Surgery Is Not An Option ~ Update My Son’s Scoliosis Treatment

Our first visit to the Scoliosis Care Center in Campbell, CA was in April of 2021. Overwhelming doesn’t even begin to describe it. The cost was one thing, but seeing the different devises used to help straighten, strengthen, and make the spine more flexible was another. This place resembled some sort of mid evil torture chamber. Hearing the sound of kids grimacing pain and some even crying, made it sound like one too. Talk about No Pain - No Gain!! These kids are tough!!

I’m one that likes to know how things work, if you haven’t noticed. So as the group of doctors explained how each how their treatment works to correct scoliosis curves, I was all ears. The light bulbs in my head kept turning on.

“That totally makes sense!”

Well here, I will show you his baseline MRI image from the first visit compared to our last visit. This is a 6 month span of time in which he grew 2-1/2 inches!! He is dang near as tall as me!!

You see that!! 22.2 degrees down to 9.5 degrees on his upper. 20.2 degrees down to 6.6 degrees on his lower! In just 6 months!! Now that is what I call results!

Now this is the big take away in those decreasing numbers. If we would have gone the “traditional” route of Slap a Half ass brace on him and keep an eye on it” His curves wouldn’t be where they were today, I’m sure of that. You see he grew 2-1/2 in 6 months. That big growth spurt, in that short time is when a scoliosis curve typically goes from the 20-30 degree range to 40, 50 or higher. That’s a candidate for surgery. That is what happened to my brother and now he has 2-18 inch metal rods in his back. Yet, my son’s curve didn’t get worse during that growth period… it got better!!

I mentioned a Corrective Brace and a Half Ass brace (traditional). My brother had the Traditional one. It basically just holds the spine with very little correction. The idea is to just keep the curve from getting worse. Now things have come a long way in 30 years and I imagine the traditional bracing has gotten better. But… kids are still having surgery, so to me it’s not working too well. It is keeping a fat wallet in the back pocket of those surgeons though wink:wink. Check out this MRI of my son in his scoliosis brace that corrects the curve.

22.2 degrees down to 4 degrees on his upper curve. 20.2 degrees to a reversed 3.5 degrees. Now that brace is doing some work. One would think it would be painful to wear this thing. I mean look how far it is correcting the curve of the spine!! At first my son said it was a little uncomfortable but within weeks it was no big deal. Now, he says it’s comfortable besides some rubbing in his armpits from time to time. Would he rather not wear it… yes. Yet he knows he needs to

Not only is his spine straightening, his overall posture is being corrected too. Even without referencing the red line you can see the difference. Plus check out his height!!

Check out that forward lean he used to have. That red line is suppose to go from ankle bone, to center of knee,to center/back of hip joint, to center of shoulder, to right behind the ear. He is dang close now!!

This progress can’t be 100% attributed to the brace but a good amount is. There are several therapies that we do on a daily basis that helps the brace work even better. The Scoliosis Care Center has figured out a way to make these so easy for the kids to do. Just strap them in and the equipment does the work… basically.

The chair is used to make the spine more flexible. Stretching the muscles and ligaments of the spine, allow the spine to be more easily pushed and held in the right position with the brace. With heavy duty ratchet straps, the lower curve is pulled. Then a pad pushes in his lower back, de-rotating the spine. The chair then gets laid back and a big custom shaped pad pushes and de-rotates his upper curve. Another ratchet strap goes under the armpit and pulls him into the upper pad. Then he sits and watches videos or whatever for 21 long minutes.

After a good stretch, it’s time work strengthen those muscles. The muscles on the outside of the curve are not doing their job of holding the spine straight. So that is where Spinal Weighting comes into play. We got to hive those muscles a workout. 3 separate pieces are placed in specific spots with weights attached to them. Then he stands on a Basu Ball and maintain his balance. Strengthening the core and strengthening the muscles. One pice has a beeper on it that goes off when it’s not level. He is packing 30 pounds on this thing!! Another 20 minutes of therapy and again he can just stand there and watch a little something on his phone.

Around 90% of kids they see with scoliosis have severe nerve tension. You know all those nerves that run from the upper back out the shoulders and the lower back down the legs.

_{a photo of a photo on the wall at the Scoliosis Care Center}

In order to allow the spine to grow straight that tension needs to be relieved. Like beads on a string, the string being the spinal cord and the beads the vertebrae. If the spinal cord and nerves surrounding are lacking elasticity while the vertebrae are growing, they will begin to curve the hole back. Take a set length string, place 5 beads on it. Replace them 5 with bigger beads. Eventually the beads will be too big and begin shifting to one side in order to fit on the fixed length of string. Therefore creating a curved stack of beads.

They start with the lower nerves by utilizing a nerve stretching table that they built in house. With the hips strapped down, each knee has a pad holding it straight. Then each leg is lifted to the point where that can’t hardly handle it. Then they hold it there for 3 minutes. Alternating legs for 1/2 hr. My Son started at only being able to lift each leg to around 45 degrees. Yep, he was tight.

Now with the table I built, he is able to get a constant 85-90 degree range. He likes to brag about how flexible he is now. Once he gets a consistent 90 degree and above they move to the upper nerves. I’ve seen other parents doing this at the Scoliosis Care center and it looks like they are folding these kids in half. Then I tried it on myself by just pulling down on the back of my head. I can breathe fine but man do I feel a stretch. Of course there is a custom stretcher that I built for each individual.

Core, Core, Core… Strengthen the core. He does a lot of these core exercises in his brace. Just a handful are done out of brace. He always complains when it’s time for a core workout. Lol. He tends to get a little lazy on his planks and use his brace to hold him. Mama, Splatts and I crack the whip on that. Lol. We will have a planking competition from time to time.

SLOUCHER!! He was getting a little tired… I’ll give him that.

When we take the trip to California it’s for an intensive treatment week. Meaning he does all these therapies 3 times a day. Plus they take MRI’s to ensure the brace is still fitting properly with his growth, new pads in the brace, chair adjustments… among many other things. I’m thinking our next visit he may need a new brace… OUCH!!! With little help from insurance, which I am still fighting. Thank God for Overtime!! These trips get a little spendy to say the least.

Well I hope this was informative and inspirational. Just because your child has scoliosis doesn’t mean they will have surgery. As far as I know this is the only place in the U.S.A that has a program such as this. One that gets results!! They pulled away from the Clear Scoliosis Institute because kids were still requiring surgery after their treatment. I’ve seen first hand and talked to many parents about their journey to avoid surgery for their child. Truly amazing!! Being a “veteran” parent know, I was able to talk to a few first timers and ease their overwhelming feelings and give them confidence they their child can do it and they can too.

We caught my son pretty early thanks to my keen eye. I know when things aren’t level or straight. I knew something needed fixed. It was my amazing Wife that found the place to fix it… The Scoliosis Care Center.

Surgery is Not an Option

The Torture Chamber

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