There’s a reason people seek out medical treatment from doctors that specialize in their issue; focused training and experience in one specific condition/disease increases a patient’s chance of treatment success, and with conditions that are known to be as highly variable and complex as scoliosis, it’s a necessity.
Scoliosis is a complex condition, both for patients to live with, and for doctors to treat. It’s the condition’s complex nature that necessitates the customization of effective treatment plans, and this requires a certain level of scoliosis-specific training, certifications, and experience.
Scoliosis isn’t a general condition; it’s a highly-specific progressive structural spinal condition that requires a certain level of training and expertise to be treated effectively.
Why is Scoliosis so Complex?
Scoliosis is the development of an unnatural sideways spinal curve, with rotation, making it a 3-dimensional condition.
Scoliotic curves can also range widely in size, and this is determined by a measurement known as Cobb angle; the higher a patient’s Cobb angle, the more severe their condition, and the more complex it will be to treat:
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, these numbers vary widely, and in addition, scoliosis is progressive, meaning it’s in its very nature to worsen over time: another reason scoliosis is considered a complex condition to treat.
As a structural progressive spinal condition, treatment has to impact it on every level from adjusting the structure of the spine to increasing core strength so muscles are strong enough to support the spine, and counteracting progression.
So can a general practitioner (GP) treat scoliosis? They can treat patients with scoliosis, but that’s not the same as treating the scoliosis itself, and under the leadership of Dr. Tony Nalda, the Scoliosis Reduction Center® does just that.
The Scoliosis Reduction Center® Treatment Approach
People traverse great distances to access the type of multi-faceted proactive treatment offered by world-class scoliosis chiropractor, Dr. Tony Nalda.
Celebration, Florida is home to the Scoliosis Reduction Center® where patients can access multiple different types of scoliosis treatment under one roof.
Through a modern conservative treatment approach, Dr. Tony values being proactive with treatment by starting it as close to the time of diagnosis as possible; this is because scoliosis is the simplest to treat while mild, when the curve is smaller, less rigid, more responsive to treatment, and before the body has had ample time to adjust to the unnatural spinal curve’s presence.
A traditional treatment approach responds in the opposite way to a diagnosis of mild scoliosis: with watching and waiting.
The reason traditional treatment involves so much watching and waiting is quite simply because it doesn’t have a strategy for treating scoliosis while mild, so waits for it to progress into the severe classification, when patients become surgical candidates.
Dr. Tony wants to help patients prevent progression, increasing condition severity, escalating symptoms, and the need for invasive surgical treatment in the future, and this is possible thanks to his extensive training, experience, and certifications in multiple scoliosis-specific treatment modalities, plus the power of a modern conservative treatment approach.
Conservative Scoliosis Treatment Approach
We’ve touched briefly on the shortfalls of traditional treatment, mainly being its reactive response of watching and waiting, versus a proactive response that starts treatment early in an effort to stay ahead of a condition’s progressive line.
In addition, traditional treatment doesn’t address the rotational component of a scoliotic curve, and treating it as 2-dimensional only limits treatment efficacy because a scoliotic spine doesn’t just bend unnaturally to the side, but also twists from front to back, back to front.
The main goal of traditional treatment is to stop progression, but this is not the same as having corrective results as its main goal, as is the case with conservative treatment.
Dr. Tony favors a conservative approach because it responds proactively, instead of wasting valuable treatment time while curves progress unimpeded; it also addresses the condition’s true 3-dimensional nature, focuses on impacting the condition on a structural level, and helps patients avoid the heavy risks and potential side effects of surgical treatment.
By starting treatment as close to the time of diagnosis as possible, there are fewer limits to what can be achieved.
Scoliosis is simpler to treat while the curve is at its smallest, before progression has increased spinal rigidity, known to make the spine less responsive to treatment, and before the body has fully adjusted to the unnatural curve’s presence.
Through integrating condition-specific chiropractic care, in-office therapy, corrective bracing, and custom-prescribed home exercises, the condition can be impacted on every level.
Throughout the course of treatment, Dr. Tony is monitoring the spine closely to see how it’s responding so that treatment disciplines can be adjusted and apportioned accordingly.
