When you have scoliosis you should sleep on your back or side and avoid sleeping on your stomach.
Also use a firm mattress when sleeping if possible.
Foods you should avoid if you have scoliosis include.
Fast food or other highly processed varieties of “junk” food.
Soda pop (even the “diet” varieties)
Foods containing corn syrup in any form (high fructose, crystallized, etc.)
Artificial sweeteners like Equal, Splenda, Saccharin, Nutrasweet and others.
Soy milk and other soy products.
Foods that help with scoliosis include Broccoli, Apples, Tomatoes, Avocado, Cauliflower, Carrots, Kale and Brussels sprouts.
Massages such as a deep tissue massage is good for scoliosis and good for relieving back pain.
A competent massage therapist can use a combination of massage strokes, continuously pressing, positioning and stretching to aid in muscle balance of the back and body and it reduces scoliosis symptoms.
Scoliosis affects the brain by preventing the recirculation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to your brain and the reduced levels of CSF in the brain can intensify a simple tension headache into a full-blown migraine.
Scoliosis can affect walking and affect a persons balance.
Adults with scoliosis can experience back pain, fatigue, sciatica, decreased walking tolerance, loss of height and leaning forward or to one side.
Scoliosis pain typically feels like a dull backache as well as sometimes a shooting pain in the legs.
Scoliosis can sometimes irritate or put pressure on the nerves in and around your spine, causing pain, numbness and a tingling sensation that can be felt in your lower back down to your feet.
In these cases, injections of steroids and local anesthetic given into your back may help.
A brace can help fix scoliosis and help prevent the progression of scoliosis as well.
Generally, people with moderate scoliosis wear their scoliosis brace between 12 and 20 hours a day.
Night-time bracing is used in some people for mild curves or when full-time bracing is not possible.
Scoliosis looks like a backward C when you look at the persons back.
When you have scoliosis, it might look like you are leaning to one side.
Some people have one shoulder higher than the other or one shoulder blade that sticks out more than the other.
If your spine is twisted, one side of your ribcage might stick out more when you bend over.
Often, scoliosis isn't obvious.
Scoliosis does not go away and without treatment scoliosis can get worse as you age.
As scoliosis is an incurable and progressive condition, it will neither go away, nor fix itself without treatment.
The 3 types of scoliosis are.
Thoracic scoliosis: The curve is located in the mid (thoracic) spine.
Lumbar scoliosis: The curve is located in the lower (lumbar) spine.
Thoracolumbar scoliosis: Vertebrae from both the thoracic and lumbar spinal sections are involved in the curvature.
The spine is the part of the body that is affected by mild scoliosis although in severe scoliosis other parts of the body that are affected by scoliosis include rib cage, heart, lungs, and other internal organs.
Scoliosis can in rare cases cause paralysis if it gets too severe and it is left untreated.
Paralytic scoliosis is brought about by the imbalance between the two sides of the body exerted on the paralytic spine.
Scoliosis can cause problems later in life and long term affects.
Some long terms affects of scoliosis include respiratory dysfunction (viral), psychosocial effects due to posture asymmetry, higher rates of back pain or discomfort (though they note this does not appear to cause excessive disability), loss of equilibrium (i.e. car sickness), gait abnormalities.
The way you can tell if you have scoliosis is to have a scoliosis test and exam done by a doctor.
A scoliosis test is a non invasive test that allows doctors to see whether the spine has a curve.
People with scoliosis can have a single curve, creating a “C” shape, or a double curve, creating an “S” shape.
Scoliosis exams are physical examinations involving exercises that allow a doctor to see the shape of the spine.
Treatment can help to fix scoliosis although scoliosis cannot be cured.
The 4 symptoms of scoliosis are.
Uneven shoulders and/or hips.
Bump in the lower back.
Numbness, weakness, or pain in the legs.
Trouble walking.
Other symptoms of scoliosis include.
Trouble standing up straight.
Tired feeling.
Shortness of breath.
Loss of height.
If severe scoliosis is not treated it can lead to pain and increasing deformity, as well as potential heart and lung damage.
If scoliosis is left untreated it can worsen and have serious long-term physical and emotional complications.
Severe scoliosis, where the curvature exceeds 50 degrees, can cause the spine to rotate, which can lead to decreased lung capacity and heart problems.
In some cases you may be able to fix scoliosis without surgery unless it gets too severe.
Some ways that scoliosis can be treated without surgery include physical therapy, the Schroth method, bracing and Mehta casting.
Scoliosis can be corrected at any age although most cases of scoliosis are corrected between the ages of 3 to 10 years of age.
Some people are born with scoliosis of the spine and some people may develop the scoliosis of the spine later on in life.
Although congenital scoliosis is present at birth, it may not be obvious that a child has it right away.
Congenital scoliosis often gets worse as a child grows.
Common signs and symptoms of congenital scoliosis include one or more of the following: uneven hip heights or positions.
Scoliosis such as congenital scoliosis is caused by embryological malformation of one or more vertebrae and may occur in any location of the spine.
The vertebral abnormalities cause curvature and other deformities of the spine because one area of the spinal column lengthens at a slower rate than the rest.
However for more than 80 percent of cases, the cause of scoliosis is unknown a condition called idiopathic scoliosis.
In other cases, scoliosis may develop as a result of degeneration of the spinal discs, as seen with arthritis, osteoporosis or as a hereditary condition that tends to run in families.
The most common scoliosis is adolescent idiopathic scoliosis which is most often diagnosed during puberty.
Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is an abnormal curvature of the spine that appears in late childhood or adolescence.
Scoliosis does run in families.
Strong evidence suggests that scoliosis runs in families, but no direct evidence has been found.
Also, nearly a third of patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis have a family history of the condition.
Scoliosis can run in families, but most children with scoliosis don't have a family history of it.
Early onset scoliosis, or EOS, is diagnosed in children younger than 10.
Adolescent scoliosis is diagnosed between ages 10 to 18.
Kids with early onset scoliosis have many years of growth ahead of them.
The signs of scoliosis in children are.
Uneven shoulders and shoulder blades.
Unequal distance between the arms and body when standing.
Uneven hips.
Ribs that are prominent or stick out in one area.
Muscles that are prominent in the lower back or that bulge on one side.
Uneven skin folds at the waist.
Scoliosis can be life threatening.
Although not all cases of scoliosis are life threatening scoliosis when it gets severe enough can affect the heart and lungs, limiting their ability to function and leading to complications that can potentially result in death.
On its own, scoliosis cannot kill you. While leaving a condition untreated would allow it to progress unimpeded and increase chances of related complications, even with severe curvatures, functional deficits aren't always present.