A 32-year-old member asked:
Can you tell me if on my left shoulder then did an x-ray and he said my spine looks like an s and now i need surgery?
1 doctor answer • 1 doctor weighed in

Dr. Edward Hellmananswered
Orthopedic Surgery 30 years experience
Scoliosis: you certainly would want to discuss this directly with your physician, but one possible explanation was that you were noted to have one shoulder higher than the other prompting an X-ray of the spine in which you were then found to have scoliosis. In general, if the scoliosis is larger than 45-50 degrees, they will tend to relentlessly progress and surgery is recommended.
3.8k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
Similar questions
A 48-year-old member asked:
They did an X-ray of my left shoulder and he said my spine looks like an s. Now I need surgery. What can I expect from the surgery?
2 doctor answers • 12 doctors weighed in

Dr. Joshua Rovneranswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 20 years experience
S- spine: This is a complicated question and depends on many factors. Most importantly is how severe the s-curve (scoliosis) is.
You should definitely see a spine surgeon to measure your curvature and tell you if surgery is necessary.
3.5k viewsReviewed >2 years ago

Dr. Jeffrey Sider commented
Sports Medicine 40 years experience
don't know your age or if youre symptomatic
see an ortho who treats this problem
don't rush and do surgery - its major surgery
Nov 26, 2014
Last updated Aug 27, 2014
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