Zoe Cronin is a lovely young patient of ours who has adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, a curvature of her spine that developed rapidly during a growth spurt. She suffers with back pain and needs spinal surgery as soon as possible. 

The NHS have offered to fuse her lumbar spine with metal rods, but this is not a great option – she will lose mobility and flexibility in her spine.  An alternative option is Vertebra Body Tethering (VBT), which uses flexible cords (not metal rods) to fix the spine and retain flexibility and movement. This is not a ‘rare’ or unusual procedure. It is performed worldwide but sadly is not available on the NHS. Doctors in London and Barcelona have confirmed that Zoe is an ideal candidate for the surgery as she is very flexible. Vertebral body tethering, rather than spinal fusion, will afford Zoe the best opportunity to live the active lifestyle she loves including surfing and drumming.  

Nicky Edwards at Chiltern Physiotherapy is teaching the Strength & Conditioning Classes on Tuesdays at 8am and Thursdays at 6pm. These classes are FREE, but if you are able to donate £3 (or £5 per family) for each session to Zoe’s fund that would be AMAZING! 

All ages and abilities welcome. No equipment required as all strengthening exercises will be using body weight as resistance - you just need a little bit of space to move around.

Please share this message far and wide as Zoe needs her surgery as soon as possible, ideally in July so that she can recover over the Summer and avoid missing too much school.