People who suffer from scoliosis usually resort to surgery because they see it as the easiest, most immediate way to eliminate the dreadful back pain they experience. However, is their perception accurate?  Can surgery take away the pain in your back?

If a person’s primary reason for choosing surgery is to correct his or her spinal deformity, they will likely see the results they are looking for. There are cases in which scoliosis surgery can, in fact, reestablish proper alignment of the spine.  But, there are normally many complications and side effects during and after the surgery that go along with that.

However, if a scoliosis patient’s main desire is to get rid of his or her back pain, surgery may not be the best option. Studies have shown that scoliosis surgery frequently does not eliminate the pain, but rather, in many instances, actually makes it more severe because it is such a highly invasive procedure.

Anytime you enter the body through incision, the body is exposed to certain risks, and they can include improper handling of the procedure, medical infections, and failure of the body to heal properly from such an invasive process.  Improper handling of the procedure can result in an ineffective operation and leave the patient in a worse condition.  It can even result in infections in the body that interfere with the healing process.  There are also cases where the fusion of the discs is not successful and a second surgery is required.  The unrepaired disks cause major pain to arise along the back and the areas surrounding it, and by requiring a second surgery, the patient has to go through the whole ordeal twice. Moreover, recuperation time is becoming longer, which makes the experience even more difficult for the patient.

People with scoliosis are often advised to seek alternative treatments first before proceeding with scoliosis surgery.  Have you already been through physical therapy?  Chiropractic care?  Exercise treatments?  Many of these alternative treatments work just as well as surgery, with the main difference being that the results are not as immediate as with surgery, but rather more gradual. Nevertheless, these treatments can ensure safe and risk-free results that enable you to minimize your pain and live life as normally as possible.

-Dr Sid
Esprit Wellness
 (Find us on Facebook)