As we’ve discussed on this blog previously, scoliosis is generally not considered a life-threatening condition. A curved spine can cause a great deal of pain and discomfort (among other complications), but cases where the patient’s very life is at risk are vanishingly few and far between.
Leaving out the risk of suicide – see Scoliosis and Depression – the only exceptions occur when scoliosis is allowed to progress to the point where the body is so distorted that vital organs can no longer function properly.
Can scoliosis affect your heart?
In the vast majority of cases, no. If your condition is closely monitored and treated in a timely manner, you should never come anywhere near the point where your scoliosis begins to cause heart problems.
Theoretically, however, scoliosis can affect the heart if the curvature goes untreated and progresses unabated over an extended period of time. A severely curved spine can distort the rib cage, and a severely distorted rib cage can leave the heart and lungs with too little room to beat / inflate.
Thus, heart failure is a possible outcome of severe progressive scoliosis – but again, it’s important to bear in mind that is an extremely rare occurrence.
Treat your scoliosis early!
The symptoms and complications associated with scoliosis vary enormously from one patient to the next – pain isn’t always proportional to the angle of one’s curve – but nevertheless, it’s always better to catch the condition early and seek treatment right away than to let it progress.
Here at the Scoliosis SOS Clinic, we provide non-surgical scoliosis therapy for patients of all ages and curves of all sizes. Here’s an example of a patient who came to us for early (almost pre-emptive) treatment after her older brother ended up requiring spinal fusion surgery:
Call Scoliosis SOS on 0207 488 4428 or use the links below to find out more about our ScolioGold treatment courses.
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Scoliosis can affect the body in a number of different ways and with varying severity.
For example, significant spinal curvature and rotation can sometimes affect lung function, leaving the patient short of breath.
How does spinal rotation affect lung function?
According to the Thoracic Institute at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital, “spine rotation causes a windswept thorax, with both restriction of the volume of the convex hemithorax and restriction of the motion of the involved ribs”.
In other words, scoliosis and other curvatures of the spine can limit your movement and inhibit the inflation of your lungs.
As a general rule, the more severe the angle of trunk rotation (ATR), the more severely your respiratory system may be affected. This can be particularly noticeable during periods of activity and exercise, which may leave you feeling short of breath.
Can lung function be improved?
Despite this correlation between spinal rotation and lung function, there may be light at the end of the tunnel. Our ScolioGold treatment programme can provide relief for people with scoliosis, even when it is so severe as to affect the patient’s lungs.
The Scoliosis SOS Clinic’s own research has shown that treatment via the ScolioGold programme can improve a patient’s forced vital capacity (i.e. the amount of air that can be forcibly exhaled from the lungs after taking the deepest breath possible).
However, due to the retrospective nature of the study along with other contributing outside factors, the improvements cannot be fully attributed to decreasing ATR. Nevertheless, it’s an encouraging statistic and shows how ScolioGold can be beneficial for scoliosis patients seeking non-surgical help.
What is ScolioGold?
ScolioGold therapy is a treatment programme that combines the Schroth method with myriad other tried and tested therapeutic techniques from across the globe.
Continuously monitored, modified and developed, the ScolioGold programme is constantly evolving to include the latest advancements in non-surgical treatment.
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