168 Karrinyup Road, Karrinyup WA 6018
Monday - Friday: 7.30am to 6.30pm
Saturdays: 7.30am - 2.30pm
P (08) 9341 3020
Almost every parent of a child who is diagnosed with scoliosis utters similar words. It’s a common scenario – a parent unfamiliar with what scoliosis is, how to notice the warning signs in their children, or what to do about it if they do notice something. The fact is, scoliosis is not on people’s radars until it’s too late.
When I was in primary school in Perth, I remember my whole class being checked for Scoliosis by medical doctors. As research into Scoliosis grew, it became clear that it was more a Chiropractic/Neurologocial process rather than a condition requiring medical treatment. So the powers that be took the medical doctors out of school Scoliosis testing. But instead of putting Chiropractors in, they put no one in?! Unfortunately this has resulted in a lot of children with Scoliosis going undetected until they start showing obvious symptoms later in life when it is more difficult to treat.
Here at Karrinyup Wellness Centre, we are dedicated to providing long term health solutions for our families which includes early detection of Scoliosis. As Scoliosis is known to progress around the onset of puberty, it is best to get your child assessed before this age. The spine also tends to reach maturity around adulthood, which is another key time to be assessed by. But it is never too late to be assessed for Scoliosis.
Scoliosis may be going undetected in children and adolescents in your local area, some of which you may already know. The time to screen our children and adolescents in the at risk age groups, is now.
For the first term of 2017 Karrinyup Wellness Centre will be offering Complimentary Scoliosis Assessments for everyone, but especially important for school aged children. It’s time to spread the word. Let’s set the stage for the year ahead, and make early scoliosis detection a focus for all!
Latest scoliosis research shows:
As Chiropractors, we are well placed to recognise the early indicators of a possible scoliosis and we also help parents by informing them to be aware of:
Dr Barry Smith
Doctor of Chiropractic
References
[1] Gutknecht S, Lonstein J & Novacheck T 2009, ‘Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: Screening, Treatment and Referral’, A Pediatric Perspective, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 1-6.
[2] Sabirin J, Bakri R, Buang SN, Abdullah AT & Shapie A 2010, ‘School Scoliosis Screening Programme – A Systematic Review’, Medical Journal of Malaysia, December issue, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 261-7.
[3] Longworth B., Fary R., Hopper D, ‘Prevalence and predictors of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis in adolescent ballet dancers’ – Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2014 Sep;95(9):1725-30. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2014.02.027. Epub 2014 Mar 21.
[4] Fong DY, Cheung KM, Wong YW, Wan YY, Lee CF, Lam TP, Cheng JC, Ng BK, Luk KD, ‘A population-based cohort study of 394,401 children followed for 10 years exhibits sustained effectiveness of scoliosis screening’, Spine J. 2015 May 1;15(5):825-33. doi: 10.1016/j.spinee.2015.01.019. Epub 2015 Jan 20.
[5] Theroux Jean, Le May Sylvie, Labelle Hubert [University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Murdoch University, Perth, WA, Australia], ‘Back Pain and Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Descriptive, Correlation Study’, Spine Society of Australia 27th Annual Scientific Meeting (8-10 April 2016)