How Does Scoliosis Affect Your Organs? Explained

The effects of scoliosis increase alongside progression; the best way to prevent organ involvement is a customized and proactive treatment plan. Organ involvement isn’t considered a primary effect of scoliosis and is most common in cases of severe thoracic scoliosis and/or untreated scoliosis.

Scoliosis mainly affects the spine and its immediate surroundings, but when severe and/or if left untreated, complications can develop that include organ involvement. In severe cases, the lungs, heart, and a number of digestive organs can be affected by a loss of space within the thoracic cage and compression.

Scoliosis affects the body in different ways. No two cases are the same, which is why treatment plans need to be individualized.

Scoliosis Effects

Scoliosis effects can involve the entire body, but they don’t have to. While there are no treatment guarantees, scoliosis can be highly treatable, particularly with early detection and intervention.

As a progressive spinal condition, where a patient’s scoliosis severity is at the time of diagnosis doesn’t mean that’s where it will stay; in fact, most cases of scoliosis will get worse over time, and a misaligned spine means the entire body is off balance.

Growth spurts are the main cause of progression in children, and in older adults, age-related spinal degeneration can trigger curve progression through increasing instability.

Minimizing the potential effects of scoliosis is a goal of nonsurgical scoliosis treatment. Here at the Scoliosis Center of Utah, we work towards preventing progression, increasing effects, and the need for invasive future surgical treatment.

When it comes to scoliosis affecting organ function, this isn’t a common effect of mild and moderate scoliosis, but it is associated with severe scoliosis and scoliosis that’s left untreated.

As there are so many variables that shape a patient’s scoliosis symptoms; let’s explore which characteristics are most closely associated with organ involvement.

Severe Scoliosis

For patients diagnosed with mild or moderate scoliosis, a goal of treatment is preventing progression into the severe and very severe classifications, and severity is largely based on curve size.

A diagnosis of mild scoliosis involves a small curve that’s simpler to correct, and because significant progression hasn’t occurred, the effects of scoliosis are also mild, with more potential for correction.

In cases of mild and moderate scoliosis, the spine is still flexible and is more likely to respond well to treatment.

When scoliosis is severe, a larger curve is involved, along with more rotation in the spine, and spinal rigidity increases as progression is occurring, making the spine less responsive to treatment and a common cause of scoliosis back pain.

Severe scoliosis may receive a surgical recommendation and can develop complications such as organ involvement.

Severe Thoracic Scoliosis

Scoliosis can affect any spinal section, and the thoracic spine is the largest spinal section.

Thoracic scoliosis is the most closely associated with disruptions to organ function due to the thoracic spine attaching to the rib cage and forming the thoracic cage; a role of the thoracic spine and cage is to protect important organs within.

If the thoracic spine is curving to the side and rotating unnaturally, it can pull on one side of the rib cage, causing compression and a loss of space within the thoracic cage.

Compression is excessive and/or uneven pressure.

The more rotation there is, and the more rapidly scoliosis progresses, the more likely it is that organs will be affected, including the lungs, the heart, and a number of digestive organs.

Lung Function

Scoliosis can affect lung function by causing a loss of space within the chest for them to function optimally within.

The spine’s changing position and rotation can affect the rib cage and compress the lungs, potentially causing issues with deep inhalations and exhalations.

Most cases of lung impairment involve cases of severe adult scoliosis, and even in these cases, disruptions to lung function are more likely to be noticed by an athlete or a patient who places higher-than-average demands on their respiratory system.

Severe postural changes can affect the organs, including the lungs and heart.

Cardiac Function

If the lungs are affected, the heart can also be impacted. Cardiac health can be disrupted by a loss of space within the chest, restricting the heart.

Compression can also alter the heart’s structure.

Severe curves can cause complications such as pulmonary hypertension, and most scoliosis-related changes to heart function are associated with cases of very severe thoracic scoliosis.

Cases of severe and/or untreated scoliosis that impact cardiac function place patients at a higher risk of a major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE).

Digestive System

Digestive issues  also aren’t considered a common effect of mild and moderate cases of scoliosis, but can develop in severe cases.

Scoliosis can affect a number of digestive organs through compression, nerve involvement, and shortening torso length.

The spine’s unnatural curve and rotation can compress the stomach, esophagus, and intestines with the potential to cause acid reflux, feeling full, and nausea.

The spinal cord contains 31 pairs of spinal nerves that are involved in a number of systems, including the digestive system; if nerve compression is occurring, nerves involved in digestion can slow the system down.

Severe spinal curves cause the torso to lose length, restricting the space available to digestive organs; constipation is a common effect.

Disruptions to the digestive system aren’t common, particularly when a proactive treatment plan is in place, but can develop in cases of severe and very severe adult thoracic scoliosis.

Adults are more vulnerable to compression-related complications because scoliosis becomes a compressive condition once the skeletal system is no longer developing and growing.

Conclusion

Scoliosis can affect the organs through compression, nerve involvement, and structural changes.

It’s important to understand, however, that organ involvement is more closely associated with severe cases of thoracic scoliosis and/or when conditions are left untreated.

Leaving scoliosis untreated can mean allowing scoliosis curves to progress unimpeded, and as complications develop, they become harder to improve and/or reverse, hence the benefit of diagnosing and treating scoliosis early.

Here at the Center, patients benefit from a customized and proactive nonsurgical treatment approach that works towards preventing complications such as lung, heart, and digestive system issues.

While there are never treatment guarantees, when treated proactively, scoliosis can be highly treatable, and many potential complications, along with the need for surgical intervention, may be avoidable.

The best way to minimize the potential effects of scoliosis, including postural changes, back pain, nerve pain, and organ involvement, is to treat it proactively through a combination of scoliosis specific chiropractic care, a customized scoliosis-specific rehabilitative exercise plan, and corrective bracing.

Treatment options can work towards reducing the size and rotation of the unnatural spinal curve so compression is improved, taking pressure off the spine and its immediate surroundings.

Postural restoration is another key focus of nonsurgical treatment; postural health and spinal health are closely connected, and improving one will always impact the other.

Because scoliosis is progressive, regardless of severity, the best time to start proactively addressing the condition is always now, not after significant progression has occurred making the spine less responsive and the condition’s effects more complex and established.