the child to bend forward so that a nurse can check their back for abnormalities. It costs nothing but the nurse's time, yet scoliosis surgery costs many thousands of pounds.
PLEASE sign this petition, help save kids from the trauma of surgery and also help save thousands of pounds for the taxpayer!
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/scoliscreening/
You need to click to respond to the email you receive in order for your signature to be added to the list.
My girlfriend was born with Scoliosis, which is a spinal curvature. These days she helps run a website - http://www.scoliosis-support.org/ - which provides support to other sufferers. She has asked me to pass on this request to everyone I know, so that they can get 1000 signatures on the petition. It would totally make their christmas:
Scoliosis and Kyphosis are curvatures of the spine that usually develop during the teenage years. If not caught early enough, these curvatures become deformities that require bracing and often a long and painful surgery to fuse the spine. In America and other countries, kids are regularly screened at school in order to catch cases before they become serious. This system works well; the screening simply consists of getting the child to bend forward so that a nurse can check their back for abnormalities. It costs nothing but the nurse's time, yet scoliosis surgery costs many thousands of pounds.
PLEASE sign this petition, help save kids from the trauma of surgery and also help save thousands of pounds for the taxpayer!
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/scoliscreening/
You need to click to respond to the email you receive in order for your signature to be added to the list.
As much as I agree with your post, and the workings of the support site. I do need to ask what she expects from the petition?
These e-petition have proven to be a time consuming task to merely keep people happy, and out of the way.
I can't find, and haven't heard of any success stories coming from e-petitions. I've signed quite a few since they first came out - some serious, some not so.
Each time they gather a number of like minded individuals, but no action is ever taken. An automated response is more likeky.
Again, this is a comment about e-petitions - and not the support site.
just to note; I have signed.
Mum and sister have scoliosis. It was caught early.
Made no difference.
For the cost involved for the amount of people it effects I believe to be another waste of money.
The list is endless for things that could be screened for. There isn't enough money for it all though. There is a large overspend already.
Where would you like to cut the money from to fund this?
Will direct mum and sister to site though.
Made no difference.
For the cost involved for the amount of people it effects I believe to be another waste of money.
The list is endless for things that could be screened for. There isn't enough money for it all though. There is a large overspend already.
Where would you like to cut the money from to fund this?
Will direct mum and sister to site though.
Edited by elster on Wednesday 24th December 12:18
elster said:
Mum and sister have scoliosis. It was caught early.
Made no difference.
For the cost involved for the amount of people it effects I believe to be another waste of money.
The list is endless for things that could be screened for. There isn't enough money for it all though. There is a large overspend already.
Where would you like to cut the money from to fund this?
Early diagnosis might not make the scoliosis curable (it depends on the degree of the curve), but catch it early enough and you can lessen its effects. If you can catch it early you can treat it with bracing. Leave it too late and surgery is the only option. I'd say that's more expensive than screening.Made no difference.
For the cost involved for the amount of people it effects I believe to be another waste of money.
The list is endless for things that could be screened for. There isn't enough money for it all though. There is a large overspend already.
Where would you like to cut the money from to fund this?
There's a lot of evidence to suggest that bracing makes not a blind bit of difference to many scoliosis curves - it just inflicts a lot of discomfort and indignity on a young person who now has to deal with having a bloody great brace to lug around instead of 'just' a wonky back. I was told (by my orthopaedic surgeon, no less) that if it's not too severe the best thing to do for scoliosis is leave well enough alone (and provide appropriately supportive seating to lessen pain). Severe scoliosis often goes with other neuro or musculoskeletal issues and bracing might provide some functional support (eg sitting ability/tolerance) but won't actually change the degree of the curve.
elster said:
Mum and sister have scoliosis. It was caught early.
Made no difference.
For the cost involved for the amount of people it effects I believe to be another waste of money.
The list is endless for things that could be screened for. There isn't enough money for it all though. There is a large overspend already.
Where would you like to cut the money from to fund this?
Made no difference.
For the cost involved for the amount of people it effects I believe to be another waste of money.
