Scoliosis Treatment with Dr. Tony Nalda

Are braces recommended for adults with Scoliosis? In order to stop a Scoliosis curve from advancing, these braces might differ in how pressure is delivered to the spine and ribs. The Boston brace is the most widely prescribed Scoliosis brace today. The Boston brace is well-known as a kind of thoracic-lumbar-sacral orthosis (TLSO). The Wilmington brace is specially made based on a cast of the patient laying down and facing up. The Milwaukee brace is no longer often utilized. However, it is still employed for greater thoracic or cervical spine curvature. Mild Scoliosis, defined as a curvature of 10 to 25 degrees, does not necessitate immediate treatment. A back brace is used to treat moderate Scoliosis, which is defined as a curvature of 25 to 50 degrees or a quickly increasing curve. Severe Scoliosis, defined as a curvature of greater than 50 degrees, is treated surgically. These patients require a spinal fusion. Brace wear prescriptions varied from 2 to 23 hours per day, with mixed brace wear compliance reported; both are comparable with adult bracing experience. For more information about this, please check out Dr. Tony Nalda's podcast. Artlist.io 847544

One of the common questions usually asked by Scoliosis patients is how Scoliosis affects their digestive system as they go through life. It happens 3 Main Ways: Neurologically Structurally Motion and Mobility of the Spine  Scoliosis may appear to have a direct impact because the central nervous system of the body is formed by the brain and spine, and its effects are felt throughout the body. If a spinal problem like Scoliosis is interfering with the nerves and their capacity to transmit and receive information, it can have an effect on many systems at work within the body. Every time a person eats, their nerves send a signal to the digestive tract to begin a series of processes. Both the spinal cord and neurology are impacted when the vertebrae in the spine begin to shift out of place as a result of the emergence of a scoliotic curve.  The digestive system must be operating properly on all levels including: intake secretion mixing and movement digesting absorption excretion This is in order for the body to effectively benefit from the food that enters it. Please check out Dr. Tony Nalda's podcast for more information about this. Artlist.io 847544

Diet becomes crucial for gaining strength and enhancing general health and wellness for persons who are diagnosed with scoliosis.  A well-adjusted diet won't cure scoliosis or lessen curvature on its own, but it can assist the body to develop conditions that are much more favorable to healing and reducing the harmful effects of scoliosis.  Nutrition is very important for Scoliosis patients because:  Patients who are leaner respond better to therapies. A healthy diet improves overall well-being. There are a lot of foods to avoid when diagnosed with Scoliosis, such as:  Avoid foods that contain lots of chemicals and additives Avoid overly salty foods  Avoid sugary drinks and soda  Don’t drink excessive amounts of alcohol  Don’t drink too much caffeine Foods to enjoy:  Fresh Fruit  Fresh Vegetables  Organic meats  Nutrition affects Scoliosis through amino acids and specific B vitamins that are used in the synthesis of neurotransmitters.  Foods that are high in specific amino acids or enzymes are included in the recommended diet for Scoliosis. For more information, please check out Dr. Tony Nalda's podcast. Artlist.io 847544

Spinal fusion is a major surgery. It is where one or more spinal bones (vertebrae) are fused together using screws, bolts, and or plates.  The hardware may be placed in the front (anterior) or the back (posterior) of the spine. The disc between the spinal bones is oftentimes removed and replaced with bone or a spacer.  Spinal fusion can be done in the neck, thoracic, and lumbar regions. Lumbar fusion is a surgical treatment for patients with ongoing pain, low back pain, or leg pain that has failed conservative treatment.  Lumbar fusion surgery has become increasingly popular.  The long-term side effects of Spinal fusion complications long-term can be broken down into two major categories:  Failure of the procedure itself (failed fusion) Complications arise as a result of the fusion. The most common causes of a failed lumbar fusion are nonunion, hardware breaking, and hardware becoming loose. Non-union occurs when the spinal bones that are bolted together fail to fuse or grow together.  The spinal bones are stabilized by the use of screws, bolts, and plates during lumbar fusion. Significant stresses are applied to the low back and the hardware; as a result, the hardware breaks, resulting in spinal instability and discomfort. In lumbar fusion, screws are utilized to support the spine. The screws can come loose due to the same stresses that can break the hardware. What's the main benefit of doing this? When it comes to scoliosis, surgery is the most common and traditional treatment option in our healthcare system, thus the goal is to attempt to stop progression even though there is very little study on the potential adverse effects and why so many individuals actually choose to have it. The final consequence of patient management by a surgeon is surgery, as would be expected, but patient management by a person who deals with conservative care is likely to result in more conservative care rather than surgery. Surgery can be used to treat scoliosis, and it's more likely to obtain any kind of reduction, but you won't be able to do so with the curve. When it comes to surgery, it should be your last resort. This means that you've exhausted all other treatment options and now you're forced to consider surgery. At this point, it's similar to when it comes to scoliosis therapy.  Don't forget to check out Dr. Tony Nalda's podcast for more information. Artlist.io 847544

