Scoliosis Surgery – Is It Worth the Cost?
Scoliosis Surgery – Is It Worth the Cost?
Sometimes the remedy can be worse than the disease
Dr Kevin Lau D.C
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?
That’s a million dollar question! I’ve been baffled by it and discovered that over these years, we have veered so far away from traditional modes of treatment and scalpel-free cures, that we’ve forgotten that there were “miraculous” recoveries from scoliosis even when doctors didn’t wield any scalpel.
This set me on an intensive research and during my last few years of practice and experience with hundreds of scoliosis patients, I’ve come to discover that THERE ARE, time-tested non-surgical treatment for scoliosis.
I’ve been offering a combination of these effective, safe and painless non-surgical treatments for various disorders of the spine such as neck problems, low back pain and slipped disc, to my patients in Singapore since 2005 and a year later, won the “Best Health-care Provider Awards” by the Straits Time. Many of my patients were told that spinal surgery was the only method of treating their condition or have come to me after a failed surgery.
My techniques draws the best protocols and methods from around the world, such as the Schroth method pioneered in Germany, the Vertetrac system developed in Israel and also vibration therapy, physical therapy and used in U.S.A. for correcting spinal curves (scoliosis), low back pain, sciatica and herniation, with very encouraging results.
The biggest advantage with my treatment is that besides being painless, it’s more cost-effective (costs a fraction of the cost of spinal surgery) and there are no side effects! The only requirement is that you begin your treatment with the committment to follow through with the recommended exercise and treatment protocols over a period of time. (See the inset table for a detailed comparison of spinal surgery with non surgical intervention)
I once saw a patient who was diagnosed with scoliosis in 1996 during a regular check up at a school camp but was NOT offered any treatment, except for general monitoring of the progression of her spinal curvature through annual X-Rays and the prescription of glucosamine to ease her pain!
The result?
While in 1996 her curvature was only 15 degrees that could easily have been set right at that age, when the tissue is still soft, growing and amenable, by 2003, when she finally came to visit me, the curve had progressed to 39 degrees to the right (thoracic). Obviously, to correct this kind of curvature, at her advanced age took more time and careful intervention and the progress was also slower than what it would have been had she been brought to me earlier.
Nonetheless, she started with my program with a lot of commitment and steadfast devotion. At that time, she suffered from acute backaches after sitting or standing in one posture for too long. However, with the comprehensive program at my clinic, her condition gradually started improving. Over time, her right thoracic curve improved by 9 degrees from 39 to 30 degrees in only 3 months! “My back doesn’t feel as stiff and the frequency of backaches have decreased. Thank you, Dr Lau,” she wrote in my feedback book, one day.
My treatment basically includes:
Nutrition therapy
I am a firm believer in that age-old dictum: We are what we eat. As most people are well aware, good nutrition and a balanced diet are important components of overall health. What may surprise people with back problems is that diet, nutrition and maintaining a healthy weight also play a major role in the back – including preventing many problems and healing from injuries. The bones, muscles and other structures in the spine need good nutrition and vitamins so that they are strong enough to support the body and to perform their other functions. Using these