Scoliosis Treatment in Missouri City, TX

Comprehensive Consultation and Exam

Your care will start by meeting with a doctor to discuss your unique situation, any negative health effects you’re experiencing, and your goals for care. We’ll conduct a detailed examination and take any necessary spinal images to determine your scoliosis’s exact location, degree, and severity.

Digital X-rays

A picture is worth 1000 words. X-rays are critical to helping us identify the location and degree of your distortion and establish a benchmark starting point as we monitor your scoliosis progression. When severe, scoliosis can be life-threatening, so we want to identify these situations as quickly as possible and ensure regular monitoring.

X-rays measure the degree of curvature to the millimeter and pinpoint the exact location(s) where the spine is affected. There may also be congenital anomalies, such as hemi or misshapen vertebrae or misshapen vertebrae, that can cause more severe complications and make treatment more difficult. Without imaging spinal X-rays, there’s no way to know if these conditions exist.

Luckily, because of modernized technology, radiation risk is extremely low and negligible for side effects.

Specific Chiropractic Care in Missouri City, TX

Significant spinal alignment distortion due to scoliosis can create considerable wear and tear forces on the spinal discs, connective tissue, and joint surfaces, putting them at risk for injury and degenerative changes.

There are also neurological implications. Muscles should be balanced and have enough tone to stabilize the spine. Some muscles can become neurologically inhibited from doing their job. Some become weak and unable to contract, while others might become tight or spastic.

These structural and neurological issues cause poor biomechanics, movement, and posture and increase the risk of injury throughout life. Compromised anatomy increases the likelihood of injury during sports injuries or car accidents.

Only a small percentage of chiropractors have specific training in managing, stabilizing, and reducing spinal distortions and scoliosis curvatures. A comprehensive approach is essential to manage, analyze, and treat scoliosis, taking into account all of the factors that affect scoliosis, including:

• Neurologic balance
• Muscle tone
• Structural skeletal alignment of the pelvis and spine
• Disc rehabilitation
• Rehabilitative exercises

Chiropractic’s approach offers more than just simple bracing and avoids taking steps toward surgery.

Customized Therapeutic Exercise Plan

Scoliosis compromises your posture. Not actively working on balancing your posture begins a downward cycle where scoliosis degrades your posture and your muscles buckle and become weak accepting that posture, which will further degrade your posture over time. We customize an exercise plan to address the specific severities of each patient’s scoliosis. They are designed to reinforce proper postural tone, activate inhibited muscles, and relax spastic muscles contributing to imbalances. These exercises will also improve biomechanical function in your day-to-day life and reduce symptoms associated with your scoliosis.

Risk Factors

Age: Scoliosis almost always progresses gradually when not identified and effectively managed. As with any health condition, the longer it goes unaddressed, the more damage it will cause. As you age, unaddressed scoliosis poses a much higher risk of degenerative joint disease, arthritis, and disc herniation, as well as decreased mobility and functionality in your day-to-day activities.

Gender: Scoliosis is 7 to 14 times more likely in females than males.

Family History: Research shows that scoliosis passes through families. If you or your children have a family history of scoliosis, you must have their spines checked.

Complications

Scoliosis in the thoracic spine affects the nerve roots serving the heart and lungs, leading to chest pain, irregular heartbeat, and diminished lung capacity. Scoliosis in the lumbar spine affects the nerve roots controlling digestive function, reproduction, bowel and bladder function, and pelvic alignment.

Common outward appearances from scoliosis are asymmetries and rotation of the hips, one hip appearing lower than the other, and one leg appearing longer. Some people notice their belly button off-center. You may see tilting or rotation of the shoulders or one shoulder appearing higher than the other. You may notice what’s referred to as a rib hump in the thoracic or mid-back area, where one side of the spine curves as an S-shape, creating a humping on one side or a hunching of the upper back.

Benefits of Chiropractic Care For Scoliosis in Missouri City, TX

For patients with scoliosis, chiropractic care:

• Reduces pain
• Corrects posture
• Balances biomechanics
• Improves range of motion
• Increases flexibility and mobility
• Improves joint function
• Enhances physical activity
• Improves lifestyle and quality of life

Scoliosis surgery may be required in severe situations, but we try to avoid that when conservative care can be effective. Surgery for scoliosis can be extremely invasive, where rods are surgically drilled into most, if not all, of the spinal column. This drastically limits range of motion, mobility, and functionality in life. Chiropractic is a non-invasive, non-surgical, non-drug approach to care that has no risk of surgical injury or drug addiction.

Chiropractic is traditionally the most cost-effective type of care for scoliosis. Surgery for scoliosis or orthopedic management can be tens of thousands of dollars, sometimes more than six figures. Chiropractic care is a fraction of this cost, with better outcomes in most scenarios and minimal side effects.