Mild Scoliosis: Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, & More

Being diagnosed with mild scoliosis means the condition was caught early in its progressive line, and while there are no treatment guarantees, early detection does increase chances of treatment success; however, the benefits of early detection are only available to those whose diagnosis is responded to with proactive treatment.

There is a wide range of scoliosis severity from mild to moderate and severe to very severe. Condition severity is determined by a patient’s Cobb angle measurement and indicates how far out of alignment a scoliotic spine is; mild scoliosis patients have a Cobb angle of between 10 and 25 degrees.

Let’s start our exploration of mild scoliosis by first explaining what is slight scoliosis and the parameters that have to be met to reach a scoliosis diagnosis.

Being Diagnosed with Scoliosis

The spine is naturally curved at each of its main sections (cervical, thoracic, and lumbar), and these healthy curves make the spine stronger, more flexible, and better able to absorb/distribute impact from external forces.

There are a number of spinal conditions/issues a person can develop that involve a loss of one or more of the spine’s natural and healthy curves, and scoliosis is one such highly-prevalent spinal condition.

In fact, the Scoliosis Research Society puts current estimates at close to seven million people living with scoliosis in the United States alone, and scoliosis is also the leading spinal condition amongst school-aged children.

In order to be diagnosed with scoliosis, certain parameters have to be met to distinguish it from other spinal conditions/issues; there has to be an unnatural sideways spinal curve with rotation, and a minimum Cobb angle measurement of 10 degrees.

There are a number of important patient and condition variables that natural treatment paths need to be shaped around, and condition severity is a big one, so let’s talk about what makes one case of scoliosis mild and another severe.

What is Mild Scoliosis?

Scoliosis is a highly variable progressive condition, which means scoliosis has it in its very nature to worsen over time, particularly if left untreated or not treated proactively.

So scoliosis is not a static condition; where it is at the time of diagnosis is not indicative of where it will stay.

Even a patient diagnosed with mild scoliosis can easily progress to moderate, severe or very severe, and this severity classification point is determined by a patient’s Cobb angle.

Cobb angle is known as the orthopedic gold standard in the assessment/diagnosis of scoliosis. It is determined during X-ray by drawing intersecting lines from the tops and bottoms of the most-tilted vertebrae (bones of the spine) at the apex of the curve.

The intersecting lines form an angle that’s expressed in degrees, and this measurement places conditions on a severity scale of mild, moderate, severe, or very severe:

• Mild scoliosis: Cobb angle measurement of between 10 and 25 degrees
• Moderate scoliosis: Cobb angle measurement of between 25 and 40 degrees
• Severe scoliosis: Cobb angle measurement of 40+ degrees
• Very-severe scoliosis: Cobb angle measurement of 80+ degrees

So as you can see, mild scoliosis is the first severity level of scoliosis, and while those recently diagnosed might be feeling anything but fortunate, it’s highly beneficial to have this level of early detection in terms of potential treatment efficacy, which we’ll expand more on later.

Mild scoliosis, characterized by a slight spinal curvature, may not always exhibit severe symptoms, but individuals with this condition may experience issues like scoliosis fatigue and occasional neck pain. It's important to understand the symptoms, diagnosis, and available treatment options for proper management.

For those asking, can mild scoliosis get worse? The answer is: yes, it can because, as a progressive condition, it’s in its very nature to do so.

As early detection can be so beneficial, I want to educate people on the condition’s early signs, so let’s move on to addressing symptoms of mild scoliosis in the hopes of spreading awareness.

What are the Symptoms of Mild Scoliosis?

While there are many different types of scoliosis such as congenital scoliosis,  adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), diagnosed between the ages of 10 and 18, is the most prevalent, which is the condition form we’ll focus on currently.

Part of the reason scoliosis is so often referred to as a complex condition to treat is because each case of scoliosis is as unique as the patient themselves; that being said, there are still some common symptoms of mild scoliosis that people can look out for.

As an unnatural spinal curve, scoliosis introduces a lot of uneven forces to the body, which is why the main sign of scoliosis in adolescents is a postural deviation that disrupts the body’s overall symmetry.

