A girl with the most curved spine a surgeon had seen is now a step closer to her dream of becoming a gymnast after a pioneering operation to straighten her back - using remote controlled magnetic rods.

Jaine Stanley, four, was diagnosed with severe scoliosis of the spine at the age of two and forced to wear uncomfortable plastic braces for 23 hours a day for support.

The condition meant the youngster could only sit on the sidelines as her friends played and could not sit on the sofa because her tight braces got in the way.

Instead she would sit on the living room floor of her home in Newport, Isle of Wight, where she was first mesmerised by gymnasts on television and began to dream of joining them one day.

As her spine continued to curve into a 63 degree bend - the worst case her spinal surgeon had ever seen - her ambition seemed further away then ever.

But now the budding gymnast is a giant step closer to her once unimaginable ambition - and is four centimetres taller - after an operation to straighten her spine.

Jaine had the life-changing seven-and-a-half hour operation in October and was the first - and youngest - patient to have the surgery at Southampton Children's Hospital.

The MAGEC rods brace the spine to minimise the growth of scoliosis and are lengthened over time using an external remote control.

This is placed on top of the skin and triggers a magnetic motor inside the rods to cause them to grow.

The process replaces the need to operate to manually lengthen the growing rods every six to nine months.

Jaine will return to the hospital every 12 weeks, when her rods can be lengthened within just minutes during a routine outpatient appointment.

She will have her first follow up appointment later this month and hopes to start gymnastics lessons in the coming months.

Mum Berenice, 42, said: "The difference in Jaine is already amazing.

"We couldn't believe it when she came out of the operation four centimetres taller - in less than eight hours.

Daily Echo: Jaine Stanley's back, before and after.

"We've taken her swimming since the operation and she was over the moon that she could finally touch the floor of the pool.

"It's still early days so we are taking it slowly but now she's set her sights on becoming a gymnast. She keeps talking about getting a leotard."

Berenice began to have concerns about Jaine when she was two and a family friend pointed out that her body did not look 'straight'.

The mum-of-eight, who owns a burger van with partner Myles, 47, said: "When Jaine got to about two years old we noticed that she didn't look straight and her body was going off to the side.

"It was concerning so we took her for an x-ray and she became the youngest child on the island to be diagosed with scoliosis."

The surgery was carried out by surgeon Christopher Dare.

He said: "Jaine's curvature was certainly the worst case of early onset scoliosis I've ever seen.

"I've never seen it progress quite so rapidly and to that sort of size, because we do try to stop it getting so bad with the use of braces but it was relentless in this case.

"A scoliotic spine does not grow like a normal spine, so we are trying to achieve as much longitudinal growth of the spine as possible.

Daily Echo: Jaine Stanley

"We will lengthen the spine for as long as we can, usually until a child is 11 or 12, and when it is unlikely to grow any more we will then do a final spinal fusion to fix it into a fixed position."

Berenice added: "By the time of the surgery, Jaine's back had already bent to nearly 70 degrees.

"The severity of her condition didn't really sink in until I saw the x-rays and the changes as she got older.

"It is because of the severity that doctors chose to operate.

"She is one of the youngest children to ever have the rods fitted, normally they wait until early teenage years, but the doctors could see how bad the curve was becoming.

"But over night it completely changed her life."