Lee Health using physical therapy to treat scoliosis

Scoliosis is an irregular curve of the spine that is most often diagnosed and treated in childhood.

Surgery is needed for the most serious cases, but now Lee Health is using an innovative form of physical therapy to stabilize the backbone.

It may look like child’s play when 9-year-old Grace Morrell shimmies up a climbing apparatus, but it is actually therapy. Last year, Grace was diagnosed with scoliosis.

“When we first got the X-ray, I was pretty scared because it did look like she may be somebody who had to have surgery,” said her mom, Amy Morrell.

Lee Health pediatric orthopedic physical therapist Christine Martin said Grace has an S-shaped curve in her thoracic spine. If left untreated, scoliosis can lead to pain, orthopedic issues and breathing problems.

“What ends up happening with the curves in the back is it can have effects on the lungs as the curves progress,” Martin said.

Hoping to avoid an operation but still treat the problem, Morrell’s family opted for another solution: a line of therapy called the Schroth method. It’s a non-surgical approach that uses exercise movements to put the back in a more natural position. It improves strength, posture and flexibility while elongating the spine.

“We can make positive adjustments to keep the curve stable and not to have it get any worse for them. But then if we’re bracing, we’re adding this as well because now we’re strengthening the muscles of the spine,” Martin told WINK News health and medical reporter Amy Oshier.

Morrell’s treatments focus on body mechanics with motions that are personalized for her particular deficits. At night, she wears a brace to keep her back in position. Her mom said the results have been dramatic.

“She improved 25 degrees in her spine. So she’s within now she’s within a couple of degrees of being normal,” Morrell said.

For patients who opt for this therapy, it is an investment in the future Martin explained, “As they become adults, they are able to maintain their health. They don’t have falls; they don’t have worsening of the curves, and they don’t have pain.”

This treatment is leaving kids like Morrell in a much stronger position.