Symptoms of mild scoliosis can include clothing becoming ill-fitting, issues with balance and coordination, changes to gait, and uneven posture:

• Head not centered over the torso
• Uneven shoulders
• Uneven shoulder blades
• Arms and legs appear to hang at different lengths
• Ribs protrude more on one side than the other
• The body has a noticeable tilt to one side while standing
• Uneven hips
• An asymmetrical waist

Any indication that the body is asymmetrical can be a sign of mild scoliosis.

Mild Scoliosis Pain

When it comes to mild scoliosis pain, while the condition can cause back and radicular pain felt throughout the body, the milder a condition is, the less likely it is to be painful. The child/adolescent experience of life with scoliosis doesn’t generally include back pain, which is due to growth and maturity.

In a growing body, the spine is experiencing a constant upward lengthening motion that counteracts the compressive force of a scoliotic curve; it’s compression of the spine and its surrounding muscles and nerves that cause the majority of condition-related pain.

So while adolescents and children do experience muscle pain related to their scoliosis, the typical experience doesn't include back and radicular pain caused by compression, especially in mild scoliosis that, in addition, isn’t commonly associated with functional deficits.

Once a condition becomes compressive in adulthood when skeletal maturity has been reached, this is when it tends to become noticeable; back/radicular pain is the number-one symptom of scoliosis in adults, and this symptom is what leads to a diagnosis and treatment.

The lack of pain and functional deficits in mild AIS, and the subtlety of its early postural changes, are the main reasons why early detection isn’t always easy to achieve.

I try to help my mild scoliosis patients realize that they’re fortunate to have been diagnosed while the condition is mild and so highly treatable; there are just fewer limits to what we can achieve.

Can Mild Scoliosis Get Worse?

As a progressive condition, we know that virtually every case of scoliosis is going to worsen at some point, although there is no way to definitively gauge a patient’s rate of progression: rapid or slow.

Mild scoliosis can progress to moderate, severe, or very severe, and the best way to prevent that from happening is commiting to a proactive conservative treatment approach that initiates treatment as close to the time of diagnosis as possible.

The issue with progression is that it doesn’t just mean the unnatural sideways spinal curve is increasing in size. It can also mean the rotational component is worsening, and related symptoms are escalating, making the need for more invasive treatment in the future more likely.

For those experiencing mild scoliosis back pain (more likely in adults) and mild scoliosis hip pain. These types of scoliosis symptoms can worsen alongside progression because as the scoliotic curve increases in size, the uneven forces the body is exposed to are also increasing, as are their effects.

Mild scoliosis, although not always requiring surgery, can often be effectively managed and improved through non-surgical methods, raising the possibility of correcting scoliosis without the need for surgical intervention.

So, now that we have defined mild scoliosis, how it’s diagnosed, and what its most common symptoms are, let’s talk about what to do once a diagnosis is given because how a diagnosis of mild scoliosis is responded to can have far-reaching effects.

How to Treat Mild Scoliosis

The best time to treat scoliosis is while it’s mild, and this is because a smaller curve is simpler to treat before significant progression occurs, the spine becomes more rigid, and the body has ample time to adjust to its presence.

Spinal rigidity increases with progression, and once a certain degree of spinal flexibility is lost, it’s going to be less responsive to treatment.

Part of effective conservative scoliosis treatment involves integrating condition-specific physical therapy and exercise, but if the spine is too rigid, patients can’t perform the exercises as prescribed, meaning that work needs to be done before the initial course of treatment starts to establish a baseline level of spinal cord flexibility.

So, basically, the spine is going to be at its most flexible and most responsive to treatment while scoliosis is mild, so why not start treatment right away in an effort to prevent increasing condition severity and the hardships associated with it?

There are two main scoliosis treatment approaches to choose between, traditional and conservative, and the former can be described as reactive, while the latter takes a more proactive response.

Mild scoliosis requires treatment that varies by age; it can affect the lungs, and patients must be cautious with certain exercises, especially when correcting adult scoliosis.

