When you have your surgery, your spine will be straighter right away. But it takes longer for the rest of your body to get used to its new position. You may notice that one of your shoulders is higher than the other or that your neck tilts to one side. Or you may find that one hip sticks out more than the other. This is normal, but eventually your body will straighten itself out.
Changes in your body shape
Here is what some teens said about their body shape after surgery.
"You wouldn’t think that you’d be able to tell that all of a sudden you’re straight. But you feel different. Your muscles really don’t want to move. You need reassurance that it’s going to go away. It does go away after a couple of weeks or so."
"When I had my surgery, I was so crooked when I would sit up. And when I got home I was afraid – I didn’t even want to put on clothes, like my normal clothes that usually fit. I wanted to wear baggy pants and baggy shirts and it was just so embarrassing because one shoulder would be like this (higher than the other) and my hips were all crooked. But it was okay, it went away really fast."
"I remember when I came home from surgery, I’d always be walking with my head leaned to the side and since I lived with my grandma she would say "What’s wrong with you?" So, now that’s gone away. But sometimes if I’m like depressed, I’ll be like walking like that again."
"Right after surgery, for some reason one of my shoulders was pushed up. My mom was like, ‘Why is your shoulder higher? Is there some problem?’ It ended up going away."
"I lay in my bed and I felt like I was lying crooked but I wasn’t. I was like, ‘Mom, can you help me turn?’ Like, I couldn’t move myself right, so I’m like, ‘Put me straight, I feel crooked.’ And my mom’s like, ‘You’re straight.’"
"My ribcage stuck out here and that was the main thing that I wanted to go away. They said, yeah it will go away, and it did."
"I just generally felt like I was more straight and taller, about half an inch taller. It’s an adjustment. Even walking at first felt a little weird because my body had never been in that position before. It was awkward, not necessarily painful."
