Dear Sir,
I came across your site while doing some research on scoliosis treatment with acupuncture. I am a 38 year-old Romanian with a 40-50° scoliosis. I do not exprience any pain nor do I contemplate surgery. I would like to know if acupuncture could decrease scoliosis of 40-50° and if it does, how long it would take to see an improvement. I am not a practionner but I would be very grateful if I had a response.
Thank you for your consideration
Sincerely yours,
Ana
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
It can. But honestly in my experience it takes quite some time. Most of the patients I've treated to the point of reconciling their curvature were here for other long-term conditions such as cancer or autoimmune. So as a byproduct of all the treatment that is often required to treat these types of conditions they end up with a straight spine (part of that is our system which heavily uses huatuo points - those near the vertebral segments).
If you have limited pain and no trouble, it probably wouldn't be worth the effort. If you were to try, however, you would probably have appointments weekly for 3 months and then perhaps every other week for an additional 6-12 months would be my guess.
Sometimes it will go much faster, but I don't want to raise any expectations about the process. There is a lot more to the treatment than this, but at the end of it you are moving each vertebral segment a millimeter at a time and then moving all those below it and then back up and do it again and then again all below, etc. until you get it straightened out.
Comment by Archived User
Yes, i would most certainly recommend acupuncture but would supplement it with other methods such as Tui Na, spinal manipulation etc. The first thing i would look for and treat is the "short leg syndrome" which is most often caused by an imbalance of the pelvis. The body does tend though to move back into its habitual position so several treatments over weeks to months are necessary to retrain the muscles. As is normal with TCM the underlying energetic patterns need to be considered and the treatments modified or supplemented as necessary.
I have no experience with hereditary scoliosis (if there's such a thing!?) so cannot recommend on that.
Comment by Archived User
Thank you for your reply. It gives me much hope. Indeed I have a shorter leg but it is an insignificant difference. In this case the treatment would be focused only on the spine ? My last xray showed a 40 to 50° curve. How long do you think it would take to see a move bck even slightest, months, years ? Is it common knowledge for acupuncture practionners? Thank you very much for your time.
Comment by Archived User
Thank you for your reply. It is very encouriging. I live in Europe and none of the doctors I saw over the years suggested accupuncture. As I get older I am afraid that the curvature will be more important, pain, etc. Are there acupuncture practionners specialized in the treatment of scoliosis or this treatment is common knowledge among practionners? Thank you for your time
Comment by Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
This would be common knowledge amongst practitioners. But I would find someone who also practices tuina (Chinese Medical Massage) - not all do... and cupping (most do).
You would initially be weekly for probably 3 months and then based on the response you received from the treatment and the amount of movement created it would likely be more infrequent after that but over 6 months to a year most likely.
Comment by Archived User
Thank you for your quick response. It gives me lots of hope.