Traditional Mild Scoliosis Treatment

Under a traditional scoliosis treatment approach, a diagnosis of mild scoliosis would be responded to with a recommendation to watch and wait: monitoring for further progression that is virtually guaranteed to happen at some point.

This watch-and-wait approach is dangerous with a progressive condition like scoliosis because allowing a curve to progress unimpeded, particularly in adolescents who are at risk for rapid-phase progression due to pubescent growth spurts, can mean being funneled towards a surgical recommendation.

Although bracing is the only form of treatment applied under a traditional approach, this isn’t generally introduced until the moderate-to-severe stage of progression, and traditional bracing is associated with a number of shortfalls that limit its efficacy.

Once a patient undergoing traditional treatment crosses into the severe classification at 40+ degrees and shows signs of continued progression, they become a candidate for spinal fusion surgery but had proactive treatment been applied earlier on, patients might not have ever progressed to the point of crossing that surgical-level threshold.

So to answer the question, does mild scoliosis require surgery: no, it most certainly does not. In fact, most cases of scoliosis can be treated nonsurgically, especially those diagnosed while still mild.

However, a case of mild scoliosis, if left untreated or not treated proactively, has the potential to become severe enough to receive a spinal surgical recommendation, particularly if on the path of traditional scoliosis treatment because of its reactive response.

So for those who want to try a safer, more natural, and less-invasive approach to treating mild scoliosis, a modern conservative treatment approach has produced impressive results.

Conservative Mild Scoliosis Treatment

How to fix scoliosis naturally? Here at the Scoliosis Reduction Center, I offer patients a conservative scoliosis treatment approach, also known as functional or chiropractic-centered.

This approach is considered proactive because it involves responding to a scoliosis diagnosis with treatment initiated as soon as possible.

I don’t need to merely watch and wait while a condition progresses because I know it’s going to do so, and I see that as wasting valuable treatment time while a condition is getting more complex and challenging to treat.

The ideal time to start treating scoliosis is while it’s still mild, and this is because, as mentioned, the spine is at its most flexible, making it more responsive to treatment, and there are fewer limits to what we can achieve.

By integrating multiple treatment disciplines, I can customize each and every treatment plan based on important patient and condition variables: patient age, curvature location, condition type, and severity.

Although monitoring for progression is still an important element of treatment, it’s only one part and is more related to observing how the spine is responding to treatment so the different disciplines can be apportioned accordingly.

As I’m certified in multiple scoliosis-specific treatment modalities, patients of the Center can take advantage of the benefits each unique form of treatment offers while having access to the different types of treatment for different types of scoliosis under one roof.

I integrate condition-specific chiropractic care, in-office therapy, custom-prescribed home exercises, and corrective bracing to impact the condition on multiple levels.

Chiropractic Care

As a CLEAR-certified scoliosis chiropractor, I know the spine, and I know scoliosis.

While impacting scoliosis structurally is beyond the scope of general chiropractic, scoliosis-specific chiropractic has corrective potential.

Through a series of chiropractic techniques and adjustments, I can work towards repositioning the most-tilted vertebrae of the curve back into alignment with the rest of the spine, restoring as much of the spine’s healthy curves as possible.

In-Office Therapy 

Scoliosis-specific therapy has the goal of passively mobilizing the spine into a corrective position.

There are multiple forms of physical therapy I use for scoliosis, including vibration, traction, and de-rotation; these are performed by using different types of equipment that are specifically designed to reduce scoliotic curves, which we have access to here at the Center.

For example, our scoliosis traction chair works towards reversing a case of scoliosis into a mirror image of itself, which can complement other forms of treatment.

The successful results augmented by the traction chair led to the use of other effective pieces of equipment, such as a thoracic mechanical drop piece and vibrating cervical traction: all of which our patients can benefit from as part of our scoliosis-specific therapy programs.

