pediatric spine x-ray

Spine Care

Spine Conditions We Treat

Your child’s spine deserves care from industry leaders. Our team specializes in all aspects of pediatric spinal disorders, including advanced treatment for scoliosis and spinal deformity in infants, children and teens. Our goal is to return your child to a normal and active life.

You have an important choice to make for your child’s care and where you take them matters. We want to help you feel sure you’ve made the right one. Our orthopaedic team consists of nurses, doctors and orthotists. We evaluate and treat infants through young adults who have spine conditions. Working closely with other Children’s specialists, we provide complete, coordinated diagnostics and care and a wide range of treatment options. Our Orthopaedics Program ranks among the best pediatric hospitals in the country—No. 13 on the U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals 2018-2019 list.

Common spine conditions treated include:

Spine Care Services We Offer

Your child’s diagnostic and treatment plan will depend on his specific condition. Early evaluation from Children’s, can provide more treatment options for patient families.

Treatment plan options include:

Evaluations

Through early intervention, we are able to follow patients and provide treatment options.

Evaluations and diagnostic tests may include:

  • Complete medical history and physical examination by a doctor
  • Routine radiographs (X-rays)
  • Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
  • Computed tomography (CT)
  • Other procedures, such as ultrasound or bone scans

Our pediatric radiologists follow guidelines and protocols that help reduce your child’s exposure to radiation.

Management and treatments

Children’s offers complete spine care in one location with our multidisciplinary team of pediatric-trained specialists.

Management and treatments may include:

Surgery

If your child does need surgery, our surgeons are highly skilled in delicate spinal surgery. Keep in mind:

  • Spine fusion surgery: Joins or fuses some of the bones of the spine to prevent the curve from getting worse.
  • Your child’s surgeon may use the SpineAssist robot or computed tomography (CT)-based 3-D navigation to help stabilize and correct scoliosis. We are among the leaders in spinal robotics and use the most advanced equipment and implants.
  • Vertical expandable prosthetic titanium rib (VEPTR) surgery, for children with severe chest deformities or spinal curves, expands and supports the chest wall. Children’s is one of a few pediatric hospitals in the U.S. that perform that offers this surgery.
  • Your child may be a candidate for minimally invasive vertebral body stapling.
  • Growing rods may be used to temporarily help with curve correction and control progression without fusion.

Our Unique Approach

Our pediatric orthopaedic program is among the top-ranking in the nation. We work with other specialists to provide complete, coordinated care for children with spine conditions.

  • We use some of the latest surgical, nonsurgical and imaging techniques. We were the first pediatric facility in the U.S. to use the SpineAssist system, which allows surgeons to preplan procedures in 3-D simulations and use a robot arm to guide them to the site. 
  • Our orthotics and prosthetics team uses some of the latest in bracing and casting techniques. We fit over 600 spinal devices for our patients each year.
  • As part of that commitment, we provide complete follow-up care and ensure every family has the information and resources they need.
  • Our surgeons are dedicated to training and teaching. For more than 30 years, we have trained two fellows each year to specialize in pediatric orthopaedics and spinal surgery.
  • Surgeons from across the country come to learn robotic surgery from our team.

Meet the Team

U.S. News and World Report ranks us among the top pediatric orthopaedic programs in the country. Our program combines the latest proven technology and research with a caring, child-friendly approach, making Children’s a top choice for treatment of orthopaedic conditions and injuries.

Our program is led by orthopaedic specialists. Our doctors and surgeons work closely with orthopaedic surgeons in the community to help ensure complete, coordinated care is delivered seamlessly at our hospitals for children with spine conditions. Our Spine Program is led by our Medical Director, Dennis P. Devito, MD. Our spine quality initiatives are led by our Medical Director, Nicholas D. Fletcher, MD.

Children's Physician Group-Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

Orthopaedic surgeons

Orthopaedist

Make an appointment with Children's Physician Group-Orthopaedics

Spine Liaison

We offer a dedicated orthopaedic spine liaison who serves as the single point of contact for patients who require spine surgery and their primary care providers. The liaison will help patient families navigate through our spine program and will coordinate care for their surgical and post-surgical needs, including communication between referring pediatricians and orthopaedic surgeons, providing information about lodging and key contacts for those who live outside of the Atlanta area, and assistance with the hospital intake process. The spine liaison will also develop written treatment plans for referring providers and call patient families to follow up after their child's procedure.

*Some orthopaedic surgeons who perform services at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta are independent providers and are not our employees.

Helpful Resources

Medical professional and school health resources

We offer resources for medical professionals and school health professionals. Visit our school health resources page to download our Scoliosis Screening Instruction Manual.

School health resources 

Medical professional resources

We offer annual conferences on scoliosis for healthcare professionals. It focuses on screening techniques, research and treatment methods.

Learn more about our scoliosis screening conferences

Patient family resources

Scoliosis (en Español)

Fast facts about scoliosis (en Español)

Backpack safety: Don't let backpacks get you down (en Español) 

Patient family support services 

Children's offers a private Facebook group where our scoliosis families can better communicate with each other—and us. These groups have become lively forums for asking questions, sharing tips and celebrating milestones with one another.

Learn more about our private Facebook group 

External resources

The Scoliosis Research Society