What Do Chiropractors Do for Scoliosis?  Scoliosis is one of those conditions you’ve likely heard about, but do you know about the pain and health dangers it can cause? Most people think of scoliosis as a sideways curve of the spine, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. A spine should have three curves:  The cervical lordosis that points forward in the neck The thoracic kyphosis that points backward in the middle of the back The lumbar lordosis points forward in the low back. Scoliosis forces the spine in a different direction for one or more of these three natural curves. Chiropractic treatment for scoliosis involves regular adjustments, with the hands or a device. The goal is to realign the muscles, bones, and joints. Therefore you should be checking your curve or checking to see if your curve's progressing it should be based upon height, not time, or not just time like you say okay six months of treatment. Many adults with scoliosis find non-drug, non-invasive chiropractic treatments can help reduce their pain by decreasing the pressure on their nervous system and strengthening their body’s core.  Chiropractors would recommend: Ways to move and rest that can minimize or relieve pain  Strengthening exercises to support joints  Increasing the ability to take deep cleansing breaths  Procedures and ideas to stay active without increasing the symptoms.  The first step to restoring the good curves in the spine is to recenter the head. While the patient is sitting up, an adjusting instrument is used to deliver precise but gentle forces into the bones of the neck.  These forces work to coax the neck into the ideal position. Adjustments may also be performed on the back and hips, depending on the three-dimensional measurements of the spine determined from x-rays.  Scoliosis exercises include balance training, strength training, and, for severe cases of scoliosis, the scoliosis traction chair to elongate the spine and uncoil the nerves with vibration.  To treat scoliosis, you need to be your own advocate. What matters to you? What makes the most sense for your lifestyle? What are you looking to achieve?  Check out Dr. Tony Nalda's podcast for more. Artlist.io 847544

We have three classifications of Scoliosis: Mild Scoliosis Moderate Scoliosis Severe Scoliosis For Severe Scoliosis, this is when Scoliosis Surgery is typically recommended. When it comes to Scoliosis Surgical cases, the degree or threshold for Scoliosis surgery is different depending on what country you live in. Some countries actually consider doing surgery at a smaller curve like 35 degrees or so. In other countries, they have recommendations for surgical intervention at might higher degrees like 50 or 55. There’s a gray area when the surgical threshold is actually recommended or when a curve achieves a certain number. Here in the US, it’s between 40 to 45. Once a curve becomes surgical, and somebody’s considering surgery, what’s involved in that? What does a patient actually do when they go through a surgical treatment? When somebody makes a decision to have Scoliosis surgery, what’s actually involved with that surgery in terms of what’s actually occurring? Unfortunately, it’s exactly what the word says. Spinal fusion. It’s everything that’s involved with fusing the spine. Typically, the affected area is anywhere between twelve to fourteen vertebras. In those vertebrae, there will be screws that are put into the spine all the way down, with two rods on each side of the spine trying to fuse the spine together. Also what's happening is they’re actually removing bones. They are taking out some of the vertebrae and undoing the muscles and the ligament attachments and they’re also removing the discs in between the bones using a bone graph in between vertebra to fuse it. Not only are they fusing it with metals and rods, they’re also fusing it with bone graphs. What happens is those areas become completely immobile. It no longer moves the way a spine is supposed to move. This is the most common form of spinal fusion. For more details about Scoliosis Surgery, please check Dr. Tony Nalda’s podcast. Artlist.io 847544

The most common question we get asked is what’s the cost of Scoliosis Treatment?  There are a lot of costs associated with Scoliosis Treatment that most patients should be aware of. One obvious reason is financial which has been discussed in this podcast. The real question patients should be thinking about is what’s the cost of a negative outcome especially when it comes to conservative treatment? What’s the cost of getting no treatment at all and what can that lead to a Scoliosis patient's possibility of progressing over time? When it comes to Scoliosis there are two main approaches: Traditional Approach Opposite or Conservative Approach Traditional Approach is more of watch and weight, traditional bracing and allowing the curve to progress to a point where surgery can become an option. In Scoliosis Reduction Center, our approach is the second one, the Opposite or Conservative Approach. The Conservative Approach is deviant from Traditional Approach but not completely. It kind of takes the traditional approach that uses more ineffective tools and customizes to make it much more effective for the patient to avoid surgery. So let’s talk about evaluations. Typically in Scoliosis Reduction Center, with all the X-Rays, evaluations, consultation, and reviewing all the facts, it’s around $200 to $300. With the Traditional type of care, normally you’re looking at a thousand dollars with a consultation with a surgeon and they usually just diagnose if your curve surgical level or not and what’s involved in your surgery. In this podcast, Dr. Tony Nalda also talks about: In-Office Therapy Rehabilitation and Chiropractic Care Bracing Home Rehabilitation Other Costs Check out Dr. Tony Nalda’s podcast to learn more. Artlist.io 847544

