Scoliosis-How does it impacts the body?!
Question: Scoliosis-How does it impacts the body.?
Scoliosis
1) Describe the disease and how it impacts the body.
2) What is the incidence of this disease.?(how many people have the disease.?
3) What is the etiology (cause) of the disease.?
4) How is it diagnosed.?
5) How is it treated.?Health Question & Answer
1) Describe the disease and how it impacts the body.
2) What is the incidence of this disease.?(how many people have the disease.?
3) What is the etiology (cause) of the disease.?
4) How is it diagnosed.?
5) How is it treated.?Health Question & Answer
Answers:
First, let me say, it generally effects young girls, but does also affect boys: my oldest son has severe scoliosis, and has had surgery (twice) to try to correct/stop the curve.
How it impacts: 1-appearance, you may appear to slouch your shoulders, not hold your head up, but really it is your spine.
2-with progressive scoliosis, it will affect your internal organs, like lungs and heart, being that there is less space for them (especially lug volumes.) I think being prone to acid reflux as well.
Incidence-don't know.
Cause-well, variety, not really sure of all, cerebral palsy for one, probably some collagen disorders, too.? I haven't googled it all. Sometimes, it is idiopathic--we jsut don't know why someone develops scoliosis.
Diagnosed==easy-school nurse and routine doctor exams (where they will have you bend over and touch your toes, keeping straight at your knees) will detect a curve, otherwise, xrays or mri's will diagnose it and may give a cause.?
Treated=first of all, don't believe all this crack about going to a chiropractor--yeah, may do some good, and with pain, if there is some, but you need to be followed by an Orthopedic surgeon who will xray you, put you in a brace, and monitor your growth/curves. Ultimately, there is surgery, which may not completely correct the curve.
Hope this helped.Health Question & Answer
How it impacts: 1-appearance, you may appear to slouch your shoulders, not hold your head up, but really it is your spine.
2-with progressive scoliosis, it will affect your internal organs, like lungs and heart, being that there is less space for them (especially lug volumes.) I think being prone to acid reflux as well.
Incidence-don't know.
Cause-well, variety, not really sure of all, cerebral palsy for one, probably some collagen disorders, too.? I haven't googled it all. Sometimes, it is idiopathic--we jsut don't know why someone develops scoliosis.
Diagnosed==easy-school nurse and routine doctor exams (where they will have you bend over and touch your toes, keeping straight at your knees) will detect a curve, otherwise, xrays or mri's will diagnose it and may give a cause.?
Treated=first of all, don't believe all this crack about going to a chiropractor--yeah, may do some good, and with pain, if there is some, but you need to be followed by an Orthopedic surgeon who will xray you, put you in a brace, and monitor your growth/curves. Ultimately, there is surgery, which may not completely correct the curve.
Hope this helped.Health Question & Answer
Effects range from cosmetic (rib hump, uneven shoulder level, uneven hip level, shoulder blade protruding, etc.), pinched nerves, back pain, and in severe cases, squeezing the heart and lungs.
Not sure how many have it.
I've read that 85% of cases are idiopathic (unknown cause). Some percentage are congenital (present at birth, usually from a malformed vertebra) and even functional (side affect of some other condition). There are other causes.
There are a few ways to see if you have scoliosis. The first is, of course, viewing an x-ray of your torso. The second is to have someone look at you from the back to see if your shoulders or hips are uneven (one is higher than the other). The third would be to touch your toes (or go as close as you can to touching them) and have someone look at your back. Have them find your spine and run their fingers from the top of your back on downward. They should be able to tell if the spine curves. Fourth, while you are touching your toes, they can look to see if one of your shoulder blades protrudes farther than the other. If any of these is true, then you ought to tell the family doctor and get that referral. The scoliosis specialist can make the curve measurements.
There isn't a lot that you can do to keep your spine from curving. You have only a few choices, assuming that you have structural scoliosis.
o You can exercise - that strengthens your core muscles which may reduce pain or help keep pain away, but it won't treat your curve.
o You can wear a brace - They are supposed to keep your curve from getting worse, or at least slow down the speed at which your curve is increasing. They usually don't fix your curve. Bracing is only effective if your curve is around 25-40 degrees and you are still growing.
o pain management - There are many meds that are either taken by themselves or in combination with other meds. The key is to keep your pain doc informed when something isn't working (after giving it a reasonable chance to work). This should be done only if surgery isn't possible or you still have problems even after surgery.
o Surgery - This is done usually if your curve is greater than 50 degrees or it is increasing fast enough that there's little doubt that the curve will soon be greater than 50 degrees. This is the treatment you get when all else fails.
I've posted the following a few times for other people with questions. I hope I'll answer the things that have you concerned.
Scoliosis comes mainly in two flavors - functional (the curve is caused by another issue (uneven leg length for example) and structural. There are two main kinds of structural scoliosis - congenital (present at birth) and idiopathic (unknown cause). It is important for you to know what kind you have.
If you have functional scoliosis, a chiropractor may be able to help. Shoe lifts may help with uneven legs, but there can be many causes of functional scoliosis. I don't have much experience with functional scoliosis.
If you have structural scoliosis, there's not a lot you can do. The main treatments depend on how bad the curve is and how much more growth you have to go. Its not possible to predict how much or how fast a curve may increase.
