Scoliosis not slowing down Hamilton

Living with scoliosis

Elliana Hamilton refuses to let scoliosis slow her down. While there are concessions to the lateral curve in her spine that may one day require spinal fusion surgery, the Shelbyville Middle School eighth-grader remains a three-sport athlete. 

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Four days before the end of sixth grade, Elliana Hamilton fought her way into a completely rigid back brace.

There are zero ways for an 11-year-old girl to sufficiently accessorize that kind of apparatus. The brace, designed to slow the onset of scoliosis in her spine, was to be worn 23 hours a day. Only a dip in the pool or a few minutes in the shower provided a break.

"You can't bend over," said Hamilton, now an eighth-grader at Shelbyville Middle School. "To pick something up, I had to squat."

If scoliosis, the lateral curvature of the spine, has slowed her down any since she was first diagnosed, it's tough to tell.

Two months away from middle school graduation, Hamilton has completed successful athletic seasons as a tennis player and swimmer. Now she is preparing for the upcoming softball season.

All with a broken back. Well, not exactly broken.

Bent? Definitely.

Broken? No.

Rather than growing in a straight line, Hamilton's spine is curved enough that spinal fusion surgery is under consideration.

"It was a tough adjustment," said Hamilton, who was diagnosed after going to the doctor with pneumonia. "After awhile I got used to it and I became confident. I was not going to stop being who I am."

The examination for scoliosis is no longer part of an athlete's preseason physical evaluation, according to Elliana's father, David. The happenstance visit to the doctor gave the first inclination of a growing problem with her spine.

"It's up to you as an individual to go to your family doctor and get screened," said David Hamilton. "Our surgeon is telling us if you see any curve, get it looked at because they can brace it early and prevent it from getting worse."

Elliana's spine was curved 17 percent at the initial diagnosis. Eight months later it was over 40 percent. That prompted the back brace.

"Maybe we could have stopped it at 25 percent instead of 37 percent where we're at (now) and not be on the borderline of what to do," said David.

Elliana's tennis career is likely over. The high school seasons for girls tennis and softball overlap. She expects to swim and play softball at the varsity level sooner rather than later.

Spinal fusion surgery would make that a tough proposition because of the long rehabilitation process. And her chances of returning to the pool to be a competitive swimmer would be slim.

"They don't like to do surgery until (the curve) is 50 percent," said David. "(Elliana) is close to borderline. Our surgeon is pushing us away from surgery since she is an athlete. Doing a flip turn (in the pool) with a spinal fusion would be difficult. That's why we're in a wait-and-see game.

"If her spine doesn't get any worse, she will be fine."

Elliana is currently in a six-month stretch out of the back brace to see how her spine reacts. Until then, she will keep training and competing.

The only real concession she has made to scoliosis is becoming a left-handed hitter to counteract the curve in her spine.

"While batting I was dropping my (right) shoulder," demonstrated Elliana. "My curve was causing me to drop my shoulder. So my batting coach had me try left-handed. So I am now officially a left-handed batter."

She will find it tough to break into Shelbyville's 2016 varsity softball lineup due to the wealth of talent currently in a program that has just one senior. But there is no doubt she will be on the starting blocks as a freshman later this year during the first swim meet of the season.

Despite not yet seriously devoting herself to the sport — she has never competed for an offseason swim club — Hamilton finished runner-up in two events, the 50-yard freestyle and the 100 breaststroke, at the Hoosier Heritage Conference's middle school meet on Feb. 21.

"She was swimming against girls that swim year round," said David. "And she was competing and doing well. It shows if she focuses on swimming just what she can do."

The results surprised even Elliana.

"I knew I was an OK swimmer and could do good but this year I was swimming harder and going against better teams and I was going faster," she said. "So I started thinking I'm a better swimmer than I thought I was."

In the pool, reaching the wall and inverting into a turn and pushing off is the one time she really notices her abnormality.

"I can feel it during flip turns," she said. "Flip turns are harder to do with scoliosis. I have worked really hard to perfect it. I don't know if I have completely perfected it yet, but I'm trying."

The way she competes — on a tennis court where she played No. 1 doubles last Fall, in the pool or on the softball diamond — the scoliosis is only evident to her family.

"I can see when she runs the bases or is on the track running there is a little bit different gallop because one hip may be just a little higher than the other," said her father. "But the average person wouldn't know what's going on."

And that's a victory for Elliana.

"She's going to be fine," he continued. "When she was first diagnosed and the word 'surgery' was flying around, the initial reaction was like any kid's would be. Why me? But now she has embraced it."

A strong student in the classroom and an athlete driven to succeed, Elliana proudly talks about her affliction because it is not defeating her.

"At first, I thought I couldn't do any sports," she said, "but I can still do as many as I want to. I don't worry about my back anymore."

Jeff Brown is the Sports editor of The Shelbyville News.

Source: The Shelby News, 1st April 2015