Scoliosis is not a new disease. This is not something that the new age of speed has brought upon us. The first recordings of people with bended backbones come from Ancient Egypt and their stories of mythological hunchbacks with magical powers. Throughout the history, such recordings have continued and, as science progressed, so has the opinion of the general public about those affected with scoliosis. By the eighteenth century, scoliosis was a medical problem and no longer the sign of a curse. Modern medicine has taken a new liking to the scoliosis problem due to its lack of real solution. The scientists are trying, but bended bone is not exactly easy to fix.

Levoscoliosis is a type of scoliosis. That is the textbook definition of levoscoliosis, but the simple and easy explanation is the following: while scoliosis refers strictly to the curvature of the spine, one direction or another (including left, right, forward and backward), levoscoliosis is the particular name for scoliosis with a left side curvature. Basically, levoscoliosis presents with the same symptoms and complications as classic scoliosis, but with an added threat for the health of the patient: since the curvature of the spine is pointing left, the heart is in danger. While it may seem ridiculous to assume that the spine position could influence the heart, think again. If the spine is set wrong, then the ribcage is deformed and the problems just keep on rolling one after the other. All of this makes levoscoliosis one of the most dangerous types of scoliosis out there.

Levoscoliosis pictures

…see more Scoliosis pictures: Scoliosis pictures

The symptoms of levoscoliosis can appear at an early age, even before the child turns three years old (if he or she is suffering from infantile scoliosis), as well as later in life (sometimes even as late as thirty years old). It usually affects women more than men and it prefers younger people to older ones. The reason behind those preferences is pretty simple: children’s bones are not fully formed and female bones are softer in consistency, all of this making them easier to bend. Just like with any type of scoliosis, it all starts with some back pain. The muscles next to the offending parts of the spine start to contract and spasm, indicating that the problem is starting to take shape. After a few months, the pain starts to subside and the patient notices a change in posture, indicating that the backbone has modified its original position. After that, everything starts to become clear: the shoulders are not at the same height, the skull is not perfectly aligned with the pelvis and one of the hips (the left one in the case of levoscoliosis) is slightly higher than the other one.

There are many types of levoscoliosis, starting from infantile to adolescent, but the most common one is the functional one. In this case, the patient is not born with a bone defect, nor does he or she have some sort of idiopathic scoliosis. No, in this case, the scoliosis comes from wrong posture: sit too much in a position and your body will naturally set into that shape. So, the best way to avoid functional levoscoliosis: do not slouch! If you have a desk job, try not to spend the entire day sitting. Every couple of hours, you should get up, walk for a couple of meters and then sit back down. Try it and you will feel the difference.

…read more about Scoliosis: Scoliosis

…read more about Lumbar scoliosis: Lumbar scoliosis

Levoscoliosis treatment scheme

Levoscoliosis responds to the same treatment scheme as classic scoliosis. Therefore, the rules are the same: do not try to diagnose yourself, do not do any exercises without medical guidance or supervision and do not apply any sort of treatment on your own. From the very first moments when you notice levoscoliosis symptoms in you, your child or your spouse, you must schedule an appointment with your attending physician. After a simple physical consult and an X-ray, the scoliosis can be easily diagnosed and the proper treatment can begin.

The treatment scheme implies the following: observing the patient for any sudden changes in curvature, prescribing scoliosis braces if that would help straighten the spine and, in some severe cases, performing surgery to manually rearrange the vertebrae.

After the surgery is done with, there are several rules you should follow: do not move a muscle for about two weeks, do not lift anything heavy for almost six months and do not practice any sort of physical exercise without the direct supervision of a physical therapist. Do not strain your backbone by swimming for too long or running a marathon for at least a couple of years after the surgery.

Scoliosis surgery

The best way to deal with a severe case of scoliosis must be scoliosis surgery. Sometimes it is the only way. If the sufferer is over the age of twenty, underweight or overweight and his or her spine is bended at a more than forty degree angle, then a surgery is unavoidable. Other than that, there are some less than scary ways of fixing scoliosis.

Just like with any other type of surgery, risks exist. However, this particular form of surgery takes into consideration certain other factors. For example, the patient must be able to stay calm and relaxed, without needing to move around for at least two weeks. Also, all the exercise they will be doing their entire life from the moment of the surgery on will have to be medically supervised.

…read more about Scoliosis surgery: Scoliosis surgery

Scoliosis treatment

There are not all that many ways to actually treat scoliosis and a complete cure is not yet discovered. However, the scoliosis treatment has had an increase in success rate in the last decade. Its purpose is not to completely straighten the curvature of the patients’ backbone, but rather to minimize the damage and to reduce the pain.

The three main therapies recommended for scoliosis are: observation (for young children), bracing (if the bend is at a less than forty degrees angle) and surgery (for severe cases).

…read more about Scoliosis treatment: Scoliosis treatment

Here are a few exercises for scoliosis.

Scoliosis symptoms and scoliosis pain

The scoliosis symptoms are pretty easy to spot, once you know what to be on the look out for. However, just because they are relatively hard to miss does not mean that you cannot misdiagnose yourself. This means that the scoliosis diagnosis must be given by a physician and not entirely based on the scoliosis symptoms that the patient feels.

…read more about Scoliosis symptoms: Scoliosis symptoms

Many skeptics claim that scoliosis pain is just an imaginary ache. However, recent studies prove that it is far from being imaginary and, in some cases, goes straight to the land of nightmares. If the bend of the spine is severe, the pain could come from multiple sources: the muscles surrounding the backbone, the chest, the heart or the kidneys.