New scoliosis treatment at Lee Health showing success

Scoliosis is an abnormal curve of the spine often picked up in childhood. Doctors screen for it because if it’s left untreated, it can cause serious issues later in life.

At Lee Health, pediatric physical therapists are using a unique approach to “posture” kids for success.

For some people, it might be the first thing, and then we know that you’re on your way to a curve.

Physical therapist Christine Martin’s first step is to identify trouble spots in children with scoliosis or a curved spine.

“They can have the appearance of uneven shoulders, uneven hips and the spine itself; you might see kind of a portion that comes back a little bit. Some patients call it like ‘my hump,’ but it is the actual rotation of the spine that is occurring,” Martin said.

Treatment can involve surgery or bracing to manage the spine, but Lee Health also offers something else: an age-old approach now gaining new traction called the Schroth method. It teaches kids personalized movements to return the spine to a more normal position.

“They can learn the exercises; they can strengthen their core in their spine and they can learn the correct ways to sit, stand, walk, get up and down off the floor and learn how to do it in a way that will stabilize the spine and prevent their curvature from worsening,” Martin said.

Using props like bars, blocks and balls, kids focus on posture and breathing.

The exercises train the body to find symmetry and alignment, compensating for the curve. The method was developed by Katarina Schroth, who suffered from scoliosis almost a century ago.

“To improve her breathing and take away the pain that she was feeling, so that’s how this whole field came about, and that’s why we’re trying to pair it with the kids now,” Martin said.

In the hopes they can shift the course of their condition this type of therapy is mostly directed at a younger patient population because kids have growth plates that haven’t solidified.