Decompression for Scoliosis: Effective Relief Options

Spinal decompression is a type of nonsurgical traction therapy that stretches the spine and can have a number of benefits. When it comes to addressing scoliosis, it’s important to understand that decompression therapy alone isn’t a corrective treatment option.

Decompressing the spine can help with a number of issues/conditions including relieving compression for pain relief, improved nerve health/function, and improving disc health. Decompression for scoliosis can help relieve pain and increase spinal flexibility: potentially make the spine more responsive to treatment.

Although decompression therapy alone can’t address scoliosis, it can offer potential spinal-health and treatment-efficacy benefits.

How Does Scoliosis Affect the Spine?

Scoliosis causes the spine to bend unnaturally to the side and rotate, and as a 3-dimensional condition, treatment has to address it as such.

Scoliosis is also a progressive spinal condition, so its nature is to become more severe over time.

We don’t know what triggers the initial onset of most scoliosis cases, but we know it’s growth that makes it progress.

Progression means the size and rotation of the unnatural spinal curve is increasing, and the more progression occurs, the more complex it can be treat.

In addition, as the size of the unnatural spinal curve is increasing, the spine is becoming increasingly rigid, less responsive to treatment, and the effects of scoliosis are becoming more established.

Scoliosis Needs Proactive Treatment

There are two main ways to treat scoliosis: with a surgical or nonsurgical treatment plan.

Scoliosis surgery is a type of spinal fusion, and while the procedure can straighten the spine, maintain its position, and slow/stop progression, there are no guarantees, and this isn’t the same as correcting the scoliosis: the goal of nonsurgical treatment.

There is also a lot of watching and waiting with a traditional surgical approach, and as growth triggers progression, children in particular are at risk for rapid advancement, and nonsurgical treatment is proactive and works towards preventing progression.

A spine that’s fused is fused for life and can make it weaker and less flexible. If surgery fails for any reason, the only option is more surgical treatments, with increasing risks each time.

Nonsurgical treatment modalities such as scoliosis-specific chiropractic care, exercise, and corrective bracing work towards preserving the spine’s natural movement and strength, and the sooner treatment is started, the more likely a successful outcome is.

So scoliosis affects the spine by causing it to bend and twist unnaturally, and the spine’s healthy curves facilitate spinal strength, flexibility, and its ability to absorb and distribute mechanical stress incurred during daily activity.

A loss of the spine’s healthy curves means the spine is no longer in alignment, and as one of the roles of the spine is to facilitate healthy posture and movement patterns, asymmetrical posture and disruptions to balance, coordination, and gait are common symptoms of scoliosis in children.

In adults for whom scoliosis is compressive, pain is the most common symptom.

The condition’s progressive nature and increasing uneven forces can further disrupt the health of the spine, its surroundings, and the entire body, and the longer scoliosis is left untreated, the more severe it’s likely to become.

Now that we’ve talked generally about how scoliosis affects the health of the spine, let’s address the potential benefits of spinal decompression for scoliosis patients.

Spinal Decompression Therapy Benefits

Spinal decompression therapy means stretching the spine. Elongating the spine can have a number of benefits, particularly for people dealing with back pain related to spinal rigidity or issues related to disc health.

In most cases, a computerized traction table is used to gently stretch the spine and create space within to relieve pressure, inflammation, and pain.

The spine is one long structure that can be divided into three main sections: the cervical spine, thoracic spine, and the lumbar spine. The health of each section is shaped by the health of the others.

The spine’s vertebral bodies (bones) are stacked on top of one another, and adjacent vertebrae are separated by an intervertebral disc, and disc health can shape overall spinal health.

Degenerative disc disease can be a contributing factor in a number of spinal issues/conditions, and a desiccated, bulging, and/or herniated disc can be painful and disruptive.

Improving Disc Health and Function

The health of the spinal discs are key to overall spinal health as they perform a number of key functions: providing cushioning to prevent friction, acting as the spine’s shock absorbers, providing structural support, and combining forces to maintain spinal flexibility.

The discs are also the largest structures in the body without their own vascular supply, so disc damage and degeneration can be difficult to heal from.

A potential benefit of decompression therapy is that stretching the spine relieves pressure on a damaged and/or degenerating disc, and as deep stretching also increases circulation in the area, this means nutrients needed for repair are more readily available to discs, through a process similar to osmosis.

Nerve Compression Relief

The individual structures and parts of the spine, and the spinal cord within, need space to function, and as scoliosis causes the spine to bend and rotate unnaturally, it exposes the spine and its surroundings to uneven forces.

Compression is uneven pressure, and in patients who are no longer growing, scoliosis is a compressive condition.

If a disc and/or spinal nerve is being compressed, it can cause pain, a number of sensations, weakness, and functional deficits; relieving pressure can relieve pain and improve an affected nerve’s function.

Nerve compression can also cause widespread effects. Nerves have extensive pathways, and when exposed to uneven pressure, symptoms can be felt anywhere along that pathway, sometimes far from the site of compression.

For example, a common complication of lumbar scoliosis is sciatic nerve pain. The sciatic nerve starts in the lower back and extends into the foot, so if the lumbar spine is curved and rotates unnaturally, the sciatic nerve can become compressed, impinged, and irritated, potentially causing pain and discomfort throughout the lower body.

Improving Spinal Flexibility

A spine that’s stiff and rigid is one that’s likely to cause back pain, and particularly when it comes to scoliosis, increasing spinal rigidity due to progression is a challenge of treatment.

The more rigid a spine is, the less malleable it is, and the less responsive it’s going to be to nonsurgical treatment modalities such as scoliosis-specific chiropractic care, exercise-based treatment programs, and corrective 3D bracing.

In some cases, when deemed appropriate by a patient’s treatment provider, decompression therapy may be recommended to stretch and strengthen the spine and core muscles, while gently increasing the spine’s flexibility.

A spine that’s stretched and flexible is more likely to respond well to treatment, and gentle therapeutic stretching is also known to provide short-term back pain relief.

So elongating the spine via a computerized traction table may help with the following issues:

• Degenerative disc disease
• Disc desiccation
• Bulging disc(s)
• Disc herniation
• Joint immobility
• Back pain
• Nerve compression
• Spinal rigidity

While decompression alone can’t address the spine’s misalignment and counteract the progressive nature of scoliosis, when combined with a proactive nonsurgical treatment plan, it can offer some therapeutic benefits.

Conclusion

Decompression therapy for general spinal health can help with back pain, spinal rigidity, and maintaining disc health.

Decompression therapy for scoliosis can’t treat the condition, but it can provide therapeutic benefits of pain relief, increasing spinal flexibility, improving disc health and function, and increasing the spine’s potential responsiveness to nonsurgical treatment modalities.

Scoliosis-specific chiropractic care can involve a number of techniques including manual adjustments and decompression therapy, and while there are no treatment guarantees, when combined with the potential of a scoliosis-specific exercise program and 3D corrective bracing, the potential for treatment success increases.

Here at the Scoliosis Center of Utah, we focus on the potential of nonsurgical treatment plans to restore the spine’s balance and stability through improving the body’s 3D posture and spinal alignment.