Adult Spina Bifida Program

When you look for age-appropriate medical services to ease the path from childhood into adult care for yourself or a loved one living with spina bifida, get everything you need at OU Health in Oklahoma City. Take advantage of centralized and coordinated care through the first and only adult spina bifida program of its kind in Oklahoma. You benefit from finding all the services and providers for your care in one place.

Oklahoma’s First Comprehensive Adult Spina Bifida Program

Over the years, medical care for babies and children with spina bifida, the most common type of neural tube birth defect, improved dramatically. That means many young people go on to live well into adulthood. But, often, when those children turn 18, they face challenges in making the transition to adult-focused healthcare providers who understand their need for consistent and ongoing complex care.

Now, at OU Health, you or your adult loved one can get comprehensive, coordinated adult spina bifida services in one convenient location – and at regular intervals designed to help you manage your specific symptoms. Along with receiving proper care and treatment each and every month, you’ll collaborate with the expert OU Health multidisciplinary spina bifida medical team to develop a personalized treatment plan that meets your individual needs.

Learn Better Ways to Manage Spina Bifida Symptoms

Help yourself achieve your best possible quality of life as you learn better ways to manage common symptoms of adult spina bifida. Although symptoms vary, you may experience one or more challenges such as:

• Loss of balance or coordination
• Incorrect spinal fluid drainage (hydrocephalus)
• Numbness, weakness or paralysis from a spinal cord that’s either exposed or attached (tethered); a tethered spinal cord occurs when surrounding tissues stop the cord from flexing and growing in typical ways, which may create skin sores, rapidly progressing spine curvature (scoliosis), loss of sensation, pain in lower extremities or testicles, urinary tract infections, bladder leakage
• Spine growth issues – Scoliosis or bony compression
• Urinary problems – Bladder control (incontinence), urinary retention, bladder infection

Spina Bifida Treatments & Services for Adults

Choose the Adult Spina Bifida Program at OU Health for easy access to regular comprehensive care once each month. You work with a team of experts to identify all the services and providers you need to address your individual circumstances – and you see them at the same time at a single location.

Say goodbye to scheduling confusion or multiple trips to different medical facilities. Your OU Health care team coordinates all your monthly appointments to deliver ongoing expert spina bifida services and treatments including:

• Medication management – Helps avoid drug interaction issues by assisting with and coordinating medications needed for all your specific conditions
• Neurosurgery – Provides evaluation, care and surgical procedures (adult, pediatric) if needed for brain, spine and nerve-related conditions that become part of life with spina bifida to help you achieve your overall health goals
• Physical medicine and rehabilitation (physiatry) – Coordinates care across specialties, including OU Health rehabilitation services, to enhance or restore as much physical function as possible for your particular situation
• Physical therapy – Uses a variety of exercises, manual manipulation, mechanical or electrophysical devices and related techniques and technologies to improve movement and everyday physical function
• Primary care – Communicates with your primary care doctor or internal medicine physician and other medical specialists to ensure you receive coordinated and comprehensive care
• Urology care – Evaluates bladder issues and urinary treatment plans related to adult spina bifida symptoms
• Wound care – Treats skin sores and tissue damage related to infections, surgical incisions or other wounds

Your Expert Adult Spina Bifida Care Team

At OU Health, you’ll work with a wide range of experts on your adult spina bifida care team. You and your caregiver support network collaborate with these specialists as you create plans for a smooth transition to adult spina bifida services and treatments when you turn 18. Or, at any point beyond age 18, you can get the consistent, compassionate, comprehensive adult spina bifida care you need right now.

Your multidisciplinary adult spina bifida team includes board-certified medical specialists with extensive experience in complex care across many fields, including adult neurosurgery, pediatric neurosurgery, adult urology, pediatric urology, pediatric spina bifida, pediatric orthopedic services, primary care and internal medicine, physical therapy, physiatry (physical medicine and rehabilitation) and wound care.