LAPLACE — Ja’Lacia Trench has always been able to bend her body like a pretzel.

An active dancer and tumbler, Ja’Lacia was one of those lean and limber girls who could do splits, leg lifts, even backbends without any pain.

A few years ago, the LaPlace youngster and her family discovered that her own body had twisted itself like a pretzel.

In January of 2014, Ja’Lacia was diagnosed with severe scoliosis, a curvature of her spine. Over the next several months, she would undergo two grueling surgeries to correct it. She has a scar from her neck to her lower back. She has two rods fusing her spinal cord in place.

Amazingly, Ja’Lacia can still do everything she could before — except the backbend. Now a junior at East St. John High, she is a member of the track team and also is a member of the Pink Diamond Dolls dance troupe, which puts on regular showcases and marches in various parades throughout the area.

“I don’t have any pain,” she said. “I can do anything I want.”

That in itself is somewhat of a miracle.

A few years ago, Ja’Lacia was living in Texas with her family and wanted to try out for a cheerleading team. During a routine physical, a nurse had Ja’Lacia bend at the waist. The nurse immediately saw the telltale sign of scoliosis — one side of Ja’Lacia’s back was higher than the other.

Scoliosis is a medical condition in which the spine curves sideways. It occurs in about three percent of the population, mostly among children between 10 and 20.

It is more common among girls. There is no known cause. It is often spotted when shoulders or hips are misaligned, the rib cage is uneven or there is a back hump.

Depending on the severity of the curve and the age of the child, treatment can include bracing, but more severe cases often require spinal fusion surgery, during which rods are attached to the spine to straighten it out. Most scoliosis patients go on to live a perfectly normal life.

Ja’Lacia’s scoliosis was severe.

When discovered, her curve was measured at 50 degrees. By the time she met with an orthopedic surgeon in early 2014, it progressed to 62 degrees. By the time she had the actual surgery in October of 2014, her curve was at 80 degrees.

Ja’Lacia had another complication, however.

A pre-op MRI showed Ja’Lacia had a chiari malformation at the base of her skull — a small opening where the skull and the spinal cord meet — which would have to be repaired before the spinal fusion surgery could take place.

Ja’Lacia, now 16, had to undergo two surgeries, each lasting more than seven hours.

“It was very stressful,” said Ja’Lacia’s mom Courtney Wallace, who was pregnant with her son, Ja’Ci, at the time of the surgeries.

Like many parents of scoliosis kids, Wallace never noticed her daughter’s ailment.

“Initially, I had no clue,” Wallace said. “I never saw a thing. The nurse asked me if we had a history of scoliosis.

“I had heard of it. I remember when I was in school at Our Lady of Grace they used to test us for it. They don’t do that any more.”

Ja’Lacia didn’t have any idea either.

“I had times where my back would hurt sometimes,” Ja’Lacia said.

Now everyone is moving forward. Wallace is busy chasing after 19-month old Ja’Ci and running her event-planning business, CWD Productions, with Ja’Lacia’s help.

“She helps me do all kinds of things,” Wallace said. “She helps iron the linens, she helps me with Ja’Ci. She can do anything.”

Ja’Lacia is back to enjoying her dancing, bending, marching in parades with the troupe and running track.

“I’m working on getting faster,” she said.