Treating The Cause Of Scoliosis
Written and reviewed for scientific and factual accuracy by Dr. Austin Jelcick, PhD and Dr. Matthew Janzen, DC. Last reviewed/edited on October 27, 2020.
We don’t believe the cause of your child’s scoliosis should remain a mystery.
A failure to target the root cause often sabotages treatment success. Understanding why your child’s scoliosis developed, how the root cause will affect progression of the curve and what to do to stop the progression is critical to success. All too often the underlying cause of a spinal curve is ignored, undiagnosed, and untreated. Instead of merely treating symptoms, a scoliosis root cause treatment is ideal for preventing progression and helping to straighten the spine.
Root Cause
The “Root Cause” or source of your curvature of the spine is the reason you have scoliosis. If the root cause of the curve is ignored and only the curve is treated, often times the scoliosis will return later in time. This is a frequent occurrence in both surgical and non-surgical treatment methods. For example, we see patients who have already tried scoliosis exercises, scoliosis bracing, and spinal surgery. As soon as their treatment concluded, the improvement they had on their curve immediately went away and their curve worsened again. This is because the source of the scoliosis was never stopped, reduced, or eliminated. That’s why we have an entire part of our Scoliosis Care Centers TM program devoted to figuring out the root cause of your scoliosis.
Scoliosis Care Centers TM uses an array of diagnostics including physical tests, tests using saliva, urine, blood and hair in order to get genetic information, and a better understanding of how your body’s health relates to your child’s scoliosis. Our “Root Cause” program includes Nerve Tension testing as well as testing for structural and neuro-muscular pathology. Once results are obtained, the proper “Root Cause” treatment plan is assembled to help reduce the driving forces that initially caused and continue to worsen the scoliosis.
Scoliosis Care Centers TM uses an array of physical tests as well as tests using saliva, urine, blood or hair in order to get genetic information and better understanding of whole body health as well as how it relates to your child’s scoliosis. This first step to every program is a necessity when it comes to making long-term success a possibility.
Nerve Tension
Nerve tension can be diagnosed through a modified version of the Straight Leg Raise test. Once diagnosed, very specific nerve stretching techniques are needed to create elasticity and elongation of the spinal cord. These nerve stretches have to be done with perfect technique in order to keep the spinal cord under tension throughout the entire stretch without ever letting the tension escape. With consistent stretching, the spinal cord will gradually elongate and increase it’s elasticity; thereby reducing spinal nerve tension and the driving force for the curve to get worse during the growth spurts.
This does not “get rid of the scoliosis”, but instead helps reduce the likelihood of the rapid worsening of the curve with growth spurts. Scoliosis has been linked to nutrient / hormone / neurotransmitter deficiencies and has also been linked to excessive toxins. These dysfunctions can lead to abnormal growth and elasticity of the spinal cord, thereby creating nerve tension, which can cause scoliosis.
Biochemical Supplementation
Proper genetic testing and lab tests can also help determine which dysfunctions are present. By supplementing with the right nutrients or avoiding particular toxins, these dysfunctions can sometimes be helped.
Combining these 2 “Root Cause” treatments (Nerve stretching and biochemical supplementation), the source of the scoliosis can be significantly reduced and stopped. These proprietary therapies are taught in the office and are to be continued with the home treatment program afterward.