Back problems can be especially troublesome and painful conditions. This is especially true if your back condition happens to be a long-lasting, perhaps even a potentially life-long, issue. One of the most common long-lasting back conditions is known as scoliosis. Do you or any of your loved ones suffer from this issue? If the answer to that question is yes, there is no need to feel alone in your pain (no pun intended)! Statistics show that millions of Americans suffer from this troublesome back condition. As a matter of fact, scoliosis is so common that it is estimated that 2 to 3 percent of the entire human population has this painful back issue!
So what is scoliosis exactly? Scoliosis is a back condition that is characterized by an unusual and sideways curvature of the spinal cord and vertebrae. The unnatural curve of scoliosis is generally described as being either “S”- or “C”-shaped. Mild cases of scoliosis don’t usually cause any pain or discomfort. However, more serious cases of scoliosis can cause such tremendous pain and discomfort to the point that it can interfere with basic physical motions needed for daily living such as simply breathing or eating!
In many cases, the curvature of the spine caused by scoliosis can be quite stable and not change over time. However, there are many other cases where the bend can actually increase and become worse over time. What kind of long-term problems could this cause for you if you have been suffering from this issue for an extended time? If you aren’t sure, let’s take a deeper look at the long-term effects of scoliosis here.
The Long-Term Effects of Scoliosis
One of the main issues with scoliosis is that the detrimental effects of this back condition take quite a bit of time to truly surface and become life-altering issues. These long-term effects of scoliosis include:
1. Pain
Pain is one of the most common symptoms of scoliosis. While many cases of scoliosis don’t cause immediate pain or issues, if it is not treated properly and early, this condition can cause misalignment of the body and excessive stress on the joints, nerves, ligaments, vertebrae and muscles throughout the body. All of these problems can slowly lead to ever-increasing pain throughout the sufferer’s life if the scoliosis is left unattended.
2. Joint Degeneration
As a result of the misalignment issues that are caused by scoliosis, joints throughout the body have a tendency to start to degenerate. The joints that are commonly known to be affected early on are the joints in the hip, pelvis and backbone.
2. Altered or compromised body and organ function
If the spinal curvature from a person’s scoliosis condition continues to be untreated for an extended amount of time, the body can slowly develop major misalignment and constriction issues. If a person’s spine reaches a curve angle of 70 degrees or more, many critical functions of the body may start to deteriorate. Extreme curves of the spine caused by scoliosis have shown the ability to affect the function of the heart, lungs, stomach and liver.
Many of these long-term effects of scoliosis are caused by a lack or delay in the proper treatment of this condition. While most medical professionals take a reactive approach with scoliosis by only starting treatment AFTER symptoms have arrived, here at FIX24 Joint Biomechanics we have proactive scoliosis treatment plans that start BEFORE any major painful symptoms occur so that you can easily avoid them from ever happening.
If you or a loved one is suffering from scoliosis and are looking for proactive treatment options, please contact us anytime at FIX24 Joint Biomechanics. Let’s help you avoid your back condition from getting any worse!
