Can Chiropractic Help Scoliosis? Key Benefits Explained

Following a diagnosis of scoliosis, the most important decision a patient has to make is how to treat the scoliosis moving forward. As a progressive condition triggered by growth, how scoliosis is managed during periods of rapid growth is key. When chiropractic treatment is scoliosis-specific and combined with other types of treatment, it has corrective potential.

No two cases of scoliosis are the same, necessitating the customization of treatment plans, and when it comes to corrective potential, chiropractic treatment has to be scoliosis-specific. Here at the Scoliosis Center of Utah, we offer what few chiropractors can: the highly-specialized Chiropractic BioPhysics®.

Because of the progressive nature of scoliosis, treatment has to be proactive and ongoing.

What is Scoliosis?

Scoliosis is a highly-prevalent spinal condition. Current estimates have close to seven million people living with scoliosis in the United States alone, and it’s the leading spinal condition among children.

Scoliosis causes the spine to curve unnaturally to the side and rotate, and its progressive nature makes it more severe over time.

Scoliosis affects all ages, but is most commonly diagnosed in children, and as progressive is triggered by growth, adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients are the most at risk for rapid advancement due to puberty.

There are a number of treatment options for scoliosis, including conservative nonsurgical treatment and traditional spinal fusion surgery.

How scoliosis is addressed will shape the spine’s long-term health, function, and a patient’s quality of life, so patients need to be aware of all treatment options available, including the power of scoliosis-specific chiropractic treatment.

Chiropractic Treatment for Scoliosis

Just as there is a significant difference between addressing the symptoms of scoliosis, and the scoliosis itself, there is an equally-important distinction to be made between general chiropractic treatment and scoliosis-specific chiropractic treatment.

Scoliosis is a complex condition. Not only does it range widely in severity from mild scoliosis to very severe scoliosis, there are different types with distinct causes, curvature patterns and locations, and its rotation makes it a structural 3-dimensional spinal condition.

Scoliosis can cause a number of symptoms from postural changes to mobility challenges, pain, and in severe cases, neurological issues.

While general chiropractic treatment can help improve the spine’s overall flexibility for short-term pain relief, when it comes to the corrective potential of spinal manipulation, and a number of other chiropractic techniques, it has to be scoliosis-specific.

General chiropractic treatment is more about addressing the symptoms of scoliosis than offering corrective potential.

Scoliosis-specific chiropractic adjustments and treatment can work towards increasing the spine’s flexibility and improving its alignment, balance, and stability, and when the potential of scoliosis-specific chiropractic adjustments are combined with other facets of treatment, the scope of nonsurgical treatment widens.

Chiropractic BioPhysics®

Here at the Scoliosis Center of Utah, patients benefit from what only 1 percent of the world’s chiropractors can offer: Chiropractic BioPhysics® (CBP).

CBP applies the principles of anatomy, physics, geometry, and biology to diagnosing and addressing issues related to loss of mobility, spinal alignment, and pain.

No other chiropractic modality is as comprehensive as CBP and applies as many proven chiropractic techniques to restore spinal alignment and body posture.

Poor posture can cause discomfort, pain, a strained spine, and a number of health issues; spinal health and body posture are closely linked.

When a patient comes into the Center complaining of back pain, a movement, strength, and postural assessment is needed; I can tell a lot about a patient’s spinal health by how they move and position their body.

Chiropractic BioPhysics® has the goal of restoring the spine’s alignment by improving its position and reducing the size of the scoliosis. By improving the spine’s alignment, its balance and stability are improved, but chiropractic care alone isn’t enough because a scoliotic spine needs more support

Improving the position of the curve’s most-tilted vertebrae at its apex can reduce the size of the scoliosis by improving their alignment with the rest of the spine, but the spine’s alignment and healthy curves need to be supported by strong and balanced muscles, and Chiropractic BioPhysics® is an adjunctive treatment combined with the power of scoliosis-specific rehabilitative exercise.

ScoliBalance®

ScoliBalance® combines the power of scoliosis-specific chiropractic care and corrective exercise.

The use of Mirror Image exercise is established as a focus of SEAS (Scientific Exercise Approach to Scoliosis) key as this can help educate patients through postural awareness. Each ScoliBalance® treatment plan is fully customized around the specifics of a patient’s scoliosis, ability, symptoms, posture, and curve type.

When combined with the power of CBP, corrective exercises performed in front of a mirror under guidance can teach patients how to position their spines and bodies during movement to best counteract the spine’s unnatural curve and rotation.

Scoliosis-specific exercise is also applied to improve the spine’s surrounding muscle strength, endurance, and balance.

A common effect of scoliosis is muscular imbalance caused by the spine’s unnatural curve and twist pulling its surrounding muscles in different directions. If the muscles on one side of the spine have to work harder to counteract the spine’s unnatural pull, the muscles on the other side can become weak from lack of use; this type of imbalance can exacerbate the condition’s asymmetrical effects, and the lack of balanced spinal support can contribute to further misalignment and progression.

While CBP and individualized scoliosis-specific exercise programs are working towards restoring balance and spinal alignment, and corrective bracing is introduced, further correction may be possible.

ScoliBrace®

Scoliosis bracing is a valuable facet of nonsurgical scoliosis treatment, and as growing spines are more flexible and malleable, it’s often at the center of childhood scoliosis treatment plans.

The ScoliBrace® is a modern corrective brace that uses spinal coupling to push the spine into a corrective position, and because the ScoliBrace® is designed with movement in mind, unlike traditional scoliosis braces, it complements scoliosis-specific chiropractic care and rehabilitative exercise programs.

So when it comes to scoliosis treatment, there are no guarantees, but early detection and intervention with a proactive nonsurgical treatment plan can make scoliosis highly treatable.

Conclusion

Can a chiropractor help scoliosis? Yes, a chiropractor can help scoliosis patients, but it’s important to understand the difference between general chiropractic care which more so addresses the symptoms of scoliosis, and scoliosis-specific chiropractic care, that targets the condition’s underlying structural nature.

Chiropractic BioPhysics® involves the application of a number of scientific disciplines to diagnosing and treating mobility issues, pain, and discomfort, through improving the spine’s alignment and balance.

While Chiropractic BioPhysics® is a powerful and all-encompassing branch of chiropractic, the complexity of scoliosis necessitates an integrative treatment approach, which is where ScoliBalance® and ScoliBrace® come in.

While customized chiropractic adjustments focus on improving the alignment of the curve’s most-tilted vertebrae with the rest of the spine, customized scoliosis-specific exercise targets the spine’s surrounding muscle strength, endurance, and balance.

Corrective scoliosis bracing offers 3D correction, and because each ScoliBrace® is designed around an individual’s specific body type and curve type, compliance and successful treatment outcomes are more likely.