13/04/2020

Introduction

Dear Reader!

I am glad that I have the opportunity to give you information about the Scoliosis and how it could be treated.

The Scoliosis is that kind of disease that causes an abnormal curve of the spine.

Individuals who suffer from scoliosis might have their spine bones twisted or rotated, which would look like “C” or “S”.

In the medical literature you can find out the specific names for each type of scoliosis:

Kyphoscoliosis: a combination of external and lateral spine curvature
Dextroscoliosis: curve of the spine is to the right
Rotoscoliosis (rotatory): curve of the spine turned on its axis
Levoconvex: curve of the spine is to the left
Thoracolumbar: curvature related to both the thoracic and lumbar regions of the vertebral column

Other less common types of scoliosis that I came across are:

Congenital scoliosis: Develops in the vertebral column before a baby is born – during the 4-th to 6-th week of the pregnancy. Typical for babies, whose vertebral bones are not fully formed or clustered together.
Neuromuscular scoliosis: The neuromuscular conditions, which I had, are as a result of weakened and imbalanced muscles that sustain the spine.

In the sake of security and peace of mind, I would recommend the following:

people diagnosed with scoliosis to go through regular x-rays, or MRI;
medical therapy and;
if the conditions worsened, the surgery might be recommended.

However, to avoid all these suppressive processes, the inversion therapy is coming in place.

Therefore, in the section of the article I will show you how to identify and how to treat the scoliosis if you have one.

Causes and Reasons

The most common reasons and causes for having scoliosis are:

Cerebral palsy: is defined as a “condition marked by impaired muscle coordination (spastic paralysis) and/or other disabilities, typically caused by damage to the brain before or at birth”;
Muscular dystrophy: the process of progressive muscles’ weakening, increases the possibility of developing scoliosis;
Spina-bifida: this is defined as a “congenital defect of the spine in which part of the spinal cord and its meninges are exposed through a gap in the backbone. It often causes paralysis of the lower limbs, and sometimes mental handicap”
Birth defect, as known as Congenital scoliosis: this is a rare type of scoliosis and is developed while the embryo was growing, in its 4^th to 6^th week, inside the mother’s womb; the causes for that could be diabetes, alcohol and drugs;
Osteoporosis: this is more typical to intervene adults. The cause of it is bones weakening because of the lower bone mass, Which leads to a vertebral compression and disc degeneration. If not treated, though, this could cause secondary scoliosis.
Idiopathic scoliosis: the type of scoliosis, which is developing spontaneously based on one’s activities. Most of the times it is resulting from a poor posture, smaller clothes, not proper shoes , or uneven loading the body parts.

The scoliosis is often called the “silent disease”.

Symptoms and Results

The most obvious sings abnormal curves are initially unseen. They are becoming obvious when the child riches its puberty and they are:

The shoulders are uneven;
One of the shoulder blades is more prominent than the other;
The waistline is uneven;
When one of the hips is higher than the other;
When there is a bulge on one side of the rib cage of the infant;
Babies who mostly lie one side;
The shortness of the breathing;

The idiopathic scoliosis, which is typical for the children after the age of 10, has the following common symptoms:

The clothes do not fall evenly over the body;
The legs are with an uneven lengths;
The child is keeping its head off the center;
The individual is tending to bend mainly to one side;

If the signs of scoliosis were neglected in the early years, of the individual’s growth, as it was with me, later in their lives the problems are getting worse.

Risks and Complications

The following most common risk factors for developing scoliosis are:

Age: The scoliosis usually begins between the ages of 9-15. If the scoliosis is not cured when it is diagnosed, the risks could increase in the future.
Sex: Women are more likely to develop the scoliosis than men.
Severity of the curve: The more sizable the curve, the larger the risk of it. “S”-type curves, has a tendency to get worse faster over time. Whereas, the “C”-type curves are less likely to deteriorate.
Curve position: A curve, when is in the center part of the spine, is tend to worsen faster, in comparison to when it is in the lower or upper part of the spine.
Family history: Scoliosis in many cases is inherited.

Complications:

I will share some complications that I personally went through:

Back problems: If diagnosed with scoliosis do not take action, the worsening the back pains will be, until it became chronic.
Posture: Scoliosis can lead to more visual changes — such as uneven shoulders, uneven rib cage, unleveled hips, and displacement of the waist and torso to one side.
Health Problems: When having a severe scoliosis the risk for the heart and the lungs is growing. Additionally, when the rib cage is compressed, your breathing is becoming ineffective.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Normally, when I experience back pain, I first go for advice to my personal doctor; in some countries it is called GP.

After the examination, the GP could advice me to be seen by specialists.

Diagnosis

Orthopedic surgeons or neurosurgeons will initially check my medical history.

For the degree of scoliosis, then, they are using measuring tools such as inclinometer, or scoliometer.

If necessary, they could prescribe X-ray, CT-scan or MRIs.

In my case, I was advised to use MRIs, with which can more precisely be seen the location, direction and angle of the curvature.

Treatment

The treatments are with Braces for Scoliosis, with Surgery and Therapies.

Scoliosis brace

Scoliosis braces were firstly prescribed for children while they are growing. In the recent years have been produced the braces that can be used by adults, for stopping the scoliosis from progression.

Bear in mind, though, that the braces in some cases are not efficient at all.

