What Is Scoliosis?
Scoliosis is unnatural curve of the spine, grater than 10 degrees. Most commonly it’s “C” or “S” shaped, but it’s shapes and degrees of curve differ from case to case, depending on the age and cause. Curves within 20 to 40 degrees are considered moderate and should be monitored by a physician or a chiropractor. If the curve is higher than this, it needs serious attention, therapy and sometimes surgery.
Most commonly Scoliosis occurs in younger, developing years of a child, when they are growing the most, right before puberty. Often these early conditions get straightened in the following years, but it is not rare in any other stage of a person’s life. Sometimes it starts in teenage years and develops during the life, depending on numerous causes, health and life style related.
Mild forms of scoliosis may not be noticeable to a naked eye, but in other cases, there are visible signs like uneven shoulders, or hips, a rib hump or a lover back deformity on the side where a curve is more noticeable. Aside from the visibly symptoms, more important is the discomfort and pain that this condition causes and affects every day activities.
What Causes Scoliosis?
Causes are often unknow, but there are several known causes of scoliosis such as:
- Neuromuscular conditions that affect the nerves and are responsible for cerebral palsy, poliomyelitis, and muscular dystrophy.
- Scoliosis present at birth – if the bones in the spine developed abnormally when the fetus was growing and developing.
- Leg length: our limps are never exactly the same, but if one leg is noticeably longer than the other, the individual may develop scoliosis.
- Osteoporosis: due to bone degeneration.
- Back injuries or infections of the spine.
- Other lifestyle causes: Bad posture, carrying backpacks or satchels, wearing heals or uncomfortable shoes too long, every day long sitting with pool posture.
What Can A Chiropractor Do?
If you are diagnosed, or suspect of having scoliosis, our advice is to seek chiropractor’s advice. Chiropractors are experts of musculoskeletal system and can offers extremely valuable insight and treatment options. It can determine the type of scoliosis, the degree of the curvature and, by taking into consideration your age, gender and complete health history can create an individualized treatment plan. Even though chiropractor can’t fully cure scoliosis, it can certainly lower the damage and help you to prevent it from getting worse. Chiro treatments can prevent reaching dangerous stages of scoliosis and can also prevent going under spine surgeries that can be highly dangerous and can affect the whole body. In addition, recovery from a spine operation can be long and painful, so the best advice is to seek alternative help on time and try to prevent the worse.
Patients with scoliosis often experience other spinal issues due to dysfunction caused by the abnormal curvatures in their spine, with the right treatment and exercises, chiropractor can minimize the pain and discomfort.
A side from the treatments, your chiropractor can give you individualized exercises you can do every day. We’ve decided to share some amazing exercises by Children’s Orthopedic Institute, that you can do at home.
First, let’s learn how does a good sitting and standing posture looks like and than we will continue with the exercises:
(All credits go to Children’s Orthopedic Institute)
However, before starting to experiment on your own, our advice is to consult your chiropractor and see what type of therapy and exercises will be right for you. We at Wasaga Family Chiro have years of experience in treating scoliosis and would love to hear from you and make an individualized treatment specifically for your condition.