1.   As a child, Ms. Taylor-Smith had scoliosis, a spinal curvature that required her to wear a back brace.

2.   A pillow propped her head, which her spinal curvature has cocked to the right.

3.   Girls are seven times as likely as boys to develop serious spinal curvatures needing treatment, either with braces to halt progression or with surgery.

4.   James had heart problems, spinal curvature and had to be fed through a tube doctors had inserted into his stomach.

5.   Long gone are the days when patients spent a year lying flat on their backs in full-body casts to correct severe spinal curvature.