The list is endless for things that could be screened for. There isn't enough money for it all though. There is a large overspend already.
Where would you like to cut the money from to fund this?
Precisely. ETA And what she says ^^^^
Edited by mechsympathy on Wednesday 24th December 13:30
BlackVanGirl said:
There's a lot of evidence to suggest that bracing makes not a blind bit of difference to many scoliosis curves - it just inflicts a lot of discomfort and indignity on a young person who now has to deal with having a bloody great brace to lug around instead of 'just' a wonky back. I was told (by my orthopaedic surgeon, no less) that if it's not too severe the best thing to do for scoliosis is leave well enough alone (and provide appropriately supportive seating to lessen pain). Severe scoliosis often goes with other neuro or musculoskeletal issues and bracing might provide some functional support (eg sitting ability/tolerance) but won't actually change the degree of the curve.
I have a lot of experience with it, and have met a lot of people with various degrees of scoliosis from very mild to massive disabling curvatures. All I can say is every case is different. Small curves might improve with bracing, some might improve on their own. Most get much worse if left alone. Larger curves might need to be braced in order to prevent them getting worse until such time as surgery is possible. If all forms of bracing did nothing, then the NHS would not do it, as it is bloody expensive. It is a very complex set of conditions, falling under a catch all term. And whatever you think of the merits of braces/surgery/leaving alone, catch it early and the treatment is almost certainly going to be a lot less and a lot cheaper than if you catch it very late.londonbabe said:
I can't help agreeing on the petition thing, it's probably pointless, but if they make 1000 signatures it will cheer the people on the site up a lot. If it does nothing else that's good enough for me.
There are rather strict criteria for a screening test, called Wilson's criteria. There are many many disease areas competing for government funding, many of which affect far more people than scoliosis, as debilitating as it might be. The Campaigners should really concentrate on trying to shore up the argument as to why it fits Wilson's criteria rather than trying to get public support, as there are many other disease which are not eligible for nationalized screening programmes.Edited by londonbabe on Wednesday 24th December 12:25
Not a good case for screening.
Asymptomatic scolisis requires no treatment, symptomatic cases will seek help without the need for a screening program.
The evidence behind bracing is poor.
Creening is unlikely to pick up any significant cases that would not be picked up by presentation of symptoms but is very likely to worry a great number of asymptomatic individuals who would never have problems from a mild scoliosis.
It would do more harm than good.
Asymptomatic scolisis requires no treatment, symptomatic cases will seek help without the need for a screening program.
The evidence behind bracing is poor.
Creening is unlikely to pick up any significant cases that would not be picked up by presentation of symptoms but is very likely to worry a great number of asymptomatic individuals who would never have problems from a mild scoliosis.
It would do more harm than good.
londonbabe said:
elster said:
Mum and sister have scoliosis. It was caught early.
Made no difference.
For the cost involved for the amount of people it effects I believe to be another waste of money.
The list is endless for things that could be screened for. There isn't enough money for it all though. There is a large overspend already.
Where would you like to cut the money from to fund this?
Early diagnosis might not make the scoliosis curable (it depends on the degree of the curve), but catch it early enough and you can lessen its effects. If you can catch it early you can treat it with bracing. Leave it too late and surgery is the only option. I'd say that's more expensive than screening.Made no difference.
For the cost involved for the amount of people it effects I believe to be another waste of money.
The list is endless for things that could be screened for. There isn't enough money for it all though. There is a large overspend already.
Where would you like to cut the money from to fund this?
The cost involved in surgery on individual cases will be less than screening every single child through school.
Screening requires the child to bend forward. If it all looks symetrical that's fine. If not you're looking at scoliosis. That's it. How expensive can it be? Surely schools still have nurses' visits - for vaccinations or whatever? It would add a couple of minutes to what they do already. I don't see how it would add any cost.
londonbabe said:
Screening requires the child to bend forward. If it all looks symetrical that's fine. If not you're looking at scoliosis. That's it. How expensive can it be? Surely schools still have nurses' visits - for vaccinations or whatever? It would add a couple of minutes to what they do already. I don't see how it would add any cost.
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