Q: My 12-year-old daughter is experiencing anxiety regarding scoliosis, bracing and possible surgery. I would love any information available to help her approach this in a way that is productive and helps to provide coping skills looking forward. Thank you for your website.

A: It isn't surprising that your daughter feels anxiety about her scoliosis and its treatment, and I expect that you feel anxious as well. Bracing and surgery aren't fun for any adolescent. You can help her first with knowledge and then with distraction.

Although I've observed many tweens or teens wearing scoliosis braces in schools, I learned more about it by checking Wikipedia. We can all benefit from this free source of reasonably reliable information online. I didn't realize Wikipedia is a not-for-profit corporation. It asks readers for a contribution, and because I frequently consult it, I contributed. I would suggest your daughter also consult Wikipedia for starters, whether or not you decide to make a contribution. While the medical descriptions may keep her a little anxious, she will surely be relieved to know that 7 million people in the United States have this condition. It's most commonly found in girls during late childhood. She will feel less alone, and I'm hoping the information can allow her and you to contact her doctor and possibly be allowed to contact other girls like her who are already wearing scoliosis braces. I doubt if any of these girls enjoy wearing them, but knowing others who are managing them well will surely assure her that she can temporarily endure a brace while her spine improves.

The brace will hopefully correct her problem, and she won't require surgery. If she does need surgery, however, it will help her realize that most surgeries are totally successful and that scoliosis patients live normal lives and even 2 percent longer than the typical population. I expect this is because having these health issues sensitizes them to the importance of living healthfully and appreciatively each day.

After you and your daughter have researched the facts and you've assured her that she will be fine in the long run, it will be important for her to keep busy doing all the things that keep her interested in life. She can participate in a wide range of activities, such as Girl Scouts, music, reading, writing, art, play dates and whatever other interests you know she enjoys. Helping her to stay as normal as possible will distract her from defining herself as anxious or sick, and with time, her bracing and/or surgery will become a distant memory.

For free newsletters about growing up too fast, how important the arts are to your children, raising girls with optimism and resilience, and/or fears and fearful children, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the address below. Dr. Sylvia B. Rimm is the director of the Family Achievement Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, a clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and the author of many books on parenting. More information on raising kids is available at www.sylviarimm.com. Please send questions to: Sylvia B. Rimm on Raising Kids, P.O. Box 32, Watertown, WI 53094 or srimm@sylviarimm.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.