Scoliosis is a debilitating condition that can make it difficult to carry out even the simplest of tasks. Fortunately, there is a range of treatments available that can help alleviate your pain and improve your quality of life. This article will explore the various scoliosis back pain treatments available in San Francisco and explain how partnering with an expert chiropractor could be your ultimate long-term solution.
A Brief Overview of Scoliosis
Scoliosis is a condition in which the spine curves unnaturally, forming a C- or S-shaped deviation of over 10 degrees. While scoliosis can occur in any part of the spine, it most commonly occurs in the upper and lower back. The severity of scoliosis can vary—some people may experience mild curvatures that don’t require treatment, while others have severe deformities affecting mobility and quality of life.
Despite being a relatively common condition, with an estimated 2-3% of the general population affected, scoliosis is still not fully understood. More than 80% of the time, there is no obvious trigger that causes scoliosis. This type of scoliosis is known as idiopathic and is thought to have a genetic component.
Symptoms of scoliosis include:
- Pain in the back, neck, hips, knees, feet, and joints
- Difficulty sitting or standing for long periods
- Leaning to one side
- Numbness, weakness, or tingling in the legs and feet
- Breathing difficulties
- One shoulder blade is higher than the other
- Digestion issues
- Frozen shoulder syndrome
Untreated scoliosis can severely impact your ability to engage in daily tasks and recreational activities that many San Franciscans enjoy, such as hiking, swimming, cycling, and yoga. However, there are a variety of treatments that can relieve your pain and prevent your scoliosis from progressing.
Scoliosis Back Pain Treatment: What Are My Options?
While the effectiveness of scoliosis back pain treatments depends on the scoliosis severity, the age of the patient, and the type of treatment used, in general, the best results will come from early detection. This allows the progression of scoliosis to be slowed or prevented altogether before too much spinal degeneration occurs.
Some of the best options for the treatment of scoliosis include:
| Scoliosis Back Pain Treatment Options | |
|---|---|
| Chiropractic Care | Chiropractic care is a popular treatment option for back pain caused by scoliosis. Chiropractic adjustments and other manual treatments can assist to restore spinal alignment and reduce inflammation, resulting in less pain and more mobility. |
| Physical Therapy | Physical therapy exercises are another effective treatment option that can help to strengthen the muscles surrounding the spine and improve flexibility. This can help reduce pain and improve function, making daily activities easier to accomplish. |
| Bracing | In some cases, bracing may be recommended to help alleviate pain and prevent further curvature of the spine. This treatment involves wearing a brace for a specific amount of time each day to help correct spinal alignment. However, traditional bracing only stabilizes the scoliotic curve. More advanced braces such as ScoliBrace® push the specific spinal curvatures back to center rather than stabilizing the spine, resetting the curvature. |
| Surgery | When other treatments have been ineffective, surgery may be necessary to correct the curvature of the spine and alleviate pain. Luckily, this is typically a last-resort option and is only recommended for severe cases. |
While scoliosis treatment can be effective, it’s important to have your scoliosis detected and addressed as early as possible. There are a few reasons for this:
- Early detection and treatment can prevent the curvature of the spine from getting worse. Scoliosis tends to become worse over time as the spine and the muscles and ligaments that hold it together become weaker and deteriorate. This can worsen symptoms and increase the risk of complications, such as breathing issues.
- Early treatment improves the efficacy of treatment options. For example, bracing is most effective when used before the scoliotic curve has progressed to more severe degrees of curvature.
- Scoliosis can have negative effects on your emotional and mental well-being. The deformity can often cause issues with self-esteem and also impact your quality of life by preventing you from taking part in your favorite hobbies and activities.
- Delaying treatment of your scoliosis can lead to the need for more intensive treatments later on. You don’t want to be told that your only option is to undergo painful and expensive surgery when more holistic options could have been taken to prevent it.
Luckily, chiropractors can help you detect scoliosis early, and they’re also equipped to provide some of the most effective scoliosis back pain treatment options.
How a Chiropractor Helps With Scoliosis
Chiropractors are musculoskeletal and neuromuscular experts with a vast knowledge of the entire body. That means that the tools and techniques at their disposal can provide an effective first-line of treatment for scoliosis, regardless of how it is uniquely affecting your body.
Effective chiropractic care for scoliosis includes an array of non-invasive techniques, such as the following:
| Chiropractic Treatments for Scoliosis Back Pain | ||
|---|---|---|
| Treatment | What It Does | Effects |
| Postural Exercises | Exercises that aim to strengthen the muscles around the spine, improving balance and maintaining the natural curve of the spine | Provides a long-term solution to underlying causes or triggers of scoliosis back pain by granting greater stability and more evenly distributing weight along the spine, preventing deterioration |
| Neuromuscular Education | A procedure that retrains the nerve links between the brain and soft tissue, restoring the body’s normal movement patterns | Provides a long-term solution to scoliosis by training the body to unconsciously hold better posture, preventing scoliosis from progressing |
| Spinal Traction | A procedure that extends and aligns the spine, assisting in reducing the curvature of the spine | Directly addresses the unnatural curvature of the spine, relieving pain and restoring the spine’s natural curvature |
| Bracing | Braces support the spine’s unnatural curve, which can delay the development of scoliosis. “Over-corrective” braces such as ScoliBrace® provide even more powerful results. | Directly combats the progression of scoliosis by preventing the spine from moving out of position, with more advanced braces pushing the spine back into position |
| Chiropractic Adjustments | A procedure that manually adjusts the problematic areas of the vertebrae to improve mobility and range of motion, while reducing pain, inflammation, and other unpleasant symptoms | Provides immediate scoliosis pain relief by reducing inflammation. Also improves the body’s response to other treatment options with an expanded range of motion and mobility afforded to the spine |
Chiropractic care for scoliosis can be effective; however, since scoliosis and its effects vary from person to person, customized treatment plans that address individual needs tend to yield the most effective relief. Therefore, if you are seeking treatment for scoliosis or suspect that you may have it, it is important to choose a chiropractor who can identify the underlying cause(s) of your condition.
PostureWorks Provides The Best Scoliosis Treatment Options
At PostureWorks, we are committed to using the latest technologies and techniques to provide our patients with the most effective scoliosis back pain treatments available. That’s why we use Chiropractic BioPhysics® to create customized treatment plans based on each patient’s specific needs. We begin with a series of spinal and postural biometric readings to pinpoint the source of your scoliosis, finishing with a treatment plan that combines chiropractic adjustments, postural exercises, neuromuscular reeducation, spinal alignment traction, and in some cases, bracing, to get you back into the activities that you love.
Contact us today for information on the best scoliosis back pain treatment or to schedule your appointment with PostureWorks in San Francisco, CA.
Chiropractic BioPhysics®, or CBP, is a deeply researched and results-oriented corrective care technique. CBP-trained chiropractors aim to realign the spine back to health and optimal function. As with all chiropractic care, CBP is conservative, painless, and non-invasive.