Condition-specific chiropractic care uses a variety of chiropractic techniques and manual adjustments to work towards repositioning the most-tilted vertebrae of the curve back into alignment with the rest of the spine.
Through a variety of physical therapies and the power of scoliosis-specific exercises (SSEs), core strength can be increased so the spine is optimally supported by its surrounding muscles.
Corrective bracing can augment corrective results achieved through other forms of treatment by pushing the spine into a corrective position and holding it there.
A series of custom-prescribed exercises can also help patients establish a home-rehabilitation program to further stabilize the spine for long-term sustainable results.
Conservative treatment is often referred to as functional treatment, and this is because it’s shaped around the goal of preserving as much natural spinal function and strength as possible, throughout treatment and beyond.
Dr. Tony’s Scoliosis-Specific Training
As mentioned, there is a big difference between receiving general medical treatment for scoliosis, and scoliosis-specific treatment; the former is more about treating a person with scoliosis (addressing their symptoms), versus treating the actual condition itself.
General treatment, not delivered by a scoliosis specialist, commonly includes medication for patients finding their condition painful, monitoring, and some scoliosis-friendly exercises and/or physical therapy.
But this type of general treatment isn’t going to impact the condition on every level, such as structurally, which just happens to be what Dr. Tony shapes his treatment plans around.
As a structural condition, scoliosis has to, first and foremost, be impacted on a structural level, in the form of a curvature reduction, and this can be worked towards through chiropractic care, but again, not general chiropractic, but scoliosis-specific chiropractic.
As a CLEAR-certified scoliosis chiropractor, Dr. Tony knows the spine, and he knows scoliosis, and most importantly, he knows how the spine is going to respond to different forms of treatment so can fully customize each and every treatment plan to address key patient/condition variables.
Following are some of Dr. Tony’s scoliosis-specific certifications/accreditations, and the list is long:
- CLEAR Scoliosis Institute Intensive Care certification
- One of the first doctors to receive a World Masters certification from ISICO (Italian Scientific Spine Institute)
- SEAS (Scientific Exercises Approach to Scoliosis)
- Gomex Orthotics
- Chiropractic Biophysics
- ScoliBrace (corrective bracing)
- DMX (Digital Motion X-ray)
The more training and experience a treatment provider has in multiple different scoliosis-treatment modalities, the more capable they are of fully customizing treatment plans that can impact the condition on every level.
A scoliosis specialist, like Dr. Tony, doesn’t just have/need experience and training in how to treat scoliosis, but also in how to comprehensively read and interpret the results of a scoliosis X-ray.
Only a specialist can address the shortfall of X-ray images only being 2-dimensional, when being used to assess a 3-dimensional condition.
Monitoring what’s happening in and around the spine isn’t a simple process, and monitoring a scoliotic spine involves a lot of comprehensive measurements, and being able to take images from all angles so a true 3-dimensional representation of the spine can be achieved: crucial when it comes to crafting effective treatment plans.
Conclusion
So why is it so important for people recently diagnosed with scoliosis to make sure they speak to a scoliosis specialist, and not just a general practitioner?
Scoliosis is complex not just because of how widely it ranges in severity, but also because it’s a 3-dimensional condition that can affect all ages, is progressive in nature, and there are also multiple different types of scoliosis, each with its own unique symptoms and treatment needs.
Dr. Tony Nalda, as a leading scoliosis chiropractor, knows the spine, how scoliosis affects it, and how a scoliotic spine responds to treatment; he also knows how to comprehensively measure the spine during X-ray, interpret its results, and how to ensure an accurate representation of what’s happening in and around the spine, in all dimensions, is available.
The Scoliosis Reduction Center® offers patients the benefit of accessing multiple different forms of scoliosis-specific treatment under one roof, and the Center’s results speak for themselves.
If you, or someone in your circle, has been recently diagnosed with scoliosis, reaching out to Dr. Tony Nalda can be a first step on the path to treatment success, and don’t hesitate as the best time to start treatment for a complex progressive condition like scoliosis is always now.
