Non-Traditional Methods of Treatment

     While observation, bracing, and surgery are the main types of treatment for scoliosis there are a few other methods of treatment.  These methods are not proven to be effective as treatment methods and are not recommended by doctors.  Therapies, chiropractor, yoga, and strengthening exercises are the “non-traditional” forms of treatment.  In some cases these have been proven to provide sufficient treatment to those who have scoliosis, unfortunately they have not been proven in enough cases for doctors to truly believe they are good ways to treat.  There are some people, mainly those who are against invasive medical treatment, which would rather try these methods over observation, bracing, or surgery.  While in the end it does come down to what the patient wants in terms of what treatment option is pursued these non-traditional methods are not going to always work and therefore are not the best option for the patient.  While my parents and I did not find an abundance of information about different treatment options we knew that the non-traditional methods were not what we wanted.  When looking at different websites there was almost always only a sentence or two about these methods and that was just not enough to convince us that these were worth my time.  It did not make sense to us to pursue one of these options because there was no evidence to back them up that any of the non-traditional methods would work.  And even though there was not a ton of information about bracing, being in the study allowed me to help others in the future make an easier decision than I did as to which method of treatment they should choose.