Pediatric Spine Conditions We Treat

Our team

Our expert team of specialists treats children of all ages with spinal disorders. Depending on your child’s diagnosis, recommended treatment may include observation, pain management, physical therapy, bracing, casting, or surgery.

Conditions we treat include:

• Scoliosis (idiopathic, congenital, early onset, neuromuscular).
• Arachnoid cysts (a noncancerous sac of fluid that grows on the spinal cord).
• Back pain.
• Basilar invagination (when the top of the spine pushes on the bottom of the skull) .
• Cauda equina syndrome (saddle anesthesia).
• Cervical instability.
• Cervical spine abnormalities (Klippel Feil, achondroplasia).
• Chiari malformation: Once considered an intractable and progressive disorder, today Chiari malformation type 1 can usually be effectively treated with surgery. Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford is a nationally recognized Chiari Destination Center. As part of his or her care, your child may be seen by our Pediatric Spine Center specialists in neurosurgery and orthopedic surgery to manage your child’s care as a team.
• Craniocervical junction disorders (abnormalities of the bones at the top of the spine and the base of the skull).
• Diastematomyelia (also called split cord malformation, a congenital, or present-at-birth, condition where the spinal cord has a longitudinal split).
• Genetic disorders with scoliosis.
• Herniated discs or herniated nucleus pulposus (also called bulged, slipped, or ruptured discs—occur when one of the cushions that sit between the spine bones moves out of position).
• Klippel-Feil syndrome (when two or more bones in the neck fuse abnormally).
• Kyphosis.
• Neuromuscular disorders such as muscular dystrophies.
• Os odontoideum (when the tip of the second vertebra becomes separated from the rest of the spine).
• Spina bifida: At Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, we have a dedicated multidisciplinary Spina Bifida Clinic that treats children born with this condition, in which there is abnormal development of the spine. Your child may be seen here at our Pediatric Spine Center, where we specialize in treating spina bifida associated with neuromuscular scoliosis or back pain.
• Spinal arteriovenous malformations (an abnormal tangle of blood vessels on, in, or near the spinal cord).
• Spinal cyst.
• Spinal cord injury.
• Spinal cord tumor.
• Spinal fluid leaks.
• Spine dysplasia.
• Spine fractures.
• Spondylolysis (a stress fracture of the thin bone that connects two vertebrae).
• Spondylolisthesis (when a vertebra, or bone in the spine, slips out of position).
• Syringomyelia (when a fluid-filled cyst forms within the spinal cord).
• Tethered cord syndrome: Our Pediatric Spine Center specialists treat children with tethered cord syndrome, a rare neurological condition in which the spinal cord is attached (tethered) to the surrounding tissues of the spine. It is often associated with spina bifida and scoliosis. We offer team-based care from specialists in pain management, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, and physical therapy.