Most people think it’s just a bend in your spine. But anyone living with scoliosis knows it’s way more complicated than that! The pain is widespread. It creeps in at night. Everyday tasks become monumental. What is, perhaps, the most challenging is when so many medical professionals tell you just to deal with it and put you on pain medication without offering any further options.
The good news is that many people with scoliosis experience significant relief from their pain through chiropractic care, and the results are changing the conversation about how to manage it moving forward.
Why Pain from Scoliosis is Different from Other Forms of Back Pain
Scoliosis has a domino effect on your entire body. When your spine is curved in a C or S shape, everything has to adjust. One side of your body is working harder. The other side gets weaker. Your vertebrae don’t stack up the way they are supposed to, and the same goes for the pressure being placed on your joints and discs.
Unlike normal pain someone might feel due to lifting a heavy object incorrectly or sleeping in an awkward position, scoliosis pain is structural. It’s there when you wake up. It gets worse throughout the day. It doesn’t go away after someone tries the many common home remedies people suggest for pain.
The Difference in Treatment from a Chiropractor
The treatment you receive from a scoliosis chiropractor isn’t just the management of your symptomatic pain. It’s about more than where it hurts. A chiropractor can assess how your back is moving overall and what is happening with the muscles, joints, and nerves around that curve.
A comprehensive assessment usually involves assessing your posture, how your spine bends in different directions, and identifying which areas in your spine feel like they are too rigid and which feel they are stiff.
A lot of chiropractors will also take X-rays of your spine to see what the curve looks like and how pronounced the rotation is.
The type of treatment you receive usually depends on what your spine needs, but it usually involves adjustments made around the areas above and below the primary curve. The goal of this type of adjustment is not to straighten your back—this isn’t possible for most patients—but to increase the movement of your spine and decrease the pressure placed upon the nerves, joints, muscles, and tissues surrounding it. When these joints move freely, they ease the burden placed on the muscles trying to accommodate this structural change.
The Muscle Imbalance That Hurts
One thing that is often overlooked when it comes to scoliosis is that it creates a significant muscle imbalance that runs along the line of the spine and the curve of your back. The muscles on one side of the curve become tight because they must work harder. The muscles on the other side of the curve become weaker because they don’t have to work as hard.
This creates an asymmetrical pattern that only strengthens the cycle of pain over time. Chiropractors focus on addressing this imbalance through soft tissue treatments and exercises that strengthen these differently-used muscles.
Chiropractic care for scoliosis does not just crack your back and hope for the best! By utilizing focused soft tissue treatment techniques to relieve some of the pressure on specific parts of your back, chiropractors can ease some structural pain. By providing a focused exercise program that you can do independently, chiropractors can help you retrain your body to feel more balanced.
Many people are surprised to learn that part of your treatment plan includes “homework”! Exercises for scoliosis focus on regaining muscle memory after the adjustment to your back. These aren’t generic stretches that any athletic coach gives you, but rather targeted exercises based on your specific curve type.
What Improvement Actually Looks Like
It is important to set realistic expectations after treatment. A scoliosis chiropractor cannot promise a perfectly straight spine after just a few appointments. In adults with developed curves, there are usually no changes made to the structure of the bones. However, they can help your body use them more effectively.
What most people report noticing after a few appointments is a drastic reduction in day-to-day pain, an improvement in mobility, and a drastic reduction in the need for medication to manage this pain. With time, tasks that have become monumental become much more manageable to complete. Patients also report a much higher quality of sleep because they are not trying to manipulate their bodies into a comfortable position all night. They also no longer feel exhausted from their body constantly working to compensate for the structure of their spine.
The improvement process is gradual, which might be annoying after years of treating pain with medication. However, instead of training your body to rely on medication, you can finally give your body what it needs to improve over time.
Why It’s Not a “One-Off” Solution
One last thing to note about managing scoliosis with chiropractic care is that it’s not a “one-off” solution. Because scoliosis is a structural condition, your body will continue to revert to its compensatory patterns over time. To reduce this risk and avoid problems in the future, it’s vital to receive regular chiropractic adjustments.
Think of chiropractic care less as treatment for something broken and more as management of a medical condition. People who live with scoliosis and who engage in the ongoing care of a chiropractor have much better experiences than those who wait until they feel like their pain is intolerable.
It is also much easier to manage pain with regular appointments than to wait until something small becomes chronic and almost debilitating, and getting an appointment can feel impossible!
Quality of Life Improvements Beyond Pain Management
One thing that many patients report noticing as much as (if not more than) the reduction of pain levels day-to-day is the improvement in their overall quality of life. They can get back to exercising without the fear that it will result in a nasty flare-up episode. They can sit through meetings again without having to shift around constantly.
Perhaps most importantly, they can spend time with their kids or grandkids again without worrying about how their body will feel after spending time together.
Chiropractic care does not mean you will eventually fix the bend in your back. You can, however, choose to manage it rather than allowing it to manage you. It’s essential to find a provider who knows how to treat scoliosis and who has treated other patients before.
Not every chiropractor knows how to treat this condition, so make sure to ask good questions before starting! You may just be surprised about what it can do for your day-to-day life!