@A MySpondylitisTeam Member, I agree always put off surgery as long as you can. I have had an Anterior/Posterior L4-L5 fusion with Spinous plating and a full disc replacement of my C6-C7 and yes it causes more damage above and below at a much faster rate. You might be pain free for a year but then everything gets drastically worse. This is at least from my own experience and that of so many others.

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A MySpond...

I have reverse cyrvature from C2-T2. I have had 2 orthopedic spine and 2 neuro spine surgeons tell me that it can only be fixed with a 6 level fusion. They also all told me that doing so will place a lot of extra pressure on the non fused vertebra directly above and below tthe fused ones and that the added strain on those will likely necessitate further fusions. Eventually my entire spine will likely need fusion as the adfitional flexion load progresses. Have you met Elizabeth Tree here on this forum yet,? You can find her on my team. At least all the surgeons whom i consulted were honest and told me to put it off as long as possible. My first 3 consultations all gave me a year before i would be begging for surgery based on their other patient experiences and the degree of damage. I went to physical therapy and have done every one of the exercises and stretches that i learned every day, or very close to it, ever since. That was in 2012 when my consultations began. No surgeries yet unless you want to count the stem cell transplant i had into the C4-7 facets a year ago. Dont let them scare you with the line, "if you get in a fender bender your neck will break". Same holds true if an asteroid drops on your house. Are you going to move? Fixing a spine curve with surgery is not likely to give you less pain. Also, i had a 27 degree backward to the right kink in my lumbar in 2012 as well, 3 herniated discs. Now it's just 5 degrees off and discs just bulging, good spaces, as a result of only doing the physical therapy i learned from that, an average of 4 days per week most weeks all these years. Btw, my T1-2 is straight now too. I do those exercises, no problems, i stop for more than a week or two, problems return for a few months until i get that core and low back strong again. Sure, it's a lot of work, but so is lifelong pain from surgery that you probably wont do the necessary PT for either if you're not willing to do it to avoid surgery. Bottom line, it is possible for you to correct the curve yourself if your spine has not already fused, but you absolutely must do all the physical therapy and stretches etc consistently for years. Gotta do it anyway, surgery or not, so you may as well get started. Anyone can do this, everyone wants to do almost anything else, including me, nothing good comes easily. Yours in better health, P 😌🙏

@DannielleGidley, @A MySpondylitisTeam Member Thank you to both of you so much for your input. It is sincerely appreciated and immensely helpful to others considering this option. I am so sorry for your disappointment and ongoing painful challenges. 😞🙏

I have had Kyphoplasty recommended for my T7 and T8 anterior compression fractures. The only other option I have been told about by my doctor for preventing further curvature is to implant rods, or fuse joints.

Yes but it depends on how bad the curvature is