National Gardening Week has been taking place in the UK this week (29 April – 5 May 2019). The theme for 2019 is Edible Britain, and so gardeners all over the country have been sharing their love of home-grown produce on social media over the last few days.
Find out more on the RHS website >
Gardening with scoliosis
Gardening can be quite a physically demanding activity, and over the years, we at Scoliosis SOS have treated a number of keen gardeners who were having difficulties due to their scoliosis. Back pain and reduced flexibility are no help whatsoever when you’re digging, planting, pruning and weeding!
Here are just some of the gardening enthusiasts our ScolioGold treatment programme has helped (click the links to view news articles in full):
How do we treat scoliosis? Book an initial consultation
Scoliosis is defined as any sideways spinal curvature that measures 10 degrees or more (see Cobb angle). That being said, any curve measuring less than around 25 degrees is considered quite mild and generally less likely to require immediate medical attention. For context, spinal fusion surgery is usually recommended only in cases where the curve measures at least 40-50 degrees.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that 15 degree scoliosis doesn’t need to be treated at all. For one thing, some symptoms of scoliosis can occur no matter how slight your spinal curvature may be. Many people with so-called ‘mild’ scoliosis still experience:
- Back pain
- Stiffness
- Noticeably reduced mobility/flexibility
If these symptoms persist, it may be necessary to treat them in order to minimise their impact on the patient’s day-to-day life. Pain medication can help, and physical therapy can improve flexibility/mobility while also combating the source of any pain or stiffness.
15 degree scoliosis won’t necessarily stay that way!
Another thing to consider is that scoliosis often progresses (i.e. gets worse) as time goes by. A 15-degree curve may gradually grow into a 20-degree curve, then 25, and so on until eventually the patient has to go in for surgery.
For this reason, preventative treatments are sometimes required in order to stop that progression from happening. Young scoliosis patients often wear a back brace until the body has finished growing to stop the condition progressing. And while surgery is not recommended in milder cases of scoliosis, treatments like our own ScolioGold programme can reduce the Cobb angle, sometimes past the 10-degree threshold to the point where the patient’s condition is no longer classified as scoliosis at all. Click here for examples of this.
Would you like to find out more about our non-surgical scoliosis treatment courses? Contact Scoliosis SOS now to arrange an initial consultation.
“Traditionally, scoliosis has been considered to be a disease affecting bone, cartilage, or neuromuscular activities. We were surprised to find an immune response associated with idiopathic scoliosis.”
Idiopathic scoliosis is a condition that affects people all over the world, yet the underlying cause is still unknown. Researchers have made great progress in recent years, however – we’ve explained previously on this blog that zebrafish can be very useful when researching scoliosis and other congenital defects that occur in humans, and scientists at The Hospital for Sick Children have been examining zebrafish to try to identify factors that contribute to the onset of idiopathic scoliosis.
While looking for abnormal genes or genetic pathways that could be responsible for idiopathic scoliosis, the researchers instead noticed that immune cells liked to inflammatory conditions had accumulated around the area where the spinal curvature occurred. Using genetic tools, they found that stimulating pro-inflammatory signals in the spines of zebrafish could induce idiopathic scoliosis.
Interestingly, the team were also able to demonstrate that blocking these signals using NAC (an over-the-counter supplement that has anti-inflammatory properties) reduced the severity of scoliosis in the zebrafish. If these findings can be applied successfully to humans, then these Toronto-based scientists may have discovered a treatment that is less invasive than some of the treatments currently available to people with scoliosis.
Image source: advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/12/eaav1781
The research team are now planning to explore the genetic causes of idiopathic scoliosis in human patients and attempt to determine whether inflammatory signals like those found in the zebrafish can be identified and proven to accelerate the onset or progression of spinal curvature.
Read the Research Article > How We Treat Scoliosis >