I have my father who wore the braces for 3 years, to stop the further development of the scoliosis.

There was, unfortunately, no positive outcome. Even opposite, he started having heart issues.

Surgery

The most common type surgery for is called “spinal fusion”.

I’ve never gone though that but in medical publications is written that there are some complications of spinal surgery. They could be infections, severe pain or nerve damage.

Moreover, when the part of the spine, where the surgery been applied, fails to heal, another surgery may be needed.

Additionally, the value of scoliosis surgery can be high; according to the Spinal Cord Society of surgeons, in the USA, an average cost per operation (rod implants to straighten the spine) is $150,000.

Besides, this price may be higher or lower depending on the individual’s procedure.

In addition, the full recovery will be between 6 months, in best-case scenario, to 1 or 2 years.

Therapies

The therapies for scoliosis could be physical, exercises, with a chiropractic or/and inversion therapy.

In 2016, researchers noted that there is growing evidence that exercises can help treat scoliosis, but more work is needed to find out which exercises are the most effective.

I, by the way, regularly do different exercises, yoga and walking.

Nevertheless, for me, the inversion therapy is the best cure.

This helped me for my pain relief, for my curvature and for my rejuvenation.

Furthermore, from statistics in the recent time, many experts become aware that with regular inversion there are positive results on posture correction.

How Inversion Therapy works for Scoliosis

It was said that the inversion therapy is regarded as an alternative treatment for “adult scoliosis“. This, however, is applicable for patients of any age.

Inversion therapy is being used for thousands of years, and is based on being upside down, at any inverted angle.

There are a lot of inverting ways.

I will cover just some of them:

Hanging from the bar with the arms relaxed around your ears;

Inverted yoga postures such as head-standing, hand-standing;

By using inversion equipment, like gravity boots, inversion chairs (stools), and inversion tables

Equipment for Inversion Therapy

The most popular tools for inverting are gravity boots and inversion tables.

When using gravity boots or inversion tables or other equipment for hanging, the whole body will be loaded with its own weight. Thus, each of the joints in your body will be aligned evenly.

Here, in differ to all other types of inverting, you don’t have to put any energy to balance or do any activities.

It was said that the inversion therapy is regarded as an alternative treatment for “adult scoliosis“. This, however, could be the main treatment and it is also applicable for patients/people of any age.

Bellow I am giving you a sequence of exercises for your scoliosis:

1. This is not necessary to be on 90°. Just by being at the angle between 20-60° and stay here for at least 3 minutes (that equals to 5-7 slow and full breaths) your joints and muscles will start relax.

Results:

What you feel while inverting, is the gravitation pressure. Your body simultaneously starts stretching and, as a result, it is enlarging. Additionally, the whole your spine is straightening and, as result your scoliosis curves decrease.

2. Here, in differ to all other types of inversions, you don’t have to put any energy to balance or do any activities. Just breathe fully and slowly and relax all your muscles. Try to stay here for at least 10 full breaths.

Results:

The gravity is doing its own job, without any effort from you, your spinal curve slowly and gradually straightening.
Along with that, with prolonged inversion, more than an half a minute, and for a long period of time, you will sense the fresh blood and fluid flow freely to all my joints and spinal discs.

3. What else you can do while hanging upside down is any scratching exercises you would like to. For example, turn to the right and then turn to the left. It’s not necessary to be something complicated.

Results:

Increasing blood circulation throughout your spinal column, spinal muscles, and all other muscles and joints groups. This make them more elastic and flexible and thus able for them to easily return to its original, healthy form.

These exercises could be applied for whether the scoliosis in your spine is – to the left or right, or it is “S”-type or “C”-type.

For your convenience, I’ve added a video, with steps of inversion when treating scoliosis:

Disclaimer:

All information provided here is not intended to replace professional medical care. That’s why always follow the instructions of your healthcare professional in prior starting the inversion therapy.

NOTE:

Before introducing the inversion therapy to a child or any patient, I would strongly advice to first consult with a doctor. One more warning: the inversion therapy used by people under the age of 14 should be made mandatory in the presence of an adult.
Before start using inversion therapy, I would strongly warn you to consult with a Medical Practitioner, Neurologist or Physiotherapist.
Inversion therapy used by people under the age of 14 to be attended of an adult.
The people with vertigo or high blood-pressure must first consult with their medical practitioner.
Women, who are in their pregnancy, is recommended to avoid inverting.
For women, after pregnancy I would strongly urge them to take the advantage of inversion therapy (from statistics and from women I have talked to, more than 60% of them have struggled from sciatica for years after they gave a birth. 90% of these cases had been accompanied by the lumbar lordosis. Additionally, the sciatica caused them other complications)

Conclusion

From what I have included is becoming clear that even the countless medical researches done on scoliosis, unfortunately, no medical treatment is fully known yet.

As I have mentioned the inversion therapy could be useful not only for the adults. It could be beneficial and be used also for children, especially the ones with juvenile scoliosis.

Moreover, form my view, the inversion therapy is the easiest, the most inexpensive, and effortless source for healing the scoliosis.

Mind you, though, that everyone who wants to get the benefits from the inversion therapy must apply their patience, determination and will-power.

Following that you will shortly witness the result on your own – one healthy and happy person who is enjoying the beauty of the life.