BALTIMORE -- When you hear about someone having scoliosis, you may think of an adolescent girl. But as women age, they can also develop scoliosis that can be enormously painful. Luckily, there is a treatment.

Audrey Kerr, 82, had terrible back pain and was almost immobilized due to curvature in her spine.

"I couldn't go anyplace, not even in the car. I used to love to go out to eat; I didn't want to do that," she said.

Dr. Charles Edwards II, of Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, said scoliosis in older adults comes from arthritis in the spine.

"As we get older, the spine discs narrow and bone spurs form, causing pain in legs and back, and in some patients, curvature of the spine will develop," he said.

Kerr had many bone spurs in her lower spine and had to have surgery to straighten and stabilize her spine. Her surgery was nine months ago and was successful.

"When I woke up after surgery, I thought something was wrong, I could move so good," Kerr said.

Kerr said she's only sorry that she waited so long to have the surgery. Women most at risk have had previous spinal surgery or a spinal deformity as a child, such as scoliosis in their teenage years.