Lititz Record
Published: October 13, 2009 - Reprinted with permission

Stitzel has been selected to lecture on this new treatment for scoliosis at the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic in Bournemouth, England. The lecture to students will take place on October 21, 2009. In addition to England, he has lectured as far away as Singapore. The emphasis of Dr. Stitzel’s lecture in England will be on Early Stage Scoliosis Intervention. “Early Stage Scoliosis Intervention is the single best opportunity a patient has in the fight against scoliosis. Non-invasive, rehabilitation based treatment in the early stages of the disease can often not only halt its progression, but even reverse the condition back to normal. All larger spinal curvatures started out as smaller ones,” he said.

The new scoliosis treatment is an alternative to a patient wearing a rigid back brace for 23 hours a day, having spinal surgery, or watching and waiting. The treatment combines soft tissue work to loosen the muscles and realignment of the spine through stretching, vibrational therapy, and adjustments. Over 100 case studies have been completed on the CLEAR Institute scoliosis therapy and CLEAR research shows patients can start to respond to treatment in 2 or 3 weeks. “Watch and wait is simply ignoring the problem, rigid back braces don’t work, and the long term affects of surgery are often worse than the spinal deformity itself,” remarks Dr. Stitzel.

Dr. Stitzel’s Lititz practice specializes in the early detection and treatment of the disease. But unlike more traditional approaches which have shown less than stellar success, Stitzel’s approach has show results. Remarkably, he has been able to reverse or even completely cure the disease through non-invasive, non-surgical means.

Key to Stitzel’s work is the early detection of the disease. Early Stage Scoliosis Intervention or ESSI is the cornerstone of his work. He explains that scoliosis is in fact a symptom of a broader physiological disorder where the brain begins to misinterpret the precise perpendicular alignment of the head and the hips, begins to send messages to the muscles and tendons to correct the imbalance. These incorrect stimuli from the brain over time begin to have the affect of twisting the torso, thus creating a curvature in the spine.

His passion and enthusiasm for his work is evident from the very first meeting. At first glance his unassuming office resembles a physical therapy center more than your typical chiropractic office. Closer examination, however, reveals equipment far removed from the usual array of free weights, exercise balls and heat pads of physical therapy offices.

What Stitzel is so passionate about is the fact that his research and resulting treatment is literally saving lives. Scoliosis is the condition of side-to-side spinal curves. On an X-Ray, the spine of an individual with scoliosis looks more like an S or a C than a straight line. Some of the bones in a scoliotic spine also may have rotated slightly, making the person's waist or shoulders appear uneven.

But scoliosis is a disease which affects far more than the physical appearance of the patient. As it progresses, it increasingly causes a wide range of aches and pains. Worse, because one main element of scoliosis involves the twisting of the spine, over time scoliosis begins to affect the vital organs as space inside the torso begins to get crowded. Left untreated this affect of scoliosis can lead to a life span reduced by up to 14 years. Other symptoms of scoliosis include back pain, hip pain, leg pain, trouble breathing due to the spine affecting the way the lungs inflate, and trouble maintaining proper posture.

As a director of the CLEAR Institute (www.clear-institute.org) he has helped to develop a system that Stitzel calls “mix, fix and set.” In the mix stage, the doctor uses various means to send new mixed signals to the brain which are aimed at triggering the brain to try to correct a different set of imbalanced data. At the same time, various methods are used to significantly relax those tightened muscles and tendons which are pulling the spine out of alignment. Once relaxed, the doctor can then use traction among other things to reset the spine into alignment. This is then followed up with special exercises designed to both reset the muscle in the correct formation and send new signals to the brain.

What sounds simple is in reality the result of much research and several key stages and elements of treatment. And it is this research, these findings and the results of his effective treatment that have made him a much sought after speaker across the United States and the world.

He explains that traditional medicine follows the 10-25-40 scheduled. Scoliosis is usually first diagnosed when the measurement of spinal curve is 10 degrees or less. In this stage traditional medicine follows a “wait and see” approach by which they will monitor a patient’s condition over a period of time to see if the disease progresses.

