MEDI-FILE: NO MORE PAIN for Lucy

Elsa discovered her daughter's poor posture was caused by a spinal condition

- EVA LEWICKI

Elsa Van Wijk, 48, Sydney, NSW

Look at Lucy's posture,' my husband Chris remarked.

Gazing at our daughter Lucy, then 11, I could see one shoulder was lower than the other. 'Oh, she's lop-sided,' I said, surprised.

'Can you stand up straight, Lucy?' asked Chris, 48.

'I am standing up straight Dad,' she replied.

She also mentioned she had pain in her legs and at the bottom of her spine.

Anxious, I took her to our GP, who ordered scans.

'Lucy's got scoliosis,' he said later. It means that instead of her spine being straight, it curves to the side.'

He said she also had spondylolysis, a stress fracture in her spine. It could have happened from the vertebrae being compressed and was probably causing her pain.

We breathed a sigh of relief that Lucy's condition wasn't severe enough to warrant surgery.