You need to see a scoliosis specialist if you're not doing that already. A doctor that is not trained as a scoliosis specialist doesn't have the expertise to treat it.
Any curve under 10 degrees is considered normal and probably isn't monitored.
Curves from 10-25 degrees are mild but should be monitored, especially if you're still growing.
Curves from 25-40 degrees are moderate with bracing possible. You will need monitoring, especially if you're still growing.
Surgery may be recommended if your curve doesn't respond to bracing. Bracing will do no good if you're through growing. The purpose of a brace isn't to make your curve better, but rather to keep the curve from becoming worse.
Curves greater than 45 degrees is major. Surgery may be recommended. This depends on many things, but whether you're done growing, whether your curve is increasing, whether your heart and lungs are in danger of being squeezed by your curve, whether you're in pain, quality of life, etc.
If your curve is over 30 degrees, there is a good chance that it will increase even when you're through growing. (Mine did.)
Unfortunately, nothing can *fix* idiopathic scoliosis. Surgery can keep the curve from getting worse, and in most cases, will reduce the curve but most likely your spine won't be straight (unless you are very flexible in the area to be fused, then you might be lucky).
Chiropractors, message therapists, acupuncturists, etc., can't fix idiopathic scoliosis. These people adjust the soft, connective tissues and that may (or may not, you can't tell ahead of time) make you feel better, but remember, idiopathic scoliosis is not a connective tissue disease. Your spine is growing curved.Health Question & Answer
Not sure how many have it.
I've read that 85% of cases are idiopathic (unknown cause). Some percentage are congenital (present at birth, usually from a malformed vertebra) and even functional (side affect of some other condition). There are other causes.
There are a few ways to see if you have scoliosis. The first is, of course, viewing an x-ray of your torso. The second is to have someone look at you from the back to see if your shoulders or hips are uneven (one is higher than the other). The third would be to touch your toes (or go as close as you can to touching them) and have someone look at your back. Have them find your spine and run their fingers from the top of your back on downward. They should be able to tell if the spine curves. Fourth, while you are touching your toes, they can look to see if one of your shoulder blades protrudes farther than the other. If any of these is true, then you ought to tell the family doctor and get that referral. The scoliosis specialist can make the curve measurements.
There isn't a lot that you can do to keep your spine from curving. You have only a few choices, assuming that you have structural scoliosis.
o You can exercise - that strengthens your core muscles which may reduce pain or help keep pain away, but it won't treat your curve.
o You can wear a brace - They are supposed to keep your curve from getting worse, or at least slow down the speed at which your curve is increasing. They usually don't fix your curve. Bracing is only effective if your curve is around 25-40 degrees and you are still growing.
o pain management - There are many meds that are either taken by themselves or in combination with other meds. The key is to keep your pain doc informed when something isn't working (after giving it a reasonable chance to work). This should be done only if surgery isn't possible or you still have problems even after surgery.
o Surgery - This is done usually if your curve is greater than 50 degrees or it is increasing fast enough that there's little doubt that the curve will soon be greater than 50 degrees. This is the treatment you get when all else fails.
I've posted the following a few times for other people with questions. I hope I'll answer the things that have you concerned.
Scoliosis comes mainly in two flavors - functional (the curve is caused by another issue (uneven leg length for example) and structural. There are two main kinds of structural scoliosis - congenital (present at birth) and idiopathic (unknown cause). It is important for you to know what kind you have.
If you have functional scoliosis, a chiropractor may be able to help. Shoe lifts may help with uneven legs, but there can be many causes of functional scoliosis. I don't have much experience with functional scoliosis.
If you have structural scoliosis, there's not a lot you can do. The main treatments depend on how bad the curve is and how much more growth you have to go. Its not possible to predict how much or how fast a curve may increase.
You need to see a scoliosis specialist if you're not doing that already. A doctor that is not trained as a scoliosis specialist doesn't have the expertise to treat it.
Any curve under 10 degrees is considered normal and probably isn't monitored.
Curves from 10-25 degrees are mild but should be monitored, especially if you're still growing.
Curves from 25-40 degrees are moderate with bracing possible. You will need monitoring, especially if you're still growing.
Surgery may be recommended if your curve doesn't respond to bracing. Bracing will do no good if you're through growing. The purpose of a brace isn't to make your curve better, but rather to keep the curve from becoming worse.
Curves greater than 45 degrees is major. Surgery may be recommended. This depends on many things, but whether you're done growing, whether your curve is increasing, whether your heart and lungs are in danger of being squeezed by your curve, whether you're in pain, quality of life, etc.
If your curve is over 30 degrees, there is a good chance that it will increase even when you're through growing. (Mine did.)
Unfortunately, nothing can *fix* idiopathic scoliosis. Surgery can keep the curve from getting worse, and in most cases, will reduce the curve but most likely your spine won't be straight (unless you are very flexible in the area to be fused, then you might be lucky).
Chiropractors, message therapists, acupuncturists, etc., can't fix idiopathic scoliosis. These people adjust the soft, connective tissues and that may (or may not, you can't tell ahead of time) make you feel better, but remember, idiopathic scoliosis is not a connective tissue disease. Your spine is growing curved.Health Question & Answer