There is no known cure for scoliosis, and the only way it can be completely reversed is through surgery. However, typically doctors will not recommend surgery until a patient has reached a threshold of 50 degrees of spinal curvature. Up until that point, more conservative approaches to treating scoliosis are generally adopted. While it is commendable to want to treat your scoliosis at home using recognized home remedies, there are also some risks associated with this approach.
It's entirely possible that you could worsen your condition and inflict additional pain on yourself, even if you're ultra-careful. At best, home remedies might accomplish some degree of pain relief, but given the fact that scoliosis is highly progressive in nature, it often amounts to a losing battle. Your best bet is always to seek professional scoliosis treatment from a specialist such as a chiropractor.
The traditional approach
The traditional approach to scoliosis treatment involves observing how it progresses over a period of time. Of course, that does nothing to alleviate the patient's pain, and it certainly does nothing to address the condition itself. It does provide an ongoing body of information that can be used for eventual treatment. This approach usually involves taking x-rays during each doctor visit to monitor the progression of the disease, and when a patient's spinal curvature reaches between 40 and 50 degrees, surgery then becomes a real option.
However, the type of surgery generally used to reverse spinal curvature is spinal fusion. In this procedure, the spinal discs are removed and the vertebrae where the curvature is get fused together. Everything is held in place by metal rods while the spine slowly heals into a more proper alignment. This does accomplish a straightening of the spine, but the patient will lose considerable flexibility because the spine itself no longer has freedom of movement. Spinal fusion is costly and highly invasive, and another subtle problem with it is that there's a real shortage of long-term data on how patients will be affected two or three decades after surgery. It is also unknown how long the hardware will hold up before degenerating and possibly breaking while in place.
The conservative proactive approach
Many patients simply cannot accept the passive approach described above, where everyone is just watching and waiting for the disease to progress until it reaches a critical point. That's where the conservative proactive approach comes in because it incorporates a number of disciplines such as corrective bracing, therapy, rehabilitation, and expert chiropractic care to improve a patient's quality of life. Whatever help can be offered through applying these various disciplines will be adopted, according to the effectiveness that each discipline can provide.
Patients will still be x-rayed periodically to identify the progress of the disease, but in most cases, progress is considerably slower and sometimes even halted. It's possible using these conservative strategies to achieve a reduction of the patient's curvature and also accomplish considerable pain relief because the spine is not pressing against muscles and nerves as badly as it was. Patients are also educated in the following ways to accelerate their recovery at home:
- information about home care that helps, for instance, good diet, appropriate exercise, etc.
- various stretching exercises that relieve pressure on the spine
- avoiding medications as much as possible, because this only masks the pain
When you're ready to take charge of your scoliosis and be proactive about it, please contact us at the Live Aligned clinic. Our experts will go right to work at helping you enjoy a better quality of life by managing your condition much better.
Live Aligned
Address: 1438 Main St, Onalaska, WI 54650
Phone: (608) 519-2519
URL: https://livealignedwi.com/
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