According to a report, the American Chiropractic Association estimates that 7 million Americans have scoliosis. The symptoms of this condition can range from unnoticeable to severe. However, even mild scoliosis can be dangerous for your health.
As the curvature increases, it could result in other health issues. If you’re not on the list for surgery, you might wonder what other options you have. Luckily, a chiropractor might be able to help you.
Although most people used to turn to orthopedists and primary care doctors for scoliosis treatment, more and more people realized the benefit of chiropractic care. In this article, we’ll discuss how a chiropractor for pain in Greenville can help with scoliosis and provide more information on scoliosis and its treatment.
What Causes Scoliosis Pain?
Understanding what causes scoliosis can help you know how a chiropractor for pain in Greenville can help you manage your symptoms. When you have a normal spine, the vertebrae are stacked on top of each other quite neatly, with a cartilage disc between each one. This cartilage ensures flexibility and cushioning of the vertebrae while you move.
When a person has scoliosis, the spine begins to curve unnaturally. Instead of looking like a neat stack of blocks, each vertebra starts tilting to one side. Many things could cause scoliosis.
Sometimes, it is caused by other conditions like muscular dystrophy. Other times, it just occurs as you get older. Even mild scoliosis can result in painful symptoms. The misalignment in your vertebrae can also affect your nerves and joints.
Note that scoliosis isn’t limited to your spinal column; the muscles and tendons also get affected. This unusual position could lead to chronic back pain and trigger points that can cause pain in other body areas.
Without proper treatment, the spinal curvature would get worse due to the degeneration of the discs and vertebrae. Gravity would also pull the spine down further, and in some cases, it would put more pressure on the digestive system or lungs.
Types of Scoliosis
Although the symptoms are essentially the same, there are two types of scoliosis. Below is an explanation of how they differ from each other.
Structural Scoliosis
The shape of the bone causes structural scoliosis. For example, some bones might be wedged to one side, resulting in the vertebrae bending at a sideway angle. A chiropractor for pain in Greenville cannot fix this type of scoliosis.
However, they can help with the resulting symptoms of structural scoliosis. A chiropractor helps by using various techniques to improve joint movement and motions that could help with the pain. However, chiropractors cannot change the bones themselves and, therefore, cannot fix the spine misalignment.
Functional Scoliosis
This is another type of scoliosis and can be helped with chiropractic care. Functional scoliosis occurs when your posture results in the spine curving sideways.
However, it isn’t so bad that the bones are wedge-shaped. Functional scoliosis is quite common, and it is manageable with the proper treatment by a chiropractor.
Symptoms of Scoliosis
A chiropractor for pain in Greenville understands musculoskeletal issues and disorders. An all-inclusive physical examination by a chiropractor can help them identify scoliosis. Some of the symptoms that indicate this condition includes:
- Uneven shoulders causing clothes to hang unevenly
- One shoulder blade is more prominent than the other
- A side of the rib cage protruding forward
- An uneven waist
- One hip appears higher than the other
- One side of the back seems more prominent when the patient bends forward
- Difficulty breathing because the lungs don’t have the space to expand
- Muscle spasms and severe back pain
In most scoliosis cases, the spine twists and rotates in addition to curving side to side. This usually results in the muscles and ribs sticking out on one side of the body than the other.
Can a Chiropractor Straighten Your Spine?
The only known method for straightening scoliosis is surgery. This method is also reserved for patients with 50° or more curves. Other methods like chiropractic care help prevent the curvature from getting worse and help manage your symptoms to improve your quality of life.
Chiropractic care is holistic, which means it will look at how your entire body functions. It aims at helping the body heal by restoring proper alignment to the spine and other joints. For example, a chiropractor for pain in Grenville will help you develop a non-invasive scoliosis treatment plan that addresses significant scoliosis symptoms.
Although chiropractic care cannot completely straighten the spine, studies show that chiropractic treatment can improve spinal curvature, pain, and disability from scoliosis long term. It is especially true if you combine chiropractic care with exercises and specific stretches.
For example, you can effectively manage scoliosis by combining spinal realignment through chiropractic care with stretches and muscle strengthening exercises to support your spine. This combination will also stretch out thinned areas in your discs, resulting in more flexibility.
This allows you to move freely and easier, ensuring you can perform the exercises recommended by your doctor. In addition, these exercises would help to strengthen the muscles supporting your spine.
How a Chiropractor for Pain in Greenville Can Help With Scoliosis
There are many ways chiropractic care can help with scoliosis. Chiropractors use different techniques to deal with various aspects of the illness. Some of the solutions include:
Spinal Manipulation
One of the methods that help with scoliosis is spinal manipulation. It is also known as chiropractic adjustment and involves a soft and quick push to a specific spine area.
The primary goal of spinal manipulation is to move this part of the spine in the right direction. This is an effective method of increasing the range of motion, which is usually restricted in people with scoliosis.
Soft Tissue Techniques
Other times, a chiropractor could also use soft tissue techniques to improve the range of motions in the body for someone with scoliosis.
Rehabilitation Exercises and Stretches
Another way chiropractic care can help with scoliosis is through the use of some specific rehabilitation exercises and stretches. This method would help the body hold itself in the proper position. There are different types of scoliosis, so the methods vary.
Talk to a Chiropractor for Pain in Greenville Today!
Can a chiropractor help with scoliosis? Yes, they can. A chiropractor in Greenville can diagnose and treat scoliosis to improve your overall health. If you have scoliosis, seek chiropractic care to prevent the pain and symptoms from worsening.
Additionally, suppose the scoliosis was made worse by an acute injury due to events like a car accident. In that case, our experienced chiropractors can provide treatment options for you. At Carolina Spine and Pain Center, we’ll develop a custom treatment plan based on your symptoms and healthcare needs.
Our doctors for auto accident injuries in Greenville can help with your back pain and other issues. Want to find out more? Contact us today.
