Episode 28: Scoliosis Surgery: When Is Surgery Needed?
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We have three classifications of Scoliosis:
- Mild Scoliosis
- Moderate Scoliosis
- Severe Scoliosis
For Severe Scoliosis, this is when Scoliosis Surgery is typically recommended.
When it comes to Scoliosis Surgical cases, the degree or threshold for Scoliosis surgery is different depending on what country you live in. Some countries actually consider doing surgery at a smaller curve like 35 degrees or so. In other countries, they have recommendations for surgical intervention at might higher degrees like 50 or 55.
There’s a gray area when the surgical threshold is actually recommended or when a curve achieves a certain number. Here in the US, it’s between 40 to 45.
Once a curve becomes surgical, and somebody’s considering surgery, what’s involved in that?
What does a patient actually do when they go through a surgical treatment? When somebody makes a decision to have Scoliosis surgery, what’s actually involved with that surgery in terms of what’s actually occurring?
Unfortunately, it’s exactly what the word says.
Spinal fusion.
It’s everything that’s involved with fusing the spine.
Typically, the affected area is anywhere between twelve to fourteen vertebras. In those vertebrae, there will be screws that are put into the spine all the way down, with two rods on each side of the spine trying to fuse the spine together.
Also what's happening is they’re actually removing bones. They are taking out some of the vertebrae and undoing the muscles and the ligament attachments and they’re also removing the discs in between the bones using a bone graph in between vertebra to fuse it. Not only are they fusing it with metals and rods, they’re also fusing it with bone graphs.
What happens is those areas become completely immobile. It no longer moves the way a spine is supposed to move. This is the most common form of spinal fusion.
For more details about Scoliosis Surgery, please check Dr. Tony Nalda’s podcast.
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Dr. Tony Nalda
DOCTOR OF CHIROPRACTIC
After receiving an undergraduate degree in psychology and his Doctorate of Chiropractic from Life University, Dr. Nalda settled in Celebration, Florida and proceeded to build one of Central Florida’s most successful chiropractic clinics.
His experience with patients suffering from scoliosis, and the confusion and frustration they faced, led him to seek a specialty in scoliosis care. In 2006 he completed his Intensive Care Certification from CLEAR Institute, a leading scoliosis educational and certification center.
About Dr. Tony Nalda
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