Scoliosis is not a “disease” but rather one
of the most mysterious conditions that
exists in the orthopedic medical world.
Historically, scoliosis has been studied
since as early as Hippocrates in ~450 BC,
but the pioneer of spine research on
scoliosis was a Greek physician named Galen
in ~AD150.
The definition of scoliosis has been dynamic
over the years but all who study and treat
this condition can agree that it is a
three-dimensional deformity or
adaptation of the spine. The
physician and researcher Basmajian in the
1960’s described it best as an “act of
dysfunctional balance of the body”.
Scoliosis is often diagnosed with a term
called “idiopathic”. What this means is that
there is no known cause or more specifically
- no conclusive research evidence as to the
etiology. Over 80% of all medically
diagnosed scoliosis falls into the category
of “unknown cause”. The remaining 20% is of
"known cause” - related to congenital
deformity at birth, neurological conditions
of the spinal cord and brain, or nerve and
muscle diseases.
Through growing research, the cause of
scoliosis is guessed to be multi-faceted and
most likely includes:
Genetics - Research at
the Medical Genetics Institute at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center suggests up
to a 35% inherited trait from families.
Nutritional
deficiencies - There is a
tremendous growing body of evidence
linking deficiency of Vitamin C, D, K,
calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and
zinc in our food sources as key
ingredients to the onset of scoliosis
due to poor bone development and growth.
Check out the website
https://www.westonaprice.org to
understand the concept of “borrowing”
from the skeleton to understand this.
Hormone imbalances -
Research has shown strong links to low
estrogen levels, delayed puberty and low
body weight in children and teens with
some showing a 7:1 ratio of female:male.
Muscle and nerve issues
(Neuromuscular Dysfunction) - Usually
related to aging or degenerative spine
changes and diagnosed in later life with
a very significant correlation of
scoliosis with osteoporosis.
How is
Scoliosis Diagnosed?
What
is obvious from the research is that
effective treatment is based on timely
detection and appropriate intervention.
For many decades, children were screened
in middle school for this condition. As
budgets have hit school systems and
home-schooling has gained popularity,
many children and teenagers are not
being screened. In fact, screening is
now only required in 26 U.S.
states!
Our
fast-food proclivity has continued to
grow over the decades and are we are not
diagnosing scoliosis early in children
but more children are at risk for
scoliosis due to inadequate
nutrition!
If
you know a child, don’t be afraid to
screen them. You don’t need to be a
healthcare provider. The video below
shows two very common ways to screen for
scoliosis:
Scoliosis is defined as a three-dimensional
curve of the spine. This video will instruct on
two very good standardized screens to help rule
in or out if someone needs further evaluation
for scoliosis.
If
screening shows an individual may have
scoliosis, the most accurate method of
diagnosing is an x-ray (also called
radiographs). However, there is an
increased risk of cancer associated with
radiation from repeated x-rays. The FDA
has published a list of techniques that
can be used to reduce unnecessary
radiation exposure in patients with
scoliosis (https://www.fda.gov/Radiation-EmittingProducts/ResourcesforYouRadiationEmittingProducts/default.htm).
So, if you have a friend or a loved one,
please share with them these
alternatives.
How is
Scoliosis Treated?
There
is no “standard of care” for treating
scoliosis. Most modern Western medicine
uses a “wait and see” approach to
treatment which is the opposite of
intervention. Conservative treatment
includes nutritional counseling,
physical therapy, bracing, yoga,
pilates, massage and medication (if pain
is an issue)…all in hopes to prevent
progression of the scoliotic curves and
surgical intervention!
The bottom line is that treating
scoliosis must begin with nutrition!
Hippocrates quotes: “leave your drugs in
the chemist’s pot if you can heal the
patient with food”. Dietary nutrients
must be tailored to the individual’s
needs, because what works best for one
person may be poison for another. A
great resource to find a registered
dietician to help with this is the
following website: https://www.eatright.org/find-an-expert.
When it comes to all the physical
modalities of treatment for scoliosis:
One sure thing is that anyone with
scoliosis needs exercise! A
meta-analysis (a combination of many
studies) in 2010 by the researcher
Negrini confirmed the efficacy of
exercise in reducing the progression
rate of scoliosis. Regular
weight-bearing exercise is necessary to
stimulate the building and retention of
bone mass and is recommended for 30-60
minutes 3x/week. Scoliosis-specific
exercises are movements performed in
order to counteract the scoliotic 3-D
curves and are necessary to improve the
strength and flexibility of the
imbalanced trunk muscles. Below are two
educational videos that incorporate
physical therapy and yoga to help with
understanding that what one side of the
body needs lengthened will be different
than the needs of the opposite side of
the body. Please enjoy!
Yoga for scoliosis can be controversial due to
the fact that traditional yoga classes tend to
treat the left and the right sides of the body
equally. With scoliosis, the body balances
itself three dimensionally but in doing so,
creates tensions that are different on one side
of the body compared to the other. The balance
the body performs for each person is varied but
this video with educate and instruct on how to
do find length in the muscles related to the
most common presentation of idiopathic
scoliosis.
A short video to perform gentle stretching to
improve alignment of the common idiopathic
scoliosis restrictions through the L rib cage
and R pelvis while sitting in a chair. These two
stretches can be done anywhere to allow
improvements in mobility or decrease
pain/tightness.
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Therapy!
Please
join me any Tuesday or Thursday @ 10am
at Dance Theatre of Greenville located
at 1791 Woodruff Road, Greenville, SC
29607 for a Therapeutic Yoga
class.
