Spartanburg SC Scoliosis Treatment: Non-Surgical Solutions

Scoliosis treatment is key to the spine's future health and function. All cases of scoliosis can benefit from treatment, particularly as a progressive condition that's likely to get worse over time. The way a diagnosis of scoliosis is responded to with treatment can shape long-term spinal health.

A 7.5-hour drive can put Spartanburg sc residents in reach of Dr. Tony Nalda's innovative non-surgical Orlando scoliosis treatment center: the Scoliosis Reduction Center®. Many cases of scoliosis don't need surgical treatment, and the Center's results prove just that.

For those interested in a proactive non-surgical scoliosis treatment approach, there are options available.

What is Scoliosis?

Scoliosis is a highly-prevalent spinal condition and is the leading spinal condition among school-aged children.

Current estimates have close to seven million people living with scoliosis in the United States alone, and as a progressive condition triggered by growth, childhood scoliosis treatment should always be taken seriously.

Scoliosis causes the spine to develop an abnormal curvature of the spine that bends to the side and twists, making the condition 3-dimensional.

Scoliosis progression means the size of the unnatural spinal curvature is increasing, as are the condition's uneven forces and their effects.

Scoliosis identified early means early detection, and if a diagnosis is met with a proactive treatment response, early intervention.

Traditional scoliosis treatment commonly responds with a watch-and-wait recommendation followed by a surgical recommendation when/if conditions progress into the severe classification, but spinal fusion surgery commonly involves the removal of spinal discs, fusing the spine, and attaching metal rods to hold it in place, and this is invasive and risky.

Scoliosis ranges widely in severity, and condition severity is a key factor treatment plans are shaped around.

Scoliosis Severity

Scoliosis ranges from mild scoliosis to moderate, severe and very severe scoliosis, and severity is determined by a measurement taken during X-ray known as Cobb angle.

A patient's Cobb angle determines how far out of alignment the spine is and how severe the unnatural spinal curve is; this involves drawing lines from the tops and bottoms of the curve's most-tilted vertebrae, at its apex, and the intersecting lines form an angle that's expressed in degrees.

The higher the angle, the larger the size of the unnatural spinal curvature, the more severe the condition, and the more likely it is that its effects are going to be noticeable:

• Mild scoliosis is diagnosed at Cobb angle measurements of between 10 and 25 degrees
• Moderate scoliosis cases have measurements of between 25 and 40 degrees
• Severe scoliosis is considered at 40+ degrees, and very-severe scoliosis features 80+ Cobb angles

Scoliosis severity indicates the type of symptoms and progression a patient is likely to experience; that being said, no two cases are the same, which is why scoliosis patients benefit from an individualized treatment approach.

Each treatment plan is unique and shaped around factors like patient age and level of spinal flexibility, condition type, severity, curvature location, and experienced symptoms.

Scoliosis Symptoms

Scoliosis symptoms will vary from patient to patient, based on the aforementioned patient/condition factors, but common symptoms of childhood scoliosis involve postural changes.

The most common type of scoliosis is adolescent idiopathic scoliosis diagnosed between 10 and reaching skeletal maturity, and this age group doesn't generally want to stand out and look different from their peers, so a challenge to early detection can be the adolescent tendency to conceal changes, rather than pointing them out to parents and/or caregivers.

Scoliosis introduces a lot of uneven forces to the body, the spine, and the spine's surrounding muscles and nerves, and as it progresses, it can disrupt the body's overall symmetry increasingly.

Common postural changes can include:

• Uneven shoulders
• Uneven shoulder blades
• The development of a rib cage arch
• Uneven hips
• Arms and legs that appear to hang at different lengths

As a result of the increasing postural changes and the body's shifting center of gravity, changes to balance, coordination, and gait are also common.

Clothing can start to seem suddenly ill-fitting with necklines pulling to one side and shirt sleeves and pant legs hanging unevenly.

What's interesting about scoliosis symptoms is that the condition isn't commonly painful until adulthood.