Patients with Severe Scoliosis are the most common patients Dr. Tony Nalda sees in his office.  The reason why is that these patients, unfortunately, follow the exact prescription their traditional doctors gave them and then they end up in a position where they would normally be recommended Scoliosis surgery. What are the three categories of Scoliosis? Mild Scoliosis: between 10 and 25 degrees on a Cobb angle Moderate Scoliosis: 25 and 40 degrees on a Cobb angle.  Severe Scoliosis: Once your curve breaks 40 degrees. Dr. Tony Nalda has a fourth category called Very Severe Scoliosis. In this episode, you will learn about symptoms of Severe Scoliosis such as: Unleveled Shoulders Rib Deviation Asymmetrical Shoulder Height Asymmetrical Waist Line Asymmetrical Hip Height Head Not Being Centered with the Body Postural Changes Forward Head Posture Flat Back Syndrome Arching Sway Back And a lot more.  Initially, when patients start to move into the adult stage, they can become hyperkyphotic. Dr. Tony Nalda also mentioned when the patient’s lung capacity is already affected if you have Scoliosis. Check out Dr. Tony Nalda’s recommendation for these symptoms by listening to the podcast below. Artlist.io 847544

Amber was diagnosed with Scoliosis during her elementary days. Every six months, she went to the doctor but the curvature didn’t get over 11 degrees which was pretty mild. By the time she finished high school (adolescent idiopathic scoliosis), she was down to 7 degrees. Amber was informed that she won't need to treat scoliosis or check it anymore since she was through puberty and she will be fine. But at the end of high school, she was in a very bad car accident and she broke her lower back. Since that moment, she experienced these: Severe back pain  Severe back problems Multiple surgeries Multiple sets of medication to alleviate the pain Sadly, nor physical therapy nor a lot of that medication has worked. While Amber was focused on these, her Scoliosis started creeping in because of the instability at the bottom.  Fact check: Many adult scoliosis patients come in seeking care after an injury, like a car accident or a fall and sometimes they would discover they have Scoliosis. In Amber’s case, she actually knew she had Mild Scoliosis even before and there was one theory of causation that can be because of:  Adolescent Trauma Childhood Juvenile Trauma Birth Trauma Did you know that during the adult stage, trauma can worsen Scoliosis because it’s an injury? Anytime you had an injury on an asymmetrical spine, it will cause so much pain and discomfort. Check out the podcast for more of Amber’s story and how Dr. Tony Nalda was able to help her with customized and individually designed non surgical scoliosis treatment and traditional physical therapy designed to try to reduce the curve and scoliosis symptoms and its costs before spinal fusion surgery becomes a need for each scoliosis patient and its also possible to have scoliosis treatment without surgery for adults. Artlist.io 847544

Can certain exercises affect your Scoliosis? Exercise is important for all types of patients and especially important for patients who have Scoliosis. Did you know that there is an assumption that if you have Scoliosis, you shouldn’t remain active? Another thing would be you're too fragile and if you’re doing some type of exercise or some type of activity, you can hurt yourself. There is a possibility of that being true in very small cases but the majority of Scoliosis patients can participate in activities and in exercise and they can participate in things they want to do. The big question is how can exercise affect treatment outcomes. Movement is important. It is important for muscles, joints, and for spine health. The spine, especially after you’re done growing, only gets its nutrients through motion. Movement allows the discs, ligaments, tissues, and spinal fluid to circulate. The more you move your spine, the more nutrients circulate properly throughout the spinal tissues, that's why movement is really important. What exercises can actually help treat Scoliosis? General exercises really don’t have an effect on the curve type or the curve size. If you’re strengthening your abs or your back or you’re doing yoga or Pilates, these general exercises may be good for general health and muscles and tissues but in terms of affecting your Scoliosis or curve size, they have very little effect. A corrective exercise or something that we call Scoliosis-Specific Exercise is an exercise that is prescribed for a specific curve type. You perform exercises that are designed to reduce your curve type based on what type of Scoliosis you have. What can Scoliosis specific exercises do for Scoliosis patients: Help improve core strength They create stronger spinal muscles They optimize support They improve body posture and positioning They can help with body coordination They can help stimulate areas of the brain that are not properly stimulated because of the abnormal alignment The most important thing is they can help affect the structure and curvature And when combined with other types of therapies and bracing, they can be very effective. For more details about Scoliosis-Specific Exercises, please check out Dr. Tony Nalda’s podcast below. Artlist.io 847544