Custom-Prescribed Scoliosis-Specific Exercises

While the place of exercise in scoliosis treatment was once questioned, we now know that there is a big difference between the use of general exercise and physical therapy in scoliosis treatment versus scoliosis-specific exercises that are specifically designed to impact scoliosis.

Also called SSEs, scoliosis-specific exercises are forms of self-correction exercises that are customized to address the specifics of each patient’s ability and condition type; they can involve a combination of active movement-based exercise, isometric exercise, and reflexive exercises.

In addition, certain SSEs are known to activate specific areas of the brain for improved brain-body communication, postural remodeling, and a more natural body positioning.

Mild Scoliosis Bracing

When it comes to bracing, I favor the use of a modern and ultra-corrective brace like the ScoliBrace, which addresses many of the shortcomings associated with traditional bracing, and can complement other forms of treatment to achieve corrective results.

Unlike traditional scoliosis bracing that squeezes the spine unnaturally to the point of weakening it and increasing postural deviation, the ScoliBrace simply pushes the spine into a corrective position.

The ScoliBrace’s design is based on the condition’s true 3-dimensional nature. Remember, a scoliotic spine ( be it lumbar spine, thoracic spine, or cervical spine) doesn’t just bend unnaturally to the side, but also rotates (twists from back to front, front to back), so the ultra-corrective brace has the potential to impact the condition on multiple levels.

In addition, the ScoliBrace uses state-of-the-art scanning technology to ensure that each and every brace is as bespoke to its wearer as possible, making it more comfortable to wear, less bulky and increasing compliance rates.

The modern ScoliBrace represents the culmination of what we’ve learned about scoliosis bracing over the years and, when combined with other forms of proactive treatment, can be a valuable treatment tool.

Mild Scoliosis Pain Management

When it comes to mild scoliosis pain management, this isn’t generally an issue with my young patients, but when it comes to my adult patients, although the majority of them are in the moderate or severe stage, proactive treatment is the best form of addressing pain.

Pain, as the main symptom of scoliosis in adults, is how adult mild scoliosis is diagnosed.

With my older patients, the reality is that the majority of them have progressed past the point of mild scoliosis, but for those in need of pain management, I address it proactively by treating its underlying cause.

First and foremost, as a structural spinal condition, I want to impact scoliosis on a structural level, and once I see those results, I shift the focus to increasing core strength for optimal spinal support and stabilization.

With stronger surrounding muscles, less pressure is on the spine and its individual parts to maintain its healthy spinal curvature and alignment.

By designing treatment around the underlying structural nature of the condition, related symptoms, like pain, are being proactively addressed because the condition itself is being treated. When pain is addressed only as a symptom but not its underlying cause, this can only reduce scoliosis pain short-term.

A traditional approach would respond with pain medications, but that does nothing for sustainable long-term pain relief, and with a progressive condition like scoliosis, masking symptoms with medication can hide the fact that progression is occurring and treatment is needed: allowing a curve to progress unimpeded.

Conclusion

When it comes to being diagnosed with scoliosis, the most important decision moving forward is how to treat it because different treatment approaches have different potential outcomes.

While a diagnosis of mild scoliosis would be responded to with watching and waiting in traditional treatment, a modern conservative approach sees the benefits of catching a condition early in its progressive line and immediately starts proactively working towards corrective results.

As a progressive condition, being proactive is key to counteracting its nature to worsen over time, particularly through growth, because without proactive treatment, a case of mild scoliosis can become moderate, severe, or even very severe.

The main symptom of mild scoliosis in children and adolescents is postural deviation, while the most-noticeable symptom in adults is pain.

Regardless of age, the best time to start treatment for mild scoliosis is always now, as it means active effort is being made to stay ahead of the condition’s progressive line.

It can be tempting to listen to a recommendation to merely watch and wait with mild scoliosis, but what I want patients, and their families, to understand is that the choice to observe passively can have far-reaching consequences, like undergoing a costly and invasive surgical procedure.

Through a modern conservative treatment approach, mild scoliosis patients can benefit from early detection and proactive treatment that values preserving as much natural spinal function as possible, while preventing progression and the need for invasive treatment in the future.