Scoliosis Pain and Compression

Scoliosis pain can involve muscle pain, back pain, and pain that radiates into the extremities due to nerve compression, and nerve-related pain is the main symptom of scoliosis in adults.

Scoliosis pain isn't considered a common symptom of childhood scoliosis treatment because it's associated with compression, and scoliosis doesn't become a compressive condition until skeletal maturity has been reached.

A healthy spine isn't being exposed to uneven forces, but a scoliotic spine that's no longer growing is vulnerable to the compressive force of the unnatural spinal curve; the constant lengthening motion of growth counteracts compression in children.

Muscle, Back, and Nerve Pain

Scoliosis doesn't just affect the spine, but also its surrounding muscles, which is why muscle pain can be common, and scoliosis is associated with a muscular imbalance as the unnatural spinal curve pulls its surrounding muscles in different directions.

Muscle pain can involve weak muscles on one side of the spine and sore and stretched muscles that are overused on the other side of the spine; strengthening and balancing these muscles is a focus of non-surgical scoliosis treatment.

Back pain will be felt most in the affected spinal section (cervical spine, thoracic spine, or lumbar spine), and nerves that are compressed can cause pain and/or strange sensations felt anywhere along their pathway.

So once skeletal maturity is reached, conditions commonly become painful, and this is why many cases of adult scoliosis involve adolescents living with the condition undiagnosed and untreated, not realizing they have scoliosis until conditions become painful enough, and at this point, a certain amount of progression has already occurred.

Scoliosis Progression

Scoliosis is progressive, so its nature is to get worse over time.

Scoliosis progression makes conditions more complex to treat, and as conditions are always changing, where a person's scoliosis is at the time of diagnosis doesn't indicate that's where it will stay, and severe health consequences can develop as complications of untreated scoliosis and very severe cases.

Scoliosis progressing means the size of the unnatural spinal curve is increasing, and this is making it more rigid, and in many cases, less responsive to treatment, hence the benefit of a proactive treatment approach that works towards preventing progression, rather than reacting once it's occurred.

In most cases, it's more effective to work towards preventing progression and increasing effects than it is to attempt to reverse once they've developed, and the longer scoliosis is left untreated, the more established those body compensations will become.

Increasing spinal rigidity can make it less responsive to chiropractic care and can make it difficult for some patients to perform key therapeutic exercises as part of treatment.

So while there are never treatment guarantees, starting treatment early in a condition's progressive line is associated with treatment success, and when diagnosed while mild and proactively addressed, there are fewer limits to what non-surgical treatment can achieve.

Although progressive, appropriate treatment started at the right time can make scoliosis highly responsive and manageable.

Conclusion

So for spartanburg sc residents, a 7.5-hour drive to Orlando, Florida's Scoliosis Reduction Center® can mean accessing a level of care that can lead to an improved quality of life.

With progressive conditions like scoliosis, sometimes when treatment is started can be almost as important as the type of treatment started.

If a certain amount of progression has already occurred, increasing spinal rigidity can make it difficult to perform specific spinal adjustments that work towards repositioning the curve's most-tilted vertebrae.

Physical therapy and scoliosis exercises are additional key facets of non-surgical treatment provided by the Center; strengthening and balancing the spoine's surrounding muscles means more support and stability for the spine, as well as improving posture and body positioning.

Corrective bracing can be particularly effective on growing spines so is another facet of non-surgical treatment in children.

Once a patient of the Center, Dr. Tony's patients have access to multiple scoliosis-specific treatment disciplines under one roof; this allows for a truly customized treatment approach that addresses the specifics of a patient's body, ability, and condition.

Scoliosis is diagnosed through exploring health history, a physical examination, an Adams position test, and X-ray results, and once a diagnosis is reached, the most important decision is how to treat the condition moving forward.

While treating scoliosis with surgery is still an option, a conservative approach is less invasive and more in line with the spine's movement-based design.

So for those recently diagnosed, or those needing assessment, don't hesitate to reach out for a consultation as it can be the first step in the restoration process that works towards the spine aligning properly, improving balance, stability, reducing the curve, strengthening and balancing muscles, and most importantly, improving a patient's daily life.