I Want to Do Everything I Can for My Child’s Scoliosis

Parenting is an interesting and often complicated endeavor. Having two daughters of my own I have experienced this feeling of wanting to do more for them. As far as health is concerned I don’t think many parents would disagree that you would do anything including sacrificing your own self for your children to be healthy. As a clinician who primarily works with adolescents with scoliosis deformity it is apparent that parents of children with scoliosis often feel helpless or at least confused as to the proper course of action when their child is diagnosed with idiopathic scoliosis, “idiopathic” simply means without a known cause.

I think the biggest problem with a diagnosis of idiopathic scoliosis comes from the initial stages where a doctor will recommend you do nothing. Unfortunately we haven’t learned a great deal from the past because scoliosis is one of the few rare instances where a condition that progressively worsens with growth of the child is treated with a hands off approach in the hopes that the scoliosis will not get worse. This is standard practice for a couple of reasons, the first being the medical profession has nothing to offer at this stage of the game, and second statistically some children don’t get worse but still have the scoliosis. I have seen hundreds of children with mild scoliosis of 25 degrees or less and even though it is below the medical professions treatment threshold there are noticeable cosmetic changes and documented future musculoskeletal complications with aging. So even if your child is diagnosed with mild scoliosis below the medical treatment threshold that is non progressive, it certainly does not mean that it won’t come with consequences both emotionally and physically.

The next problem comes when the child’s scoliosis does progressively worsen with growth stage two “moderate scoliosis” defined as treatable but not to the point where a surgeon would enter the picture. Now that it has in fact gotten worse the doctor offers the only so called legitimate treatment option for idiopathic scoliosis in stage two, that’s correct, the old scoliosis brace treatment recommendation. Now what parent in the world that would give their life for their child wants to have their 12 or 13 year old son or daughter walk around the halls of their school wearing a body cast because of their crooked back? We all want to do everything we can but this is nearly unbelievable that we can have a cell phone with more technology in it than a World War II battleship but the same ugly rigid external scoliosis brace is still placed on thousands of children annually.

The vast majority of parents will in fact go with the flow and bury their heads in the sand placing their complete trust in the orthopedic community. I’m not quite certain why maybe because of their elite medical status, enormous educational background, and factual approach of telling the truth about the options for our children. I sincerely don’t have any argument with this trust level because if it were my child and I did not look outside of the proverbial “medical box” I would do exactly the same thing, especially

with both of my parents being involved in the medical healthcare field my father a surgeon and mother a nurse.

So where does that leave a parent whose child has been diagnosed with mild or moderate levels of scoliosis? It leaves you with a choice to look beyond what you are told and to search for more answers, for new theory, for new technology which may not seem valid and may lack the prestige of the orthopedic community but may provide a successful alternative to the above choices of doing nothing in mild cases and scoliosis brace treatment for moderate scoliosis.

The paradigm shift must start at the onset of diagnosis it must start with changing your sense of urgency. There seems to be a sense of complacency in the beginning stages of scoliosis diagnosis. The hands off mentality is simply based on a false sense of optimism that your child’s scoliosis will not get worse and if in fact it does not get worse that it has no significant impact on your child’s future health. Even mild scoliosis has future consequences and most small curves become larger curves so you need to shake this complacency and become proactive with an early organized attack plan.

I would recommend the early stage scoliosis intervention program and here’s why. The program is highly proactive and organized. It involves an accurate measurement of your child’s spine, not just the middle part that’s crooked, but the entire spine head to pelvis. This is extremely important because the middle of the spine is heavily influenced by the head and pelvis and often through influencing these two structures gravitational alignment many cases of mild scoliosis are completely resolved. Detailed postural assessment is performed allowing for a better exercise protocol to be developed and measured. They use a highly advanced neuromuscular reeducation program which is performed with ease by any child and requires no supervision or motivation because it is fun and requires zero conscious effort from your child. The scoliscore genetic test is performed to categorize your child’s progression risk which aids in developing a customized treatment and evaluation schedule. As you can see there is no other program like it and it will give you the peace of mind that you are doing everything possible to halt progression and reduce the existing curvature.

About the Author:

Treating Scoliosis.com offers alternatives to scoliosis surgery when treating scoliosis of the spine in adults and children. For more information on exercises for scoliosis please visit http://www.treatingscoliosis.com.