Anxiety and Chiropractic Treatments: How They Help

Receiving a diagnosis of scoliosis as an adult can come as quite a shock. After all, most children are screened for scoliosis in their primary school years and are treated accordingly at that time. However, there are some cases that slip through those early life evaluations, and there are also some cases that develop later in adulthood. If you are one of those people, you are not alone, and adult scoliosis is manageable and treatable. Find out some of the facts about adult scoliosis management and you will be able to better handle your newfound spinal condition going forward.

Quitting Smoking Can Help with Scoliosis

One of the easiest steps you can take when you are suffering from adult scoliosis is to stop smoking. What many people do not realize is that smoking has a much larger impact on the body than just the lungs. A major problem caused by smoking is the reduction of bone density throughout the body. This includes the bones in the spine.

When the bone density in the vertebrae of the spin is greatly reduced, those bones can become brittle, causing compression fractures and other damage to the spine. This damage can cause the spine to curve, causing or worsening scoliosis. As such, the sooner you quit smoking the better when it comes to managing your scoliosis and continued spinal health.

Getting Surgery Is Not Your Only Option

Many people falsely assume that the only way they can manage their scoliosis issues is to have surgery on their spine. The reality is that most doctors you work with will want to exhaust all of the non-surgical options available to you before they put you through a spinal surgery.

When you are diagnosed with adult scoliosis, your doctors will determine the angle at which your spine is curved. This angle will help to determine the severity of your scoliosis. Higher angles of curvature represent a larger problem. However, severe cases of scoliosis are rare and often are detected early.

You will more likely have a mild to moderate case of scoliosis. These cases can almost always be dealt with without surgery.

Trying Chiropractic Care May Benefit You

Many people think only of working with medical doctors to manage scoliosis. However, there are many supplemental and alternative treatment options that can be quite beneficial to symptom management. One such option is chiropractic care.

Chiropractors are practitioners that focus on the musculoskeletal system. Their main emphasis in terms of treatment is on the spinal column. Chiropractors perform treatments known as spinal adjustments that are designed to help get the vertebrae in the spine into alignment. There are also exercises and movements a chiropractor may help a patient perform and/or prescribe for them to do at home.

In a study done on the efficacy of chiropractic care for the treatment of scoliosis in adults, researchers found that chiropractic care did have a positive impact on problems associated with scoliosis including pain and even the angle of the spinal curvature.

With this information about managing your adult scoliosis, you can better move forward working with your scoliosis care team to develop the best possible treatment plan for you.