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Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis accounts for over 80% of all scoliosis cases and generally occurs between the ages of 9-14 years of age.  For unknown reasons, it targets females to males by an 8 to 1 ratio most of the curve progression occurs during times of rapid growth.  While the condition isn’t life-threatening, it can create massive permanent spinal and body deformity and particularly at a time when teenage girls are often already self conscious about body image.

Clinically speaking, approximately 80% of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis cases will not cause any significant medical issues (although they are at an increased risk of back pain and spine degeneration as adults), but even smaller, non-progressive spinal curvatures can and will have a negative impact on one’s quality of life.  The unfortunately 20% whose spinal curvatures progress though out adolescence are usually presented a very limited number of unattractive, uncomfortable, and ineffective scoliosis treatment options such as scoliosis brace treatment or scoliosis surgery; both of which only focus on treating the spinal curvature and not the neurological root cause of idiopathic scoliosis.

Brand new data supplied by the developers of the Scoliscore genetic test for scoliosis, Axial Bio-Tech, has raised new questions in regards to why certain idiopathic scoliosis cases become progressive curvatures and other don’t.  Only 1% of all idiopathic scoliosis cases are considered “genetically high risk” for scoliosis curve progression, yet approximately 20% of idiopathic scoliosis cases demonstrate progression.  While this would be illogical if idiopathic scoliosis was solely a genetic condition, researchers have long suspected adolescent idiopathic scoliosis to be a multi-factorial condition with both genetic pre-disposition and environmental influences.  Given the fact, that only a tiny percentage of cases are “genetically high risk” for severe progression, and in fact a large percentage of idiopathic scoliosis cases do experience significant scoliosis curve progression it would seem that environmental factors make the most significant role in the progression of idiopathic scoliosis curve progression. 

While teens are notorious for sitting and standing with bad posture (an environmental risk factor for scoliosis curve progression), there are a many other environmental factor/ lifestyle factors to consider as well.……

Sleeping on one’s stomach is not advisable for patients with thoracic scoliosis.  The prolonged position places un-due stress on the mid back and the head turned to one side can increase spinal rotation.

Repeated back bends in ballet or gymnastics can cause scoliosis curve progression.  The repeated hyper-extension of the mid back (back bends) can cause a flattening of the thoracic spine and the de-stabilization may allow a spinal curvature to progress father than it would otherwise.

Spinal trauma that results in ligament damage to the neck is common.  Most people don’t understand the bio-mechanics of ligament damage and think it requires a large amount of force to damage the ligaments in the cervical spine, when it fact it only requires a very “rapidly applied” force.  Minor fender benders are a prime example of trauma that causes ligament damage in the neck.  The resulting instability can change the patient’s head position with profound effects on the scoliosis spine curvature.

Scoliosis in teenagers is a challenging diagnosis to deal with and condition to treat, but new early stage scoliosis intervention therapies that are based on rehabilitating the automatic postural control centers in the brain are having amazing success in halting the progression of scoliosis and reversing the spinal curvature to a large degree.  This new focuses treatment on the reduction/elimination of the environmental factors that combine with the genetic pre-disposition to create the idiopathic scoliosis spine condition rather than only focusing on the spinal curvature.