Diagnosis

There are multiple treatment options available to you after being diagnosed with scoliosis. These treatments depend upon several factors: the severity of the curve; your age; your overall health; your medical history; as well as your tolerance for specific medications, procedures and therapies. All of this, plus the expected course of the disease factor in to what therapies are appropriate for you.

Treatments

You'll be relieved to know the majority of scoliosis patients require no treatment, only observation and follow-up appointments. While other options include physical therapy, chiropractic care, bracing, anti-inflammatory medications and even surgery, we believe in the least-invasive treatment possible. We also encourage all our patients to exercise regularly, maintain ideal weight and avoid smoking and a sedentary lifestyle.

Surgical Procedures

Anterior instrumentation

This refers to metal implants attached to the vertebral bodies in front of the spine. The purpose is to provide correction of deformities and stability during the bone healing (i.e. fusion) process.

Posterior instrumentation

This refers to metal implants such as screw, wires, hooks, and rods attached to the backside of the spine. The purpose being to provide correction of a deformity and to offer stability during the bone healing (i.e. fusion) process.

Combine anterior & posterior spine surgery

These are two different operations on the spine from the front and separate from the backside; each operation allows for loosening of the elements of the spine, providing a safer and better correction of the spine deformity and separating implant instrumentation to stabilize the spine.

Approach

Approach refers to the anatomic entry to the spine that allows safe, less traumatic, and more effective surgery for a particular problem.

Minimal Invasive treatment descriptions

These are smaller openings into a patient's body with less damage to tissues and less pain for the patient; minimal invasive surgery of the spine may be thought of as using "Nintendo" style surgery such as the kind of procedure used to build a ship inside a small opening of a large bottle.