To answer the question of how to reverse scoliosis naturally, I first have to be clear that as a progressive condition, it’s in its nature to get worse, and a curvature reduction isn’t the same as permanently reversing scoliosis; a permanent reversal would be akin to a cure, and as of yet, there is no known cure for scoliosis. While scoliosis might not be curable, it most certainly is treatable. A conservative approach that is scoliosis-specific and administered by a specialist has the potential to successfully achieve a curvature reduction and stay ahead of the condition’s progression.
When we say ‘naturally’ in the context of medical treatment, what we mean is using methods that don’t involve surgery, medications, or other invasive procedures. I support and apply a conservative approach to scoliosis treatment that involves integrating natural disciplines such as chiropractic, therapy, rehabilitation, and corrective bracing. Let’s start by taking a look at the condition itself and what the opposite traditional approach entails.
Understanding Scoliosis
Scoliosis is the leading cause of spinal deformity in the United States. There are close to seven million people currently living with scoliosis in the States alone, and this should give you an idea of how prevalent a condition it is worldwide.
As prevalent as it is, and despite the many years of research dedicated to fully understanding the condition, there is still much we don’t know how it initially develops.
While there are some forms of the condition that have known causes, such as neuromuscular, congenital, degenerative and traumatic, the vast majority of scoliosis cases are classed as ‘idiopathic’, meaning no known single cause.
For our purposes here, we’ll focus on the condition’s most common form diagnosed between the ages of 10 and 18: adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.
The Traditional Treatment Approach
The traditional treatment approach has been firmly entrenched for hundreds of years and still has its supporters. However, just as most things in life, advancements are made, and treatment approaches change and evolve.
The traditional treatment approach is passive and has observation as its central tenet. This is what a traditional approach to scoliosis treatment could look like. A 12-year-old would be assessed for indicators of scoliosis, meaning a spine that curves abnormally to the side and coincides with rotation.
An X-ray would yield measurements of the curvature, and if the Cobb angle (measurement of the degree of curvature taken from the most-tilted vertebrae) is 10 degrees or more, they would be given an official scoliosis diagnosis.
Most likely, they would be referred to a spinal surgeon from there, whose specialty is spinal-fusion surgery as the treatment method for scoliosis. They would be told to watch and wait to see if the condition progressed.
The thing is, as a progressive condition, at some point, scoliosis is almost always guaranteed to get worse. This is especially the case with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis as the number-one trigger for progression is growth and development.
Once the condition progresses to a certain point considered ‘surgical level’, often at 45+ degrees, spinal-fusion surgery is recommended as the best treatment option.
Spinal-fusion surgery is anything but natural and involves realigning the spine, fusing the curved vertebrae together, and attaching rods and screws to hold them in place while they heal into one solid bone.
The issue I have with watching and waiting to ‘see’ if a condition that’s virtually guaranteed to progress will progress, is that valuable treatment time is being wasted. In addition, that patient has been funneled towards spinal-fusion surgery without exhausting any and all more natural alternative forms of treatment first.
Now, let’s take a look at what our natural conservative approach would be here at the Scoliosis Reduction Center® with that same 12-year-old.
The Natural Conservative Treatment Approach
If the parents or caregivers of that same 12-year-old were to bring that patient into our office, we would have started by thoroughly assessing and classifying the condition via administering an X-ray and comprehensively reading the results.
Instead of being sent to a spinal surgeon whose specialty and focus is spinal-fusion surgery, that patient would be treated at our Center, where our focus is a natural conservative scoliosis-specific approach that is integrative and successful.
We combine multiple treatment disciplines that are all scoliosis-specific: chiropractic, therapy, rehabilitation, and corrective bracing. Most importantly, our approach helps patients avoid the cost, invasiveness, and potential complications of spinal-fusion surgery.
We would use the results of the X-ray to determine the severity of the patient’s condition, where along the spine the curvature is located, and the best possible course of treatment.
The big difference with our approach is that instead of simply observing the condition while it progressed, we would start active treatment immediately to stay ahead of the condition’s natural course of progression.
That’s not to say that monitoring isn’t an integral part of our treatment. We would initiate our treatment plan, with those various disciplines apportioned accordingly, and we would order the necessary X-rays to indicate whether or not our approach is working, and how it needs to be tweaked.
Our approach of combining chiropractic adjustments, therapy, exercise and corrective bracing work to complement one another so our patients benefit from the potential treatment benefits of each individual discipline.
Here at the Center, we believe in the results that a natural and integrative conservative approach offers our patients, and as importantly, we believe in what it saves our patients: the potential complications and side effects that spinal-fusion surgery often results in.
Treating Scoliosis Naturally from Home
An aspect of the question of natural scoliosis treatment that concerns me is when people are tempted to try scoliosis treatment on their own from home.
While I fully support the drive for people to be proactive with their health and focus on more natural treatment methods, scoliosis is a structural deformity, so no single natural approach administered from home has the potential to achieve a structural reduction.
As a progressive condition, what concerns me with new patients who tell me they have been attempting their own treatment from home, in the form of scoliosis-friendly exercise and diet regimes, is how their condition has progressed.
In addition, I think it’s safe to assume that the majority of at-home treatment protocols don’t have access to monitoring treatment efficacy via X-ray, so there is no real way to see and know how the spine is reacting.
Most patients who have attempted home-treatment are coming in to see me because their approach hasn’t worked. What this means is the longer they have been attempting this on their own, the more their condition has likely progressed, the more rigid their spine has become as a result, and the more intense treatment now has to be to make an impact.
Had those same patients come in to see me when they were first diagnosed, we could have started treatment and prevented that amount of progression from happening. There is a direct correlation between treatment success and condition severity. Scoliosis is at its least severe in its early days, so thinking that treating it ‘naturally’ means not by a specialist and from home can have serious consequences.
What I remind people considering an at-home approach is that thanks, in part, to Centers like ours, we have made an alternative natural approach available and accessible to our patients. They don’t need to either choose passive natural at-home treatment or invasive spinal-fusion surgery; they now have a middle ground to walk and should take full advantage of it.
Conclusion
So can you reverse scoliosis naturally? No, no one can permanently reverse it, but it most certainly can be treated and managed by a specialist whose focus is a natural and proactive conservative approach.
Do I recommend anyone starting a natural treatment approach with a general practitioner not specifically trained in scoliosis, or far worse, on their own from home: no.
What I strongly recommend and encourage is for patients to empower themselves with information. They can read my book Scoliosis Hope to learn the merits of my approach and what spinal-fusion surgery can cost patients, and I don’t mean monetarily, although that cost is also significant.
Choosing the appropriate scoliosis-treatment path for yourself or a loved one can seem overwhelming, but it is the most important decision you’ll make when it comes to how that condition is experienced and managed.
Fortunately, the traditional approach is no longer the only option, and I encourage you to explore all treatment options available fully before committing.
