Can my son / daughter play lacrosse / contact sports after scoliosis surgery?

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From: Justin
Date: Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 4:56 PM
Subject: Lacrosse Pictures
To: Dr. Hey
Dr. Hey,

Just wanted to share a few pictures with you from this past lacrosse season.  It went really well.  We got to the playoffs for the first time in school history and managed to go all the way to the third round!   Thanks to you I've been able to play 3 years of physical sports.  But I know God has a plan and this is only the beginning!  I will be attending Cedarville University in the fall, majoring in business management and a minor in digital film.  Thank you for everything you have done for me.  I truly don't know where I'd be today without your gift.

Justin

--Justin gave his blessing to share his story and photos with all of you!  Congratulations Justin on your high school graduation, lacrosse recovery and success and future plans!  Dr. Hey

Here is a link to an older blog I wrote that included Justin's scoliosis surgery description and recovery:   http://drlloydhey.blogspot.com/2013/01/hey-clinic-week-in-review-we-eat-sleep.html

Here is content from that January 2013 blog: 
"This week I also saw Justin, and his mom.  Justin is a teenage lacrosse player, who had a very severe upper thoracic congenital scoliosis with growing severe shoulder asymmetry.  His preop X-Ray reminded me of a patient I got to help treat as Dr. John Hall's Chief Resident at Boston Children's years ago.  I actually brought Justin's X-Rays to a Boston Children's Hospital Grice Lecture Conference, where I presented his case to Boston Children's Orthopaedics alumni --- many of which are leaders in the field now and/or Chairmen around the country and around the world.  I got lots of different opinions on how to best help Justin, but everyone thought it would be hard....

Well, it was pretty hard, doing a upper thoracic osteotomy with congenital vertebral body hemivertebra excision, and complex instrumentation due to his quite mis-shapen vertebrae.  He had one of the worst thoracic hypokyphosis deformities I had ever seen, requiring special instrumentation techniques to pull his chest wall "out" where it was sunken in toward the heart and lungs.  He has done great postop, and is very pleased with his new posture and chest shape.

Justin is also an avid lacrosse player, and by doing a very strong construct, we were able to allow him to go back and play lacrosse starting back within a couple of months of his surgery, similar to Lexi who we treated from Baltimore.  Justin's mom and dad were very concerned that Justin's Lacrosse would be OVER if he had his scoliosis fixed, and even considered waiting until he was in college to have his scoliosis fixed.  They are not glad they had it done when he was  still growing, and get it fixed when curve was smaller.  "



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Lloyd A. Hey, MD MS
Hey Clinic for Scoliosis and Spine Surgery
http://www.heyclinic.com