“It often progresses,” said Stitzel. “My treatment can usually completely reverse a curvature that is 10 degrees or less. But taking the ‘wait and see’ approach means a bigger curve which makes a successful outcome all the more challenging both for the patient and I.”

He went on to explain that the next step in the traditional scoliosis schedule is bracing which is prescribed for curves that have progressed to 25 degrees or more. Stitzel however has research which shows bracing for scoliosis treatment simply does not work. And because it does not work, most patients must suffer and endure the pain until the point at which their curvature has progressed to 40 degrees. At 40 degrees a surgical approach is prescribed, but again, Stitzel has done research which indicates such operations do not provide the permanent fix patients are lead to expect.

The doctor reports some troubling data to support his view.

“Every year in the United States, roughly 20,000 Harrington rod implantation surgeries are performed on patients with scoliosis, at an average cost of $120,000 per operation. One-third of all spinal surgeries are performed on scoliosis patients. Every year, about 8,000 people who underwent this surgery in their youth for the correction of their scoliosis are legally defined as permanently disabled for the rest of their lives. Even worse, follow-up x-rays performed upon these individuals reveal that, an average of 22 years after the surgery was performed, their scoliosis has returned to pre-operative levels.”

What is more troubling are the other affects of the surgery.

“After the operation is performed, the average patient suffers a 25% reduction in their spinal ranges of motion,” stated Stitzel. “Non-fused adult scoliosis patients do not have this same impairment. This flatly contradicts the claim that having a steel rod fused to your spine will not affect your mobility, physical activities, or quality of life. These facts are never shared with the patient prior to the surgery. Parents do not choose the Harrington rod implantation procedure because it is the best choice for their son or daughter, but rather because they are misled into believing that it is the only choice. However, many studies suggest that the side effects of the surgery are worse than the side effects of the scoliosis itself.”

Even more, statistics on the disease show how serious the disease can be. 87% of children ages 3-10 who are diagnosed with scoliosis will undergo surgery to correct the scoliosis. Of these, 20-45% will require additional surgeries. Girls ages 10-16 are 8-10 times more likely to have their scoliosis get worse than boys the same age. The average adolescent scoliosis (above 30°) worsens by about 7° each passing year.

Typically diagnosis includes the doctor obtaining a family history, since scoliosis has shown a significant genetic link. Chances are, if your child has scoliosis, a sister, brother, parent, or grandparent also has it to some degree. Once you family history is taken, certain orthopedic tests are conducted, such as an Adam’s forward bending test. This test shows if there is a rib hump present on one side of the spine.

Stitzel calls this test, commonly done by the school nurse during gym class the “too late test because detection in these tests is primarily due to a curvature that has progressed to the point where it is the presence of the rib hump and not the actual curvature which is seen. The only true objective means, however, for determining if your child has scoliosis is by taking spinal x-rays. The scoliosis is measured at the top and bottom of the curvature by a geometrical measurement called Cobb’s angle.

Stitzel is a Lancaster County native, graduated from Manheim Central High School before attending Penn State University. He received his bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology (an advanced study of biomechanics) before attending the Palmer College of Chiropractic where he earned his Doctorate in Chiropractic Medicine. While attending Palmer College, Dr. Stitzel received research honors and was inducted into the school's research fraternity. Now in private practice, Dr. Stitzel continues his research in scoliosis with the Pettibon Spinal Biomechanics Institute and as a member of the board of directors for the CLEAR Institute. He is a national and international lecturer in the field of scoliosis and co-developed the scoliosis traction chair.

Dr. Stitzel is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the field of scoliosis. He has lectured at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Daytona, Florida; Parker College of Chiropractic in Dallas, Texas; Logan College of Chiropractic in St. Louis, Missouri and throughout the USA from Las Vegas, Nevada to Hartford, Connecticut. In August of 2007, he traveled to Singapore to teach health care providers how to diagnose and treat scoliosis.

For a wealth of additional information on the topic please visit the doctor’s website at www.lancasterspinalhealthcenter.com, www.clear-institute.org or www.fixscoliosis.com which is the only on-line forum dedicated to non-invasive, non-surgical scoliosis treatment.