I saw a movie the other night that was advertised as a comedy. Without getting too opinionated, I would like to mention one feature of this movie which was anything BUT funny. There was a character in the movie, a female high school student who was wearing a big metal appliance. It was a brace commonly prescribed for scoliosis sufferers. The brace held her head and neck in a stiff posture and then wrapped around and buckled a steel rod to her back. Her inability to move normally and her unusual "geeky" appearance were supposed to make us laugh.

It wasn't very funny to me and, usually, I think lots of things are funny.

The movie, in a way, did show a realistic imitation of the usual scoliosis sufferer. She was female, and most sufferers are. She was in high school, and this, or a bit earlier, is when scoliosis is finally diagnosed, unfortunately. And she was miserable.

What's my point? First of all, as a chiropractor, I question the need for an uncomfortable brace to counteract the painful, debilitating effects of scoliosis. We feel chiropractic has a much better, gentler way of working with individuals with scoliosis to help their spines become healthy again. Second, not only do we address the cause of the abnormal spinal curvature seen in scoliosis, chiropractors address it without the social trauma and physical discomfort that a brace can cause a young person.

Scoliosis is an abnormal structural curving of the bones of the spine. How the bones of the spine line up, one on top of the other, is not straight up and down as it was designed to be. If seen on an x-ray, the bones stack in a kind of side-to-side "wave".

It is estimated that well over 50% of people suffer some degree of spinal curvature. When a spine suffers this kind of twisted curvature, a great deal of stress and abnormal function occurs in the body. The ability of the nerve system to coordinate and control all structures and organs of the body is affected. Worst of all, even the slightest scoliosis tends to progress with time if hot corrected. Leaving any scoliosis uncorrected always results in early degeneration of the spinal joints and progressively declining health.

Many people have found that chiropractic is very successful in stopping the increase of curvature seen as scoliosis progresses. This helps stop the degeneration. Chiropractors work to reduce the abnormal curvature and even correct the spine back to its healthy "straight up and down". Specific, effective chiropractic spinal adjustments help, also, to support the strength of spine so that scoliosis will not reoccur.

This is exciting news for anyone with scoliosis. Chiropractic may save someone you care about from having to endure years of pain. It would be our pleasure to evaluate the spines of your family to look for the first signs of scoliosis. Call today.