Your Child and Self Diagnosis for Scoliosis

It is understandable that a parent may feel a little distressed if they believe that their child has scoliosis, however it is vitally important that you know the difference between a self diagnosis and that carried out by a physician.

Scoliosis is a condition of the spine that can cause great discomfort and stress to the sufferer. The curving of the spine is something that can affect young people from a relatively early age, and cause great self conscious embarrassment and anxiety. This is the reason why so many people opt to have a screening for it as early as possible. This article looks at ways in which scoliosis is screened for, and how you can even make some attempt to carry out a self screening process, one that may even do as good a job as that which the medical professional will do. It must be stated that if you do opt for any kind of self screening process, it is important that you also gain the advice of a medical professional. This kind of advice can never be substituted for your own assessment, so it is vital that you follow up any self screening with a visit to your local physician if you are concerned about scoliosis.

Scoliosis Surgery - Is It Worth the Cost?

Sometimes the remedy can be worse than the disease

It is about a ten-hour surgery in which they open you up on your side and on your back. In my particular surgery they would put three rods in my back and hold them together with five screws. In order to help my bone grow they took out one of my ribs and six of my discs, and they also took a bone graft from my lower hip (right on my butt). They took this bone and filled three cages that hold the bone which are in between the vertebra.....

- Culled from Scoliosis Surgery: Corey McConnell's Experience

If it sounds, gruesome, remember this is just the beginning. Corrective spinal surgery for scoliosis can be quite a distressing experience for adolescent patients and their parents. Spinal surgery often involves an extensive amount of tissue and bone trauma that can result in excreting pain that the patient simply has to live with.

Worse, there is no guarantee that despite the steep cost of spinal surgery, the results would be as expected. In many cases, the remedy can be worse than the disease.

Then why do so many scoliosis patients continue to opt for spinal surgery?

Top 10 Tips and Advice for Easing Pregnancy for Scoliosis Sufferers

Back pain during pregnancy is not a new concept, but for people who suffer from scoliosis require a second thought to be given before, they plan to go through the process of pregnancy. Scoliosis is the disease of the spine in which the posture of the spine is deviated to form S or C shaped curvature, which can turn to be quite painful during pregnancy. However, this is not a reason that why you should postpone your pregnancy, as you can still go through pregnancy by using proper pain management techniques.

Back pain during pregnancy is a normal phenomenon that requires no fear. All the discomforts that you will be facing during pregnancy are because of the pressure that your little one inside your tummy is going to cause. Moreover, if you are a scoliosis patient then the chances of increased back pain is higher than what you would normally expect leaving you with a question of whether the back pain is owing to scoliosis or pregnancy. On the other hand, you will find pregnancy stabilizes scoliosis because of the transition that your body will be going through as a result of the hormonal fluctuations. If only you can follow these top ten tips to manage your back pain during pregnancy, and care should be taken with your scoliosis prescription, which may occasionally cause birth defects.

However, the discussion on back pain management tips will help to alleviate the problem of scoliosis. But before that there are three types of back pain – acute if the back pain does not last longer than three months, recurrent if the back pain occurs repeatedly and chronic back pain, which lasts longer than three months.

New Genetic Testing Shows Scoliosis Bracing Is Not Effective

Scoliosis is known by the curvature of a person’s spine. Scoliosis can be discovered at birth, while in the womb the bones of the spine fail to form properly or the ribs fuse together leading to congenital scoliosis. The condition poses minimal risk to infants and young children of both genders.

Neuromuscular scoliosis refers to muscle problems such as poor muscle control, muscle weaknesses and muscle paralysis caused by certain diseases (spina bifida, muscular dystrophy and polio). Idiopathic scoliosis has no cause and is frequently observed in adolescents, the majority being young girls. The spinal curves worsen as adolescents grow. The braces are less helpful to overweight patients afflicted with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

Treatment varies according to the cause of the scoliosis, the size and location on the spine and the growth rate of the patient. For curves between 24 to 40 degrees in adolescents, body braces are one of the advised methods used by doctors to stop the advancement of spine curving. Boston Brace, Milwaukee Brace, Wilmington Brace and Charleston Brace are the different types of braces. Each brace has an individual function and the patients’ health care provider has to choose the most suitable one for the patient.

Medical reports say the scoliosis brace applies pressure at certain points to straighten the spine. The importance of the brace is that it is adjustable as the patient matures.

Can Inflammation in this Organ be at the Root of Your Depression?

By Dr. Mercola | September 20 2011

Recent studies have shown that inflammation may be involved in the pathogenesis of depression. In fact, some research has demonstrated that depression is frequently associated with gastrointestinal inflammations and autoimmune diseases as well as with other ailments in which chronic low-grade inflammation is a significant contributing factor.

It is possible that depression could be a neuropsychiatric manifestation of a chronic inflammatory syndrome. And the primary cause of inflammation may be the dysfunction of the "gut-brain axis".

According to a study reprinted on the website Green Med InfoL

“... [A]n increasing number of clinical studies have shown that treating gastrointestinal inflammations with probiotics, vitamin B, D and omega 3 fatty acids, through attenuating proinflammatory stimuli to brain, may also improve depression symptoms and quality of life. All these findings justify an assumption that treating gastrointestinal inflammations may improve the efficacy of the currently used treatment modalities of depression and related diseases.”

Orvosi hetilap September 8, 2011; 152(37): 1477-1485