Treatment in adulthood
It is difficult to make a general statement about the therapy, since many factors such as symptom burden, consequential damage and dynamics play a role. In adolescent patients, a corset is often used in the treatment of scoliosis. However, this is not common in adult patients.
In adult patients, there is usually already a permanent curvature of the spine and vertebral bodies. This can result in some consequential damage: These consequential damages are usually in the foreground during treatment. Physiotherapy can help to promote mobility and provide relief for breathing problems.
In case of deteriorating dynamics, a corset or an operation can be useful. Randomly detected scoliosis in adults with a low degree of curvature does not necessarily have to be treated if there is no deterioration and no symptom burden, but should still be observed. – limited mobility
- Premature signs of wear (arthrosis of the facet joints)
- Respiratory problems
- Other problems caused by a different spatial order of the internal organs
Physiotherapy for scoliosis
In physiotherapeutic treatment, the focus is on strengthening and stretching the muscles and maintaining mobility. But breathing can also be disturbed by the curvature of the spine. Therefore additional breathing or relaxation exercises can be helpful.
Trained therapists can apply different treatment concepts (therapy according to Schroth, Dorn, Vojta, etc.) and exercise equipment, depending on the patient and the degree of severity. The exact malposition (thoracic/lumbar spine, etc.)
should be considered. During the therapy, exercises for self-help are also learned. In general, the aim is to prevent the curvature from progressing, but (complete) correction cannot usually be achieved, as in the case of corset treatment.
Osteopathy in scoliosis
Osteopathy as the only therapy can usually not provide sufficient relief. Nevertheless, it can be performed in addition to other treatments. The advantage is the conservative approach.
This means that no operations or interventions are performed. Osteopathy does not only consider the spine as a critical point, but holistically further (resulting) functional limitations of the entire body and tries to gently resolve this complex of problems.
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