High School Pitcher Rebounds after Scoliosis Diagnosis

Carson Jackson, 16, has been playing baseball since he was 5 years old. Last March, he was looking forward to pitching and playing outfield on a summer travel team when he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder – his throwing arm. His parents, Matt and Tracey, took him to a sports medicine specialist who detected an unusual curve in Carson’s spine and ordered X-rays. The results were a shock.

“When I saw the X-rays, I thought they’d mistakenly switched mine with someone else’s,” Carson recalls. The images revealed scoliosis, a significant side-to-side spinal curvature. A normal curvature is less than 10 degrees; Carson had a 27-degree curve in the middle (thoracic) portion of his spine, and a 50-degree curve in the lower (lumbar) section.

Carson never had any of the common symptoms of scoliosis, including visible differences in shoulder or hip height, troublesome posture, or back or leg pain. The cause of his scoliosis was unknown (idiopathic). But suddenly, he was faced with the prospect of major spinal surgery to avoid future problems, including imbalances in his shoulders, hips and rib cage, muscle pain and loss of flexibility.

Finding the Right Solution

The Jacksons decided to take some time to research their options. Matt’s sister, a physical therapist, directed them to UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s, a three-hour drive from their home in Dayton, because of the range of treatments offered, including advanced procedures that might help Carson maintain maximum flexibility without compromising his athletic ambitions.

The family met Michael Glotzbecker, MD, chief of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s, in May 2023. Dr. Glotzbecker discussed multiple options but recommended one in particular: vertebral body tethering (VBT), which involves placing a permanent, flexible tether alongside the spine to straighten out the curve as Carson grows.

Vertebral body tethering is a newer technique to treat scoliosis that is showing promising early results. The advantages of vertebral body tethering is that it preserves the flexibility of the spine while allowing for continued growth in the patient. For an athlete like Carson, this tailored approach to treatment allowed for correction of the spinal curvature while he continued his pursuit of pitching at the highest level.

“For VBT to be successful, the spinal curve needs to be flexible and the patient needs to be old enough for surgery but still have some growing time left,” Dr. Glotzbecker says. To confirm that VBT would be right for Carson, Dr. Glotzbecker reached out to Amer Samdani, MD, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Shriners Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia and leading expert on VBT. After seeing Carson’s X-rays, Dr. Samdani agreed that Carson would be an ideal candidate and he agreed to travel to UH Rainbow to consult during the procedure, which was scheduled for July 14. It would be the first VBT performed at the hospital.

Training for the Big Day

In the weeks preceding his surgery, Carson prepared like the athlete he is. “I was nervous, but I wanted to be ready,” he says. He went to a sports physical therapist to help his back muscles get strong and flexible, so they’d recover faster. He even continued playing baseball. Just two days before his procedure, he pitched a complete game.

On the day of the surgery, Carson’s operating team included Dr. Glotzbecker, UH Rainbow general surgeon Michael Dingeldein, MD, and Dr. Samdani.

It was a long day for Matt and Tracey, but they were reassured by visits from each of the doctors, who periodically came out of the operating room to report on how things were progressing.

“The entire staff at UH Rainbow, including the doctors, nurses and physical therapists, were phenomenal,” Tracey says. “We felt so supported.”

“From a surgical perspective, everything went very well,” Dr. Glotzbecker says. “Dr. Samdani, who has done many of these procedures, noted that it went as smoothly as any he’d ever seen.”

Healing with a Home Field Advantage

The next three days in the hospital were challenging, as Carson dealt with the discomfort from a chest tube to drain fluid and intense physical therapy that started as soon as he was able to stand. His recovery continued at home as he gradually came off pain medication and increased his activity level.

“And then I woke up one day about two weeks after the surgery, and I just felt like a ray of sunshine,” he says.

“I’m still shocked by how available Dr. Glotzbecker and his office staff were when we had questions or concerns during Carson’s recovery,” Matt observes. “The communication was amazing.”

Post-surgery X-rays show that Carson’s spinal curves are now less than 15 degrees, with more improvement expected as he grows.

In September, he threw his first post-surgery baseball. “I’ll have to learn how to throw again, but I know I’ll get better,” he says. “I have hope. And I want to show that you don’t have to stop doing what you love, even when there’s an obstacle in your way.”