One of the most common questions we get asked is, “Can you correct my Adult Scoliosis?” What does that really mean when patients ask that question and when doctors say we’re correcting Scoliosis? Correction means Curing. If you’re going to correct something then that means you’re curing it and you’re never dealing with it ever again and that is impossible when it comes to Scoliosis. Why? Scoliosis is a progressive problem and it’s incurable because we don’t know what’s actually causing it. Scoliosis can’t be cured, not even surgeries can cure Scoliosis. There is no treatment out there that can actually cure Scoliosis but it can definitely be treated. It can be treated conservatively without invasive surgery if things are done properly. Dr. Tony Nalda’s clinic is called Scoliosis Reduction Center mainly because the goal is to reduce curves. The first thing we need to do is stop the progression. We do not only stop it with what we do in our clinic, we also reduce curves. The goal is to try to get zero curvature at all. And to stop the effect of gravity over time causing curves to progress. Since we can’t eliminate the cause which is gravity which causes adult progression in Scoliosis, we can’t say that we’re permanently changing anything. This is true even with surgery. When you do Scoliosis surgeries, it’s not permanently reducing these curves because we know that curves even progress post-surgery. No matter what, you’re going to have to manage your Scoliosis throughout your entire life because we can’t eliminate the cause. We reduce curves and make them smaller and that means gravity has less effect on smaller curves, so we can get long-lasting changes. These can have a great effect on the body, on the way the body heals and total improvement of well-being. For more details on how to stop Scoliosis progression, please check Dr. Tony Nalda’s podcast. Artlist.io 847544

When there’s a diagnosis of Scoliosis, it’s typically done within the area of the spine in which it’s affected. Let’s identify the three main sections of the spine. The cervical spine is the neck region. The thoracic spine is located mid-back. The lumbar spine is the lower back. When we deal with spinal anatomy in the way that it’s supposed to look, the spine should be completely straight from the front, and from the side’s spine should have smooth flowing curves from your neck to your midback to your low back. What is Scoliosis? Scoliosis is when the spine shifts out of its normal alignment, it means an abnormal sideways curvature of the spine from the front of 10 degrees or more that also includes a twist or some rotation. In every case of Scoliosis, in order for it to be Scoliosis needs to have a twist or rotation involved in it. So what is Lumbar Scoliosis? Lumbar Scoliosis is Scoliosis of the low back. Lumbar Scoliosis is affecting the lumbar spine but it’s only a certain section of the lumbar spine. By definition, Scoliosis is categorized by the apex of the curvature. The apex of the curvature is where the spine and the curve are where the bones are most horizontal. You can imagine vertebrae and the curves that are tilting, the one that’s most horizontal would be considered the apex. The lumbar spine is consist of five lumbar vertebrae which are numbered 1 through 5, so that's L1, L2, L3, L4, and L5. Lumbar Scoliosis is when the apex is at L2 L3 or L4. It is only when the apex is in that certain section of the spine that it will be called Lumbar Scoliosis. Lumbar Scoliosis is the most common type of adult-onset cases, which means that people do not have Scoliosis as a child, but now have Scoliosis as an adult or develop it as an adult. For more information about Lumbar Scoliosis, please listen to Dr. Tony Nalda’s podcast below. Musicbed SyncID: MB01DUZOFDETJBC

