How do doctors know what size screws and stuff to use in a child who is having back surgery? Don’t their spines grow, causing problems with stuff that’s in their back?

There has been concern over the years about how safe and effective it is to use screws, called pedicle screws, to fix and/or stabilize the spine in young children. The biggest issue is with children under eight years old, whose spines are still narrower than they are when they are over nine years old or adults.

Studies have been done regarding the use of the screws and the studies have all come out with the same conclusions: using smaller screws for the younger patients accommodates their smaller spine diameter and as they grow, there does not seem to be a problem with the screw placement in the bones.