Scoliosis, Arlington Texas
Scoliosis: Living Well Around A Curve
The short answer, and it is a straight one
Scoliosis means a sideways curve of the spine measuring 10 degrees or more on an X ray. Care here is aimed at how you function and feel around that curve, because the pain that brings people in usually comes from the compensations rather than the curve itself. Straightening a curve is a surgical question with published thresholds, and this page tells you what they are rather than implying otherwise.
What The Measurements Mean
Ten, Twenty, Forty Degrees
A curve is not a diagnosis on its own. The number attached to it is what decides everything that follows.
Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis. StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf (National Institutes of Health): scoliosis is defined as a structural lateral spinal curvature with a Cobb angle of 10 degrees or more in the coronal plane. It is classified as mild from 10 to 20 degrees, moderate from 20 to 40 degrees, and severe above 40 degrees.
Full text: Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis, StatPearls.
Where the surgical line sits
The same reference states that those with curves over 40 to 45 degrees who are still growing are operative candidates, and that the mainstay of operative treatment is surgical fusion. That is the honest boundary. Below it, care is about function, comfort and monitoring. Above it, the conversation belongs with a spinal surgeon, and any clinic implying otherwise is not doing you a favour.
A Cobb angle is measured on a radiograph. There is no imaging in this building, so if you need a curve measured or re-measured you get referred for it rather than given a guess.
Who It Affects
Mostly Found In Adolescence, Mostly In Girls
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf (National Institutes of Health): adolescent idiopathic scoliosis affects 1 to 3 percent of adolescents globally. In children aged 10 to 18, prevalence ranges from 0.15 to 0.66 percent in boys and 0.248 to 3.1 percent in girls. Females are 10 times more likely than males to progress to a Cobb angle of 30 degrees or more.
Full text: Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis, StatPearls.
That ten-fold difference in progression risk is why a curve spotted in a growing girl is watched more closely than the same curve in a boy, and why a school screening letter is worth acting on rather than filing.
If this is about your child
Dr. Monet treats children, including infants. She is not a certified pediatric chiropractor and will not say she is. For a suspected curve in a growing child, the useful things a clinic can do are examine how the whole body is moving and compensating, and refer for measurement and monitoring. Growth is the variable that matters most, which is why monitoring is not passivity.
What Care Is For
The Curve Is Rarely What Hurts
People do not usually come in because of the curve. They come in because of what the rest of the body has been doing to accommodate it.
A lateral curve changes how load travels from the ground up. One hip carries more, one shoulder sits higher, muscles on one side work longer than the ones opposite them. Over years, those compensations are what produce the aching by the afternoon, the one-sided low back pain, the neck that never quite settles.
That is the part a thorough examination can act on. This is where applied kinesiology earns its place. Dr. Monet is certified in it, and manual muscle testing lets her assess how your body responds under load, muscle by muscle and joint by joint, which is exactly the question a compensating body poses. She also has a rehabilitation area, because muscles that have been asked to do the job of others need loading rather than resting.
- How the whole chain is loading, not only where it hurts
- Which side is doing more work, and what has stopped contributing
- Comfort and function around the curve, day to day
- Referral for measurement, monitoring or a surgical opinion when the findings call for it
Read This
When It Needs A Doctor First
If You Notice Any of These Warning Signs, Please Seek Emergency Room Care Right Away.
- Loss of bowel or bladder control, or numbness through the saddle area or inner thighs
- Weakness in both legs, or bilateral symptoms
- Weakness or numbness that is getting worse over days
- A curve that appears to be progressing quickly, particularly during a growth spurt
- Fever alongside spinal pain, or unexplained weight loss
- Spinal pain following a significant fall, collision or other trauma
- New spinal pain with a history of cancer
Call 817-800-7136 and describe it, and you will be told plainly where to go.
Common Questions
Scoliosis, Asked And Answered
Can chiropractic straighten my curve?
No, and any clinic suggesting otherwise is overreaching. Care here is aimed at function and comfort around the curve. Curve correction above the surgical threshold is a surgical question, and the clinical reference puts that threshold at over 40 to 45 degrees in someone still growing.
What counts as scoliosis?
A structural sideways curve of the spine measuring a Cobb angle of 10 degrees or more on an X ray. Below that it is not classified as scoliosis. Mild is 10 to 20 degrees, moderate 20 to 40, and severe above 40.
Will it get worse?
That depends heavily on growth and on sex. Females are 10 times more likely than males to progress to a curve of 30 degrees or more, which is why a curve found during growth is monitored more closely.
Can you measure the curve here?
No. A Cobb angle is measured on a radiograph and there is no imaging in this building, so you get referred for it rather than given an estimate.
My child had a school screening letter. What now?
It is worth acting on rather than filing. Dr. Monet treats children, though she is not a certified pediatric chiropractor. She can examine how the whole body is moving and compensating, and refer for measurement and monitoring.
Do you take walk-ins?
No. Every visit is booked. Call 817-800-7136 and describe what is happening.
Sources
Where The Numbers On This Page Come From
- Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis. StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf, National Institutes of Health. The 10 degree Cobb angle definition, the mild, moderate and severe bands, the 1 to 3 percent global adolescent prevalence, the sex-specific prevalence ranges, the 10-fold progression difference, and the over 40 to 45 degree surgical threshold.
Get The Whole Chain Looked At
Call and describe what is happening, or book online and pick a time.
3825 W Green Oaks Blvd, Suite 710, Arlington, TX 76016. Appointments only.