Do you think you have Scoliosis? Scoliosis is a very complex problem when associated with the spine and the body. The first thing you want to understand when we look at Scoliosis is what is it.  Scoliosis is defined as a lateral curvature spine of 10 degrees or more with rotation.  It is also defined into specific severities such as: Mild Scoliosis which is between 10 and 25 degrees on a Cobb angle. Moderate Scoliosis curve 25 and 40 degrees. Severe Scoliosis is 40 degrees and greater.   Dr. Nalda also has a fourth category which he calls Very Severe Scoliosis and this is where Cobb angle measurements can be of 80 degrees or greater. A Cobb Angle is the measurement that you use to measure Scoliosis on an X-ray. Let’s talk about two main types of Scoliosis, Scoliosis in children and Scoliosis in adults. What are the signs and symptoms that are associated with both of these types? The most common signs when it comes to Scoliosis are: Rib Protrusion: Meaning from the back, when somebody bends forward, they see ribs that will stick more back or more posterior. The most common side that will stick posterior will be the right side/ So they have the right side, and the left side sticking forward. They can also be a tilting appearance. The torso feels like it’s tilted relative to the body below. Legs can also appear to look different lengths meaning that people’s pants are not fitting right, one side of the pants would look a bit lower than the other. Hips can be uneven. You can see the waist side, one side looks more “waisty” or has a bigger waist and one side can be very flat. They can also have asymmetrical shoulder blades And they tend to feel pain.  For Adolescent Scoliosis patients, it’s uncommon for them to actually experience pain but adult patients tend to feel pain more frequently. When an adolescent has Scoliosis, what’s causing their curve to worsen is the fact that they’re growing. This growth that causes the curve to worsen is elongating the body, it’s making the body longer so it’s causing no compression to the spine.  What makes an adult case progress overtime, it’s gravity compressing down on their body which is increasing their curve. This compression leads to compression of the nerves, the tissues that exit the spine, which almost always will lead to pain at some point. And this is the reason why adults usually feel pain and children do not. There’s no relationship between the size of the curve and how much pain somebody feels, it’s how much the curve progresses as an adult which is most likely what’s going to cause their pain. The common thing that people are worried about, they think that one of the symptoms of Scoliosis is that the spine will start pressing on the heart or lungs which will lead to lung or heart failure.  This is actually the reason why they started Scoliosis surgery, 56 years ago, they thought that if the curve got to a certain size, they were going to press on a heart or a lung and cause death but that’s actually very rare. For more information about the symptoms of Scoliosis for both adolescent and adult patients, please check out Dr. Nalda’s podcast below. Musicbed SyncID: MB01ACKWVVF13S6

These are the common questions we get from Scoliosis patients or people who know someone with Scoliosis: Is exercise safe? Does scoliosis interfere with my ability to do exercise or sports? Should I be conscious of what types of exercises I’m doing? Can it lead to causing my Scoliosis to progress or get worse? Should I be avoiding certain things? Scoliosis doesn’t necessarily mean that it can limit your ability to be an athlete. Actually, many athletes right now, have Scoliosis. Take Usain Bolt, for example, he is the fastest-living human being on the planet but he has lumbar Scoliosis. Most athletes use functional approaches to try to maintain their Scoliosis and keep it under control. For Scoliosis patients, it can be challenging if the Scoliosis has progressed to a certain level and hasn’t been managed. In this podcast, Dr. Tony Nalda talks about the sports and types of exercises you can do if you have Scoliosis and which ones are more appropriate. He also talks about sports that you have to do with caution. One thing that he wants to make clear is that there was never a general exercise or even sports that would be considered a treatment for the actual cause of Scoliosis or the progressive nature of Scoliosis. Another misconception about Scoliosis, some think that they can use Yoga or Pilates to treat it. Though these are important for patients for general fitness, these are not replacements for therapy or treatment to reduce your Scoliosis in a specific manner. If you want exercises to deal with your Scoliosis specifically, it needs to be a specific exercise prescribed for your curve type. What does that mean?  Somebody with another curve type may not benefit from the same exercise that you do. So these types of exercises can only be prescribed by a doctor who understands your Scoliosis and has evaluated you properly to make sure that you get the best result by performing the exercise that’s designed to actually reduce the curve. Please check Dr. Tony Nalda Podcast for more information. Musicbed SyncID: MB01DSELHEAZB5J

The biggest percentage of Scoliosis cases is something called Idiopathic Scoliosis which means the cause is completely unknown. There are many theories on what causes Scoliosis such as: Hormonal factors Toxic factors Environmental factors Genetic theories Scoliosis is a multifactorial problem and there are many reasons why a patient can develop this. There will always be another factor involved, not just solely based on hormonal or toxic or even familiar factors. But when it comes to the spinal cord, which really talks about one of the main influences, we do believe the neurological system is being stressed physically at length. What causing this is debatable. If we think of it as a neurological symptom or response to an underlying factor, then the body is doing it in a way to protect itself. The thing is whatever caused Scoliosis, once the curve starts, the cause may resolve itself but the curve will stay. There are cases of Scoliosis we know what the cause is such as: Neuromuscular Congenital Traumatic  A syndrome has many symptoms associated with one category and therefore each department reaches a category of symptoms as normally treated individually by their specialists. But when it comes to Scoliosis, understanding the cause may not influence your treatment at all because by the time we diagnose it, the curve is already structural. For more information, please check Dr. Tony Nalda’s podcast below. Musicbed SyncID: MB01ENPL7DTKRNC