A Scoliosis Patients Perspective and Experience

By Maggie Victoria

 

I am not a doctor, I am a scoliosis surgery victim, and I want to share and support you if you are in the same place as I once was. I have read many on-line articles that generally imply that we, scoliosis surgery patients, after about 20 years, begin to experience minor and insignificant mild back problems; oh, really, I beg to differ and the following is my perspective and experience and the journey of so many others who have no voice, who have no power and who have been silenced and gently swept under the rug. This experience of course is in contrast to those people who have not been surgically altered, diagnosed in their youth, and they seem to be living a quality of life pretty close to those who do not have scoliosis. Just know, that you are not alone in your pain, that there are so many others out there that are just like you. Understand that we as a community of post scoliosis surgery complication patients feel as you do and you are doing the right thing by reaching out because we have all been there, right where you are currently.

 

The most difficult part of this journey, through scoliosis pain syndrome post-op is an emotional battle of the spirit vs. the body that is failing us, in the very lonely world of post scoliosis surgical failure. The loss of control, we feel, the loss of our quality of life and the general betrayal of the scoliosis community in not allowing our voices to be heard, and the constant criticism we are subjected to, with unfounded suspicion and hostility. As you journey through your surgical pain symptoms post-op note that you are facing an uphill battle, you will fight and learn to become your own best advocate, you will know more about scoliosis and the dangers of scoliosis surgery and the scoliosis pain syndrome than you ever wanted to know. It will be a test of the human spirit but know this, we are coming together as a community of scoliosis pain syndrome survivors, and we are supportive understanding and caring. We will be heard, we will have accountability and we will survive. We will advocate that the wrongs of the past will not repeat themselves, and we will seek a better way for this new generation of scoliosis children; for the GOOD of all. Please reach out to us, on facebook, (Scoliosis – The Untold Truth) through this forum and you will be pleasantly surprised, that you are not alone, that your journey can be supported, by our community, and you will find peace in that.

 

The following are conditions, and details that I hope you will find helpful, to find the support you so desperately need. My motivation for this post, is simple, that no one will ever suffer, seeking the truth, being ignored by the medical community, feeling depressed, and alone. I have been there, and I will not allow our community of scoliosis surgical patients with these complications to go largely ignored and unsupported. You deserve better than that, we all deserve better than that.

 

Before Scoliosis Surgery

 

Before my  scoliosis surgery, although a long time ago, I don’t recall having any pain what so ever.

I found this to be rather puzzling, so I asked my daughter about her current scoliosis, and her pain levels, surprisingly, her response to me, was that she was actually not having any pain, and rarely had pain. I pressed her several times, and she got a little irritated because she felt I was doubting her; go figure, So, as far as pain goes prior to surgery, very little to none. She has also indicated her strong desire to be treated at CLEAR scoliosis treatment and would prefer to go through life twisted than undergo even these “more refined, uncomplicated scoliosis surgeries”

 

Post Scoliosis Surgery

 

These are my experiences, for your own complications please DEMAND diagnostics and DEMAND whatever you need to get answers. Understand, they will try to pacify you, have courage, have strength, as this is your precious life and your precious health and you must be a guardian and warrior to protect it. When my complications set it in was prescribed NSAIDs and then sent home. I failed to thrive and was told “you only have a little bit of arthritis”. Be prepared, but never allow yourself to succumb to this sort of attitude and question your very sanity! Many patients do, and they become afraid, and drift off to their worlds with no place to turn to for support, getting worse, emotionally and degenerating even further.

 

I support hundreds of women daily with complications post scoliosis surgery that range from months within the initial surgeries to even 20 plus years. We have come to terms our condition and we call it scoliosis surgery failure, or Scoliosis Pain Syndrome. The surgical methods range from Harrington rod placements, C&D instrumentation, Pedicle Screw instrumentation, and the newest latest and greatest surgical instrumentation methods.

 

The following are some of the Long Term Issues that are Possible that we define as scoliosis pain syndrome or scoliosis surgery failure and complications:

 

Sometime after scoliosis surgery you might notice that your shoulders and your hips become even more uneven or clothing may not fit the way it once did. The pain this causes as the rotation advances is absolutely incredible. My physiotherapist does his best to treat this and keep me comfortable but there is little else he can do.

 

Disk degeneration – This is another very painful issue that can cause severe back pain.in your lower back. As the degeneration continues, it can cause the disks between these vertebrae to rupture, because they become so weak. . I have read so much online that says that disk degeneration does not cause severe pain in the scoliosis surgical patient. How do they know that? Did they ask us? I beg to differ! It is absolutely debilitating.

 

Those who were fitted with Harrington rods face even more severe degeneration because of the sheer weight of the rods, and salvage surgery is almost inevitable for these patients. These folks are aged well into the 50s and 60s by the time salvage surgery is required and recovery is nothing short of hell with these aged bodies lumbar flatback (some General MDs are not even aware of it) and by the time the patient is diagnosed with it they are often severely deformed and surgery to fix it is even more complex and the patient has suffered emotional trauma from the many years that have elapsed to even get a diagnosis. Most often, but certainly not always, flatback is caused by eliminating the lumbar lordosis (that is where your spine curves inward and is natural). It is claimed in general that it is caused from the Harrington instrumentation methods however it is still happening in other surgical approaches. Severe, neck, and back pain will result and eventually the person has such a severe forward bend that they can only look to the ground.

 

Post Scoliosis surgical scoliosis pain syndrome can also cause spondylosis, This is an arthritis in the spine that can develop. The joints can become inflamed, and the cartilage that cushions the disks thin and then bone spurs or (osteophytes) develop. This condition can lead to more surgery when the disk degenerates or the curve begins to progress and this does result in the vertebrae pressing on the nerves. Let me tell you, from first-hand experience, the pain is very severe and the only way to address this is yet more surgery.

 

My entire cervical spine and lumbar spine has now developed osteophytes. Scoliosis surgery can put you at greater risk for spondylosiss because inflammation will likely occur in the vertebrae above and below the fusions sites because the extra load those vertebrae must carry.

 

Your Rods can become loose and good luck getting that diagnosed. I had a blood pool study that confirmed it, and that diagnosis is still being denied. The rods can corrode, and the metal can “leach” into the blood stream, causing all sorts of issues, including, fatigue and autoimmune responses. I battle constant fatigue and exhaustion daily.

 

You can also have fusion failure where the bone fails to graft together. This can compromise the instrumentation and cause huge amounts of pain and again can only be addressed through more surgery.

 

You can also have spinal stenosis, facet joint arthropathy, fusion degeneration, kyphosis begins to set in. All of these conditions, from scoliosis pain syndrome are nothing short of life altering. I have all of these. While my spine remains stable at 30 degree thoracic and 30 degree lumbar, I am shifting rotationally which is causing me to have kyphosis, and the rib hump continues to get worse. I am concerned that my right shoulder will become displaced and dislocated. The pain is incredible.

 

Currently, 19 years post my last surgery, (note I am a health 105 pounds and was once a fitness buff. I stand about 5 feet 6 inches tall and am not over weight)

Post 3 surgeries, a dextroconvex scoliosis 30 degrees centered at T8, pedicle hooks at T4, A left fixation device T2 To L1, a fixation rod on the right T6 to T9, Clercage wire between the two rods at T8, 30 degree curve in the L-spine.

 

My surgical Pain Sydrome Implications:

L5-S1 spondylolisthesis secondary to bilateral L5 spondylolysis

Blood pool study – loosening of the metal rods and less likely arthritis

Lumbar Spine -Facet joint arthropathy lumbar spine, stenosis, and osteophyte formation at all levels.flattening of the of lumbar lordosis, DDD

C-spine -multilevel disc space narrowing degenerative osteophyes. Facet arthropathy

Thoracic spine – currently showing degeneration, DDD

Kyhposis is now present, rotation of the ribs in progress, and the rib hump progressing, shoulder and scapula beginning to displace, forward in my sagittal positioning. Currently, I have absolutely no stability.

 

Final Words

 

What Scoliosis surgery does, is trade a deformity for dysfunction for a life time of chronic pain. If you are reading this article and are without pain, and had scoliosis surgery, count your blessings, and know that at some point in your life, it will be your reality. We need a better way. We need the scoliosis community, to open their minds, stop the censorship, allow us to have a voice, and make non-surgical scoliosis treatment specialists, who treat without surgery, become the mainstream for treatment of this condition! CLEAR scoliosis treatment is definitely, on to something and in order to refine treatment, to improve treatment, we must, in the least make people aware that it is even available as a treatment option!

 

I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS EXPERIENCE TO DESTROY ME, BUT I WILL BE HEARD, AND I WILL ADVOCATE FOR THE NON SURGICAL TREATMENT OF THIS DISEASE WITH PASSION, TRUTH AND DEDICATION! NO ONE SHOULD EVER HAVE TO SUFFER FROM SCOLIOSIS PAIN SYDROME BECAUSE THERE ARE NO MORE EXCUSES! WE KNOW AND ARE VERY AWARE OF THE LONG TERM IMPLICATIONS OF THESE SURGERIES ARE! NO MORE EXCUSES!

 

 

By Maggie Victoria

 

My daughter was diagnosed with scoliosis at the age of 8. She was stable. It was her diagnosis, that sent me to the web because I was not having her journey as mine was; a disaster. She has strongly expressed to me, that there will be no surgery, that she will not live life as I do. She said, even if she has to live twisted, she will not allow “them” to do to her what they did to me.

 

I came upon the CLEAR scoliosis treatment, and Schroth, and several other treatment options for her. Since there were treatments for her where she was schooled, I embarked upon a physical therapy program, and a regular chiropractor. This was my first mistake in her treatment. Understand that the generalists are not equipped to deal with scoliosis. They did nothing to help her. In fact, the treatment, largely ineffective had a very negative impact on her ability to cope with her diagnosis.

 

I continued to research online, and I found the CLEAR Institute, and one of their certified doctors, Clayton Stitzel DC. I found him to be very knowledgeable in the three dimensional non-surgical treatment of scoliosis. I found his passion to help, to educate, and raise awareness refreshing and motivating.

We found a CLEAR scoliosis treatment center near our home and my daughter has started treatment there. The wait and watch protocol, as suggested by the surgeon, has doubled her Cobb angle, and now she has rotation which is more difficult to treat. If only the surgeon had told us about CLEAR scoliosis treatment and recommended it to us, instead of waiting and watching while she progressed from early stages of scoliosis to a triple curve with rotation. Why are the orthopaedic doctors such a close-minded community! I am angered and frustrated, that I as a parent had to find the CLEAR Institute on my own.

She is early in her scoliosis treatment, she is doing well, her confidence levels have increased, she is standing taller and she is happy we are not sitting and waiting for it to triple.

 

Parents must be realistic to understand that scoliosis, like any other condition can be managed, it can be treated without surgery, (which is primarily for cosmetic reasons in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis anyway), and a child can live a very healthy normal life without surgery. Parents must also understand that nothing, not even scoliosis surgery, will always straighten the spine to that of non-scoliosis ranges.

My life has forever changed because of scoliosis surgery, cosmetically, I look like “hell” and considering that is the only reason to do surgery, we should have left it alone and I would have been better for it.

I support, counsel and share with scoliosis patients every day, who have come to me, for advice and a kind word. They suffer as I do, they are strong people, with good hearts who also share my passion, in non-surgical scoliosis treatment and the search for a better way.

 

 

My Advice to Parents

Have a sense of perspective. Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis is not the worst thing your child can be diagnosed with. It is not life threatening, children will not die without scoliosis surgery, their organs will not be crushed, scoliosis surgery is primarily indicated for cosmetic improvement only. Know that now, more than ever there are choices and options. Also have confidence in your ability to parent, knowing what is best for your child, because no one knows your child better than you.

Speak with other parents, join online forums, however, take what you read, remove the emotions, and weigh what you read based on your own common sense. Know that there are studies, but very few that illustrate the long term outcomes of surgery.

 

Do not wait and watch. There is non-surgical scoliosis treatment that can begin to attack the scoliosis and attempt to keep your child out of the operating room.

 

Do not be intimidated, in to making rash or rushed decisions about your child need for surgery. There is NO rush, there is time to seek out alternatives, to do your research, to get second and third opinions. Keep in mind that surgeons are paid to operate.

Understand that the best gift you can give your child is their health. Do your research, reach out, and never trust implicitly have the courage to question, to educate, and seek out non-surgical treatment. To me, these seem like common sense but when dealing with our children and diagnosis of disease it can be overwhelming.

 

This is my experience this is my story, and now my daughter`s journey which will not be the same as mine. Hers will be one where her body is unaltered, and we manage her condition as we would anything else. That is the greatest gift I can give her. Some day she has promised me, she will be an M.D. and she will foster change for the good of all.

 

Understand that there is resistance to change within the scoliosis community but we all want a better way to treat and to me, anything that will leave the body unaltered with such a severe and complicated surgery is a good day, for all of us in the scoliosis community.

 

We cannot control the genetic pre-disposition “cards” that our children are handed but we certainly can control and manage their health care and guard it as their best asset.

 

The mistakes of the past, will not repeat itself in her generation.

My Motivation and About Me

By Maggie Victoria

 

I am writing this article, in the hope that you the reader will understand, my journey as a Mom of a scoliosis child, and I, a post scoliosis surgery patient. It is my hope that you will find insight, and knowledge in my journey and experience with my Life after scoliosis surgery, and now my daughters journey through her challenge to stabilize and treat her scoliosis against the norms, of the scoliosis treatment protocol, which is “wait and watch”, “scoliosis bracing”, progression and ultimately, the last choice scenario of scoliosis surgery.

 

Her diagnosis of scoliosis was a devastating blow to me. I realized then that I could not allow my experience to become hers and I would not allow her to sit and wait until she reached surgical levels. It is her diagnosis that has led me to become a passionate advocate of CLEAR scoliosis treatment methods, and non-surgical scoliosis treatment of her scoliosis during the normal surgical protocol of wait and watch. C.L.E.A.R. stands for "Chiropractic Leadership, Educational Advancement, & Research"

I came upon the CLEAR Institute through my research on the web and contacted them. What I found surprised me, delighted me, and excited me. These professionals are devoted to the non-surgical scoliosis treatment of our children and they are highly educated in scoliosis and its anomalies. They are quietly, revolutionizing, and bettering the health of the scoliosis child without surgery. With just one visit to a certified CLEAR doctor, I knew we were in the right place, and such a stark contrast to the experience we had at the scoliosis surgery clinic.  

 

I want to share my experience and my journey with you, the reader, in hopes, that you too, will seek the truth, about scoliosis treatments, about the controversy that is now surrounding scoliosis surgery i.e. its benefits vs. its long term outcomes and risks.

 

I hope it will provoke questions, and thought and further research, so you the parent, will make the best decision possible, without pressure, or haste fort the benefit of your child and your child’s health. Scoliosis treatment with the CLEAR Institute methods does no harm and creates no pain.  Unlike scoliosis surgery, which is life altering and permanent. Once your scoliosis spine is surgically fused, you are forever, now limited going forward in your ability to take advantage of the new, promising treatments and research advances that will be available. I am not willing to close that door for my daughter.

Be well, and best Wishes.

~Maggie

 

Life after Scoliosis Surgery

Please note, the following content is not to degrade or bash the scoliosis surgeon who has devoted their life to the surgical treatment of our community. It is rather, to raise awareness, of the options that we now have available to us for non-surgical scoliosis intervention. I think this next decade, has exciting times ahead for us, as we journey through, to find the better way.

There are millions of individuals diagnosed with scoliosis world-wide.  Many of these children will undergo invasive and life altering spinal fusion scoliosis surgery. Most often the parents and the families are told that scoliosis fusion scoliosis surgery is the only way to treat the scoliosis patient once the curve progresses above a pre-determined threshold. I have spoken and dialoged with many scoliosis surgical patients, who were told that without  scoliosis surgery they would be dead, as their heart and lungs would be crushed. Upon challenging this very ideal, I am met with great resistance, and this notion just is not true. Research indicates that the disease of scoliosis is not life threatening. In fact, many insurance companies are beginning to review these scoliosis surgeries, for the benefits vs. the costs of the scoliosis surgery itself. If you are told that there is no choice, and surgery is a must, and must be done immediately, please pause, please ask questions, and please do not rush to scoliosis fusion surgery.

There has been vast progress in the non-invasive, non-surgical approach to scoliosis treatment. There are options available that have shown to stabilize, decrease, or reverse the scoliosis while keeping the mind, body and spirit, intact and whole. Currently, there are somewhere in the range of about 800,000 people in America with scoliosis.

 

We continue to rely on antiquated treatment methods, that do very little to address the root cause of the curve. Standard treatment protocol for the scoliosis patients is “wait and watch”, “scoliosis brace” and scoliosis surgery. This leaves parents and children very few options, but scoliosis fusion surgery as the scoliosis curve progresses and rotates.

 

The Pre-conceived Notions about Scoliosis and Its Treatment

Doctors, the scoliosis community and even the published media continually indoctrinate those newly diagnosed that nothing but surgical correction of scoliosis, can address the condition of scoliosis. What is not conveyed to each new patient is that generally scoliosis bracing does not hold the spine stable, and does nothing to reverse the scoliosis, and the wait and watch protocol, is largely a ticking time bomb that ultimately can lead to scoliosis surgery, for those who are sure to progress without non-surgical scoliosis intervention.

 

Scoliosis surgery, is brute force lateral curve correction, with spinal fusion, and metal instrumentation introduced to the body that will have long term outcomes that are not favorable and can lead to patients becoming permanently disabled, living with severe debilitating chronic pain at a time in their lives when they least expect it.

 

Scoliosis surgeries are not to be taken lightly. These scoliosis surgeries are complex, and they are not without risk of short and long term complications. When complications arise, long term, there is no standard treatment protocol to address the complications and no one individual will have the same issues as the next. Complications, of premature wear above and below the instrumentation and fusion levels can occur, degenerative disc disease (DDD), stenosis (narrowing that causes pinching of the nerves or spinal cord), facet joint arthropathy (joint disease), bone spur formation, osteoarthritis, spondylitis, spondylolesthesis, loss of correction, flat back syndrome, instrumentation failure and surgical failure etc.

 

The patient, with failed scoliosis surgery syndrome, quickly gets caught up, in a vicious circle of medical professionals, they are largely dismissed, some are even referred to psychiatrists for emotional issues, that are diagnosed as a result of the so called treatment team not being able to identify why this patient is failing to thrive. Most of these scoliosis patients end up finding peace, support, and guidance on online forums, and groups for folks that suffer just as they are. They are further victimized by the health care system as they are tossed from surgeon to surgeon and prescribed inadequate treatments that are meant to pacify rather than fix the root cause. These patients do not have the courage and have a voice until they find out through online forums that they are one of many others suffering just the same. The only answer for these patients is more surgery, surgery that is far more complex and dangerous then the first scoliosis surgery. To add further insult to injury most of these patients have to fight to get any government disability income what so ever. Many of them are turned down several times, and end up needing a lawyer to fight for what is rightfully theirs. The question in my mind, is who is accountable for these failed surgeries, who is accountable for the generations of people who are now in failure, who have lost their abilities, their quality of lives, their ability to earn an income that far exceeds what any individual would receive on SSI disability benefits. We have lost generations of productive contributing adults who are now living in chronic pain.

 

We must begin to question, why scoliosis surgeries are on the rise in America and why it is being promoted as the only treatment that must be performed to address the lateral curve of the scoliosis patients. We must become skeptics in our own healthcare as these surgeries are presented as “life and death” scenarios that must be performed immediately once the patient advances to perceived surgical levels. We must also begin to question the very elements that are used to determine the severity of the scoliosis Cobb angle. We know that the measurement of the Cobb angle only addresses the scoliosis curvature from a two dimensional perspective and this is flawed from the onset as scoliosis is more than two dimensional. We must begin to question, to research to find a better way.

The medical community as an entity must better service its scoliosis community of patients by making parents aware of these non-surgical treatments developed by the CLEAR Institute for the sake and the well-being of the patient.

 

We are being told after all this time, that the only way to improve, to relieve (non-existent symptoms of pain) is to open the body up, chip away at bone from hips and ribs for harvest to the spinal vertebrae, to take the mobile, flexible spine and to fuse it to a solid, immobile structure that will become rigid, and instrument the spine, with large and invasive pieces of metal. The body, and its natural mechanics now permanently altered and the long term outcomes unknown.

We must begin to change mindset, to think progressively, and put aside the traditional treatment modalities to advance and to a better way of non-surgical, non-invasive treatment approaches for long term health benefits.

 

We as a community and as a parent must do our research, stay mindful of the advances in non-surgical scoliosis treatments and challenge the status quo for the best of our children.

Please click here to receive a FREE SCOLIOSIS TREATMENT INFORMATION KIT.

 

 

The current medical management of idiopathic scoliosis is fairly straight forward with 3: main recommendations:

 

~Smaller curves below 25 degrees monitor with no scoliosis treatment.

 

• ~Medium curves over 25 and less than 40 degrees, scoliosis brace treatment.

 

~Large curves over 40 degrees, multiple level scoliosis surgery.

 

The problem arises with parents of children who have entered the 40 degree zone when the typical orthopedic response is your child needs scoliosis surgery and many of these parents simply don’t want scoliosis surgery and feel that it is too invasive a procedure at this point. So what are the options? Is there a nonsurgical management plan for scoliosis? What are the real consequences of choosing not to do a multiple level scoliosis fusion surgery on a child with a 40 degree, 50 degree, 60 degree scoliosis?

 

The answer to these questions is going to be different based on the facts of the individual child’s clinical picture. If we look at options for nonsurgical management of larger curvatures we won’t find a whole lot of current literature or choices. Some of the more common but rather generic options are exercises, chiropractic, massage, and other alternative back care choices that don’t offer much in terms of addressing some of the more important aspects of larger scoliosis curvature. Many parents and children feel that addressing posture, function levels, breathing capacity, rib deformity, and pain are the major concerns with managing a larger scoliosis curvature.

 

The other concerns are often regarding the future health of their child. Will the scoliosis continue to progress? Are their cardiovascular or respiratory risks not just a shallower breathing pattern, but real tangible health concerns with a larger curvature? Can my daughter have children? What about sports?

As you can see there certainly is a plethora of questions facing a nonsurgical choice when it comes to scoliosis and probably why tens of thousands of scoliosis fusion surgeries are performed annually. It’s easier to swim downstream then to swim upstream especially when you have some of the most respected surgeons advising you to do the surgery.

 

Shedding light in regards to nonsurgical management of larger scoliosis curvature generally above 40 degrees is something that needs to be done and I hope the following information will help do this. Statistically the chances of cardiopulmonary or cardiac dysfunction that will actually affect the health of the individual with scoliosis are rare. Most experts feel that only in grossly severe curves over 100 degrees is the heart actually in danger of being affected. Pulmonary changes are more common but only occur in thoracic primary curves above 60 degrees in addition the thoracic kyphosis also must demonstrate significant losses in order for more noticeable changes in respiratory capacity to be measurable. The ability to have children both carry and deliver a baby to term without complications is often unaffected by larger scoliosis and in some reports more of a problem with multiple level spinal fusion surgeries. Most patients with a larger scoliosis remain fully functional and continue to live normal lives and other than some visual body asymmetry really are at no increased health risks.

 

It would be interesting to argue that there are potentially more health risks and complications with surgically treated scoliosis versus non surgically treated. Experts could argue that nonsurgical leaves you at risk for progression, pulmonary deficiencies pain whereas surgical intervention yields no improvement in pulmonary deficiencies or pain and adds functional losses in movement ability, stiffness, scarring, and host of other reported health issues. One thing surgery definitely provides is 250 billion dollars of revenue annually.

 

Moving forward a new nonsurgical treatment option created by a group of doctors known as CLEAR scoliosis treatment provides the best opportunity to manage a larger curvature. The main premise of CLEAR treatment is to decrease soft tissue resistance and then rehabilitate the neuromuscular system using advanced cantilever body weighting that helps the spine adapt and learn a new straighter position without creating immobility. Soft tissue adaptations that are present with larger curves involve muscle, tendons, ligaments, and discs. These tissues become more rigid and asymmetrical in larger curve formation. Advanced biomechanical equipment used produces cyclical loading and unloading combined with low frequency vibration to stimulate collagen elongation thus increasing spinal flexibility. Once the spine is unlocked where soft tissue has disengaged the neuromuscular retraining begins. A series of engineering measurements are taken to allow the doctor to create the appropriate weight leverage needed to cause the bodies neurological righting mechanism to shift the spine to a more stable balanced position when the weight is placed on the patient. This shift in spinal position used to rebalance and redistribute the bodies center of mass causes the spine to become straighter. When used repetitively for approximately 90 days follow up x-rays will demonstrate average scoliosis curve reductions between 30-50% with doctors that have clinical experience and advanced training so it is important who you choose for this type of care program.

 

Unlike physical therapy or chiropractic care this group of doctors are specifically trained in scoliosis bioengineering, require additional training, specific clinical equipment, and are required to take multiple exams to become eligible to provide CLEAR scoliosis treatment . So if I were a parent choosing a nonsurgical scoliosis management system I would choose these guys hands down. I would also consider for those parents who are planning on multiple level scoliosis fusion surgery to get a consultation with a CLEAR practitioner prior to undergoing surgery for scoliosis you may in fact see more benefit in a nonsurgical approach. When it comes to risks versus benefits the tide is turning in regards to nonsurgical versus surgical management for scoliosis.