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Scoliosis Pain Mistakes That Cost You Years of Your Life (What to Avoid) · Scoliosis with Dr. Chris Gubbels

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Then they ask you something.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: How many times have you tried something for your scoliosis-related pain?
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe you failed some relief, but the pain soon returned.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: It possibly was even worse when it came back.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: You see, that's not just bad luck.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's a sign that what you're doing is not the right treatment.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: In the next few minutes, I'm going to explain exactly why your scoliosis pain keeps getting worse, what to do about it at an actual structural level, and the key single shift that actually separates people that end up managing their scoliosis-related pain in their whole life and those that actually get it corrected.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe you've tried things like chiropractic or general physical therapy.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you've done actual injections into your spinal joints and probably already done a bunch of different pain medications.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you found that none of those things have really worked for a long-term solution.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And your pain just always keeps on creeping back.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe you're sitting there wondering now, you know, is this just how um life is gonna be forever?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Or is surgery the potential only option?
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Dr.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Chris Gubel's specialist in the non-surgical treatment of spine deformities like scoliosis and hyperkyphosis at Scholar Care Devor.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I spend over 18 years and over 6,500 patients solving this exact problem.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna walk you through five reasons your scoliosis pain keeps returning, and more importantly, what actually works to stop it at its source, addressing the true underlying cause.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: You see, most people treat pain like they would a fire alarm.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now you can imagine your fire alarm going off in your house and it's crazy annoying.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So what people naturally do is they get out a ladder, they reach up, and they take the batteries out of the fire alarm to turn it off.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: That way it's no longer annoying.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's how people typically treat pain.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: They'll do things like take pain medications to numb the symptoms so they don't really have to focus on it or they think it's gone away, but it's actually still there.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe they've tried treatments that are more just palative in nature, general chiropractic adjustments, physical therapy, massage, those things may help reduce the pain, but they don't actually address or fix what's actually happening with the scoliosis.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, the pain soon returns.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what most providers almost never explain to you scoliosis pain in adults is almost always structural.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: You see, the spine is misaligned or it's out of balance, and gravity is pushing down, slowly wearing on your spine every single day.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Pain is not the problem, it's not the actual disease.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Pain is the warning sign that there's something underneath going on.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's a way of telling you, hey, there's an issue that you're no longer able to deal with and you need some specialized help.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: I see this all the time when someone has been, you know, just dealing with the pain or numbing or mitigating the pain for years.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: While the pain has been successfully managed to some degree, the problem is actually worse.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: The underlying fire that we're no longer thinking about because we took the batteries out of the fire alarm has continued to grow and spread, and the problem has got worse.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Their spine has actually got more severe, there's more degeneration, and the scoliosis has continued to progress over time.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Although they got temporary relief through pain medication or palliative treatments, the problem has gotten more severe.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: And what they've lost and what it's cost them is time.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Think of your spine like this.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: If your car is out of alignment, people realize your tires wear out faster and unevenly.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's because when your car is out of alignment, it puts more pressure on part of the tire and less on the other.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: And the area of your tires with more pressure wears out.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as your tires wear out unevenly, it actually causes your car to be in even more misalignment.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you have a bigger misalignment, you put more uneven pressure on the tire, and the tire wears out even more unevenly.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And as it gets more uneven, you get a bigger misalignment, and the problem goes round and round.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what happens to your spine every single day.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: As you get a misalignment in your spine, you have more pressure on one side of the spine and less pressure on the other.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: And as you have asymmetrical pressure, your spine starts to wear down asymmetrically, meaning the part of your spine that has more pressure starts to break down and wear out.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: And as your spine breaks down and wears out unevenly, that misalignment becomes even bigger.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And as the misalignment gets bigger, you have more uneven pressure.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And since you have more uneven pressure, you get more uneven wear and tear.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: So all the treatments you've had in the past give you temporary relief.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a sign that your pain or spine is untreatable, but it is a sign that those things are not addressing the actual cause of the problem.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: So if pain is just the alarm, what's the actual cause of the fire?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: What's actually causing the problem?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: This is where most people and most providