Scoliosis Frequently Asked Questions
Find Answers To Your Scoliosis Questions
Scoliosis can be a confusing diagnosis and you may have a lot of questions.
At the Scoliosis Reduction Center®, we understand the concerns and uncertainties that come with this condition. Our comprehensive FAQ section is designed to provide clear, concise answers to the most common questions about scoliosis, its treatment options, and how we can support you on your journey to better spinal health.
Whether you’re newly diagnosed or seeking more information, we’re here to help you navigate every step of the way.
Scoliosis FAQs
At the Scoliosis Reduction Center®, we take a proactive approach to the treatment of scoliosis. We don’t just wait and see; we get to work on our patients and provide them with the tools and techniques to strengthen their spines, improve function and truly reduce their irregular curvatures. This approach is more natural, more functional and involves a number of treatments that, when combined, provide relief and allow patients to experience their lives as fully as possible.
I commonly prescribe the ScoliBrace to meet my patients’ bracing needs; instead of squeezing the spine unnaturally from the sides like the Boston Brace, the ScoliBrace pushes the spine into a corrective position via its over-corrective design, guiding the body/spine into a better position and counteracting the scoliotic curve.
By pushing the spine, rather than squeezing it, the spine’s strength is preserved and postural deviation is reduced, rather than increased as tends to happen with the Boston brace.
In addition, the ScoliBrace involves state-of-the-art scanning technology (BraceScan, CAD, CAM, postural photos, and X-ray images) so each and every brace is fully-customized to address body/curvature type, making it less bulky, easier to conceal, and more comfortable to wear: resulting in better compliance. However, this is always a case by case decision we make together with the patient or parent.
Scoliosis isn’t always painful, but it can be, particularly if left untreated or not treated proactively. Scoliosis introduces a lot of uneven forces to the body that can lead to a host of issues, including back pain, radicular pain, and muscle pain. The best remedy for scoliosis pain is an effective treatment.
A patient can expect that if their scoliosis is left untreated, or isn’t treated proactively, it will get worse, and its effects will become more noticeable. Once skeletal maturity has been reached in adulthood, growth tends to slow because the progressive trigger of growth has been removed, but once age-related spinal degeneration comes into play, the rate of progression can increase as the spine becomes more unstable.
Treating scoliosis effectively can shape the spine’s long-term spinal health and function, and the best way to minimize the condition’s effects is by preventing them, rather than attempting to reverse them once they’re established.
Scoliosis gets worse with age, not only due to growth, but also because the spine, like the rest of the body, is subject to degenerative changes, hence the prevalence of degenerative scoliosis in older adults.
In severe cases, complications can develop, and smaller curves are simpler to treat, so why not be proactive and start treatment as close to the time of diagnosis as possible; this is the best way to treat scoliosis while it’s at its mildest and is likely to be responsive.
There are various methods for diagnosing and assessing scoliosis, but the gold standard is a measurement known as the ‘Cobb angle’. Taken in a scoliosis X-ray, a patient’s Cobb angle tells us important information about their condition and its severity. The Cobb angle is measured from the most-tilted vertebrae of the curvature, and this measurement, in degrees, tells us how far out of alignment the patient’s spine is. Based on the X-ray images taken from a variety of angles, the Cobb angle is measured by drawing lines along the superior tilted vertebra’s top and the inferior tilted vertebra’s bottom. Next, two additional lines are drawn perpendicular at a 90-degree angle to the first lines so they intersect.
Where these sets of lines intersect is the angle that is measured, in degrees, known as the Cobb angle. This information is important to understanding the nature of the patient’s condition as a whole. A patient’s Cobb angle measurement allows us to classify the condition on its severity scale: mild, moderate, or severe.
I understand why patients and parents may be concerned about radiation from scoliosis X-rays, but let me assure you that your health is our foremost focus! I want patients to understand that we approach X-rays with the safety and health of our patients at the front of our minds. We use specially designed shielding to minimize the risk of radiation exposure.
Today’s scolisois x-rays emit about 10 times less than 25 years ago. We also employ techniques like taking images from the back instead of the front, which reduces radiation exposure to the breasts and vital organs. When you consider the minimal risks associated with X-rays against the consequences of not treating the condition properly, it’s quite clear that the benefits outweigh the potential negatives by a massive margin.
At the Scoliosis Reduction Center®, we use and refer to X-rays every day to treat our patients. There are a few things that set us apart, though:
We use the latest digital scoliosis X-ray technology, ensuring the greatest accuracy and the least exposure to radiation
We use small, specifically targeted X-rays to evaluate biomechanical integrity of the spine, which allows us to achieve more precise measurements
My focus is scoliosis — it is what I specialize in — therefore, I have the ability to interpret a scoliosis X-ray more accurately than the average health care practitioner. This gives me the ability to craft a much more effective treatment plan
Scoliosis X-rays are used at various points in the treatment process to measure progress, apply specific adjustments, prescribe exercises and ensure that the condition is targeted in the most efficient manner possible
When it comes time to choose the path and doctor to treat your scoliosis, or the scoliosis of a loved one, I highly recommend seeking out the help of a scoliosis specialist. The condition is not an easy one to treat or understand. It takes training in multiple modalities and many hours of study and certifications to fully understand the condition, how it progresses, and how best to treat it. Any general discipline will fall short; it’s only those specifically tailored towards scoliosis that have the power to induce a structural change and effectively treat the condition.
When it comes to chiropractic, general chiropractic is a good place to start on the path to becoming a scoliosis specialist, but that general discipline has to branch off in the direction of scoliosis-specific training and study to fulfill its potential as an effective form of scoliosis treatment.
I saw the lack of effective scoliosis-treatment options as a flaw that I wanted to remedy, and did so with the creation of the Scoliosis Reduction Center®. Each and every patient that walks through our door gets the benefit of a truly customized approach designed by a specialist specifically trained in scoliosis-specific chiropractic and multiple modalities. We have many patients refered to us by their general chiropractor, and we return them back with a great clarity of how to co-manage their case from afar.
AIS (Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis) patients make up 80 percent of known diagnosed cases; the other 20 percent are less-common forms of the condition such as neuromuscular, congenital, degenerative, or traumatic. Idiopathic scoliosis isn’t associated with a single-known cause; instead, it’s thought to be multifactorial.
Conditions that are multifactorial develop because of a number of variables, or a combination of certain variables, that can change from one patient to the next.
Idiopathic scoliosis isn’t genetic, but it is familial, meaning if there is a family history of scoliosis, there is more likely to be another diagnosis, but a specific gene, or genetic combination, has yet to be identified that accounts for the development of idiopathic scoliosis.
Families share a lot more than just their genes; they share socioeconomic factors, body types, lifestyles, diet, responses to stress, and even posture.
So scoliosis is more likely to happen if another family member has been diagnosed and can seem to run in families.
Considering the multifactorial nature of scoliosis, a number of factors, some of which are familial, could contribute to scoliosis developing.
While we don’t fully understand why idiopathic scoliosis develops initially, we do understand that it’s growth that makes it progress, and this is why childhood scoliosis should always be taken seriously; the more growth a patient has yet to go through, the more potential progression they can be facing.
In fact, in the condition’s most-prevalent type, adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, diagnosed between the ages of 10 and 18, because of the rapid and unpredictable growth spurts associated with puberty, this age group is the most at risk for rapid-phase progression.
It is possible that you have been told that until the curves reach 20-25 degrees there is nothing you can do, except watch and wait (and, no doubt, worry). At 25 degrees, some form of bracing is typically recommended. If you have, or are nearing, a 40-50 degree curve, it is likely that surgery has been discussed with you and/or recommend.
We take pride in challenging the protocol because we treat the condition of scoliosis fully, and achieve outstanding results from our innovative, non-invasive approach to reversing and correcting scoliosis. It’s never too late — and it’s never too early.
While there is the monetary cost of scoliosis treatment, there is another treatment-related cost people should be aware of: the cost of not getting treatment, or the cost of a negative outcome. People who choose not to get treatment, or who choose a traditional passive route of watching and waiting, rather than a proactive route and conservative treatment, are likely to have a different experience of life with their condition.
When it comes to discussing the cost of scoliosis treatment, every case is different. Several highly-variable factors such as age, condition type, severity, and location of curvature will help determine the final cost of treatment. Also, the cost of scoliosis treatment is dependent upon the treatment approach chosen: traditional or conservative.
It’s important for patients to be aware that if they are on the traditional path of scoliosis treatment, that path is most likely to eventually lead to costly and invasive surgery.
The watching and waiting only increases the already-high likelihood of a condition’s progression. This brings patients closer to that surgical-level threshold and the recommendation that spinal fusion is necessary and the best option.
Even if surgery is successful in terms of stopping progression, which there is never a guarantee of, that comes at the price of strength and mobility, not to mention the risk of side effects and additional complications that accompany any surgical procedure.
There is also a real gap in data on long-term effects of spinal-fusion surgery, and this is an important factor to consider.
This is a big dividing point between the traditional approach and my conservative approach; the end-goal of my treatment is to avoid surgery at all costs.
In fact, everything I do as a scoliosis chiropractor is to help patients reach improvement through more natural and less-invasive means so they never know the hardships associated with the higher stages of progression and back surgery.
The answer is deceptively simple, and unfortunately is based upon the laws of economics, rather than what is best for the patient.
We do not bill insurance, but provide a superbill to the patient for their own personal reimbursment. Since we do not have to manage insurance billing, and only focus on you, the patient, we are able to keep our fees lower.
We have achieved reductions even in Cobb angles over 100 degrees. However, reversing the course of any scoliosis diagnosis in its advanced stages is always more difficult, and scoliosis is no exception. As the Cobb angle increases, the time & effort required to treat it increases exponentially.
Scoliosis of the spine is an unnatural sideways curvature of the spine, with rotation. Scoliosis causes the spine to look like the letter “S” or the letter “C”. These abnormal curves in the spine affect the middle of the back (the thoracic region), and the lower back (the lumbar region). The neck is also likely to lack its natural curve, affecting the balance and posture of the entire body.
It is also possible for the scoliosis curves to affect the body in other ways. For example, the spine may develop a “third” curve, often referred to as a compensatory curve. This is actually the spine’s way of helping the body counteract the “S” or “C” curves as it attempts to keep the body balanced.
The spine may also rotate or twist inwardly on itself, in a spiral-like manner, compressing the vertebrae together over time. Even the mildest case of scoliosis can affect a person’s overall health, self-esteem, and confidence. Issues with muscle control and strength, pain and discomfort, posture, flexibility, and appearance affect the emotional health of individuals with scoliosis, reducing their quality of life.