Back to Dance: After having back surgery one year ago, sophomore Morgan Anderson has remained positive and improved in her dancing abilities

It’s probably not that serious. You’re not in any pain.

During then-seventh-grader Morgan Anderson’s annual check-up, her doctor noticed her shoulder blades were slightly uneven — a sign of scoliosis. 

But her doctor didn’t seem too concerned. So Anderson disregarded the unevenness, still going to her dance classes pain-free.

She went to the doctor again a year later for another check-up, and they brought it up again — suggesting she get an X-ray. Anderson still wasn’t too bothered, thinking she’d have to go to physical therapy for a few months to help fix the problem. 

After the X-ray, her doctor’s told her to go to Children’s Mercy, but she was still not concerned. Then they told her her scoliosis was so severe that she’d need surgery.

At the time, she was upset. She didn’t see why she even needed the surgery. But now-sophomore Anderson, one year after having her surgery, no longer thinks of it as a bad thing. Instead, Anderson has remained positive throughout her recovery process, working towards making her dancing abilities the same as they were before surgery. 

“I didn’t want to get the surgery right then, but my back probably would’ve started hurting [this year] without it,” Anderson said. “So I’m happy that it’s something I don’t need to worry about anymore.”

After her surgery, Anderson missed a quarter of school to focus on recovery and has been in dancer physical therapy since.

She knows some aspects of her dancing won’t be the same as they were before her surgery. Her leg is slightly lower in her attitude and her firebird jump isn’t as good as it used to be. She can’t do some of the moves, like backbends, in her Lancer Dancer routines, but Anderson is happy to be dancing and on the team after not being on the team last year due to her surgery. 

Even outside of dance, Anderson appreciates small things she couldn’t do while recovering from her surgery, like eating at restaurants or sleeping on her side. She’s even grown two inches since her surgery due to a straighter spine

Anderson also appreciates having a strong support system with her fellow teammates and coaches who understand that she can’t always do the same moves. She’s even able to joke with her teammates about her injury. 

“One of my friends has a really super flexible back,” Anderson said. “And we were doing backbends and I told her, ‘Oh, mine’s actually better. Like, I can do the same.’ But everyone’s super nice about [the injury] and like nobody’s ever been judgmental.”