Fort Lauderdale Scoliosis Treatment: Non-Surgical Solutions

When it comes to being diagnosed with scoliosis, it's important that patients understand there is more than one way to address scoliosis. While many patients find themselves funneled towards invasive spinal fusion surgery, the reality is that many cases of scoliosis can be treated without surgery.

When it comes to patients considering different Fort Lauderdale scoliosis treatment options, a 3.5-hour drive to Orlando, Florida's Scoliosis Reduction Center® can lead to an informed decision. Dr. Tony Nalda has been educating patients and treating scoliosis, without surgery, for 25+ years.

As it's so important to treat scoliosis effectively, let's start with why.

All Cases of Scoliosis Can Benefit from Treatment

While no two cases of scoliosis are the same, and treatment results can never be guaranteed, scoliosis can be highly treatable, when a diagnosis is responded to proactively.

When reading about scoliosis treatment, the word proactive repeatedly appears; this is because as a progressive condition, the nature of scoliosis is to become more severe over time.

Scoliosis getting worse means the size of the unhealthy sideways-bending and rotating spinal curvature will increase, as will the condition's uneven forces, and the symptoms they cause.

Scoliosis Progression

As progression occurs, the spine gets increasingly rigid and the condition's effects become more pronounced, hence the benefit of being proactive with treatment because a proactive treatment approach actually works towards preventing progression.

Preventing progression means treating scoliosis while it's milder, more treatable, and before the condition's effects have become well established, and this is why a treatment center that offers a proactive approach with positive non-surgical results can be worth traveling for.

As a progressive condition, where a scoliosis is at the time of diagnosis doesn't indicate where it will stay, not without the help of treatment that works towards counteracting the condition's progressive nature.

So regardless of how mild and asymptomatic a person's scoliosis is at the time of diagnosis, it can still benefit from treatment that's proactive because part of non-surgical treatment success is preventing progression.

In children, the main effect of scoliosis that will get worse with progression involve postural changes (uneven shoulders, uneven hips, the development of a rib cage arch), and in adult scoliosis, the main effect is pain.

All cases of scoliosis can benefit from treatment because as a progressive condition, scoliosis isn't static, it's always changing, and chiropractic care can be an important part of addressing the structural issues within the spine itself and maintaining a spine-friendly lifestyle.

Non-Surgical Scoliosis Treatment Options

Dr. Tony Nalda, creator of the Scoliosis Reduction Center®, author of Scoliosis Hope, has dedicated his career to spreading scoliosis awareness, and he focuses on the areas of early detection and the benefit of proactive non-surgical treatment.

So while there might be no shortage of surgical scoliosis treatment providers in Fort Lauderdale, a proactive non-surgical scoliosis treatment provider might be harder to find, and make a 3.5-hour drive to Orlando more than worth the travel time/expense.

While traditional scoliosis treatment funnels patients towards spinal fusion surgery, conservative treatment has the goal of preventing the need for future surgical intervention, and works towards this through the customization of proactive treatment plans.

A conservative approach to scoliosis treatment is integrative; it combines the power of multiple scoliosis-specific disciplines, and this level of integration requires being trained, certified, and experienced, in a number of different facets of scoliosis treatment.

So this is one of the largest benefits of traveling any type of distance to become a patient of the Center; once here, patients can access many different types of treatment offered under one roof, and this multifaceted treatment approach is what's most unique about Dr. Tony.

When scoliosis-specific treatment disciplines are combined and apportioned accordingly based on how the spine is responding to treatment and growth (childhood scoliosis), conditions can be impacted on multiple levels, strengthening and stabilizing the spine without surgical intervention.

Chiropractic Care

Chiropractic treatment has the goal of realigning the spine: manually adjusting the position of the curve's most-tilted vertebrae back into alignment with the rest of the spine.

When a curvature reduction is achieved on a structural level, this is addressing the condition's underlying structural nature; this is the primary focus of treatment.

Physical Therapy and Scoliosis Exercises

It's not enough, however, to solely focus on the spine (the approach of surgical treatment) because it's also the spine's surrounding muscles that have to support and stabilize the spine, and conservative treatment addresses this with scoliosis-specific physical therapy and the prescription of scoliosis-specific exercises.

Not only is muscle strength important, muscle balance is, and scoliosis is associated with the development of a muscular imbalance as the unnatural spinal curvature pulls its surrounding muscles in different directions.

The muscles on one side can become weak from underuse while muscles on the other side can become tight and sore from overuse and straining to counteract the condition's uneven forces.

Physical Therapy and scoliosis exercises can increase the strength and flexibility of the spine's surrounding muscles so they can optimally support and stabilize it, and they can also improve muscle balance and posture.

Scoliosis Bracing and Rehabilitation

So through the combination of chiropractic medicine and physical therapy, the condition's structural nature has been addressed, as well as the strength, flexibility, and balance of the spine's surrounding muscles.

Another facet of conservative treatment is corrective bracing, and when treating scoliosis in children, bracing is helpful because growing spines are more malleable, and a scoliosis brace can help augment corrective treatment results by pushing the spine into a straighter alignment and position.

The ultra-corrective ScoliBrace is often my brace of choice because it represents the culmination of what we've learned about scoliosis, and bracing efficacy, over the years.

Scoliosis patients need to understand that as a progressive condition, scoliosis is incurable, so treatment is more about managing an ongoing condition for the best quality of life than it is about curing the condition.

Rehabilitation can be ongoing and can involve continued chiropractic care, guidance on how to lead a scoliosis-friendly lifestyle, and the prescription of scoliosis exercises for patients to continue healing and stabilizing their spines from home.

What Are The Cons of Surgical Scoliosis Treatment?

So with all this talk about the benefit of proactive treatment that's non-surgical, you're likely wondering what is so bad about treating scoliosis with surgery?

All surgeries come with their share of risks; spinal surgery is no exception and can be particularly risky.

The truth is that many spinal fusions are successful, but an additional truth is that many cases of scoliosis don't require surgery, and surgery does come with some serious potential risks, complications, and side effects.

A fused spine is weaker and more vulnerable to injury, and many patients are disappointed with the loss in spinal flexibility and range of motion they are left with; fusing the spine is contrary to its movement-based design so is bound to come at a price, and that price is often overall spinal health and function.

Spinal health is important for quality of life, so deciding how to treat scoliosis can have far-reaching effects.

Some patients experience an increase in back pain at the fusion site, and a fused spine is fused for life, if the results are disappointing, or the fusion fails, the only recourse is more surgery, and the risks increase with each subsequent procedure and with increasing age.

Conclusion

If a 3.5-hour drive from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando can put the Scoliosis Reduction Center® within reach as a potential treatment provider, a potential result can be scoliosis that's addressed in such a way that as much of the spine's natural strength and function as possible is preserved.

Surgical options still have a place in the treatment of severe cases, but the risks are there so should be considered carefully, and if left untreated, scoliosis is bound to get worse at some point, and severe complications can develop.

Although we don't know why idiopathic scoliosis develops initially, we know that it's growth that makes it progress, and condition effects like postural changes and scoliosis pain will get worse alongside progression.

Progression also makes the condition more complex to treat, so treatment that's proactive has the benefit of preventing progression, increasing effects, and the need for future surgical intervention.

Scoliosis diagnosed early in a condition's progressive line means it can be treated proactively, but the many benefits of early detection are only available to those whose treatment response is proactive and conservative.

So for those in search of Fort Lauderdale scoliosis treatment, a physical examination and X-ray results can diagnose the condition, and Dr. Tony Nalda's Center is just waiting to educate, support, and treat scoliosis patients of all ages.