Avoid these mistakes when treating scoliosis

The days and weeks following the diagnosis of idiopathic scoliosis are often some of the most confusing and anxiety driven times in the lives of parents and patients alike. The uncertainty and unknown aspects of the condition are compounded with the complete lack of guidance and instructions most parents receive in regards to pro-active treatment options.

Virtually every Orthopedic scoliosis specialists recommends “observation only” or “watch & wait” scoliosis treatment in hopes that the scoliosis spine will self correct, despite the new knowledge that 25% of all scoliosis patients are a genetically pre-disposed to developing a severe scoliosis spine.

Most parents of children with scoliosis are dis-satisfied with this “re-active” approach to scoliosis treatment and hope to find a non-invasive, pro-active, rehabilitation based scoliosis treatment approach that doesn’t dominate their son or daughter’s entire childhood.

As with most things in life, how you start often has a major impact on how you end up, so with that in mind, here are a couple of tips that can help you avoid the most common pitfalls and mistakes parents often make when beginning the scoliosis treatment process.

• Be pro-active. Early stage scoliosis intervention that targets the “re-training” of the automatic postural control centers in the brain through scoliosis specific rehabilitation is the single most important thing a patient can do prior to experiencing severe scoliosis spine progression. Keep in mind that all large scoliosis spine curves started out as small scoliosis spine curves.

• Get your child Scoliscore genetically tested. Idiopathic scoliosis is a multi-factorial condition made up of both genetic pre-disposition and environmental

influences, so determining the patient’s genetic risk for severe scoliosis spine progression is of vital importance and can help guide the scoliosis treatment decision making process with vastly more certainty.

• Don’t rely on Cobb angles. Cobb angles are merely a measure of the amount of lateral bending in the scoliosis spine and provide very little actual information about how to treat the scoliosis spine curve itself. In addition to being very inaccurate, they are often un-reproducible and often drawn incorrectly. There are many, many different ways to measure and determine the signs and symptoms of scoliosis and scoliosis treatment should not be solely based off Cobb angle measurements.

Idiopathic scoliosis is a vastly complex condition and even the “experts” aren’t experts, because so much about the condition remains unknown. With that being said, parents and patients can be best served by applying some basic rules of common sense (pro-active treatment is better than reactive treatment), employing the newest prognostic testing (Scoliscore), and utilizing the most recent advancements in scoliosis rehabilitation technology.

About the Author:

Treating Scoliosis.com offers alternatives to scoliosis surgery when treating scoliosis of the spine in adults and children. Visit http://www.treatingscoliosis.com for more information on non-invasive scoliosis treatment plans.