Common Conditions
Scoliosis
Scoliosis without doubt is a word that rings fear into the ears of anyone.
Unfortunately though it is not well understood by the general public and therefore sounds scary. It is basically curvature of the spine when looked at from behind someone. It can range from a slight curvature where you never knew you had it to large s bend curves that cause discomfort, pain and even limitations such as decreased lung capacity, difficulty in bending and cosmetically a little skewed.
Scoliosis cases are seen in children from as young as 3 years old to the elderly. Most scoliosis cases are idiopathic which means “no known cause”. Other cause can be secondary (which usually can develop from osteoarthritic growth or degeneration due to an injury), paralytic (resulting from a spinal cord injury) and myelopathic (conditions which cause an imbalance in muscles on either side of the spine).
Although traditionally a scoliosis was only treated if it was causing visual disturbances, chiropractic treatment revolves around the thought that even minor degrees of distortion should be considered at the time of spinal analysis. This is because of their subtle biomechanical and neurologic consequences which if untreated could progress. It then becomes important to halt potential progression at an early stage as adult idiopathic scoliosis may lead to joint degeneration and chronic inflammation of supporting soft tissue. This degeneration may arise as a result of the imbalance of weight through the spinal joints causing changes in normal joint mobility and function. In addition to these symptoms it has been proven that longstanding adult idiopathic scoliosis has been linked to lower back pain.
Naturally if you are concerned about your spine or experience lower back discomfort knowing that you have a scoliosis, make sure to book yourself in to have a professional spinal analysis performed by Dr Raffi at Health Focus Centre.
Sunghak Byun, PhD and Dongwook Han, PhD, PT, The Effect of Chiropractic Techniques on the Cobb Angle in Idiopathic Scoliosis Arising in Adolescence: J Phys Ther Sci. 2016 (Apr); 28 (4): 1106–1110
Jean Théroux, Prevalence of low back pain in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis: a systematic review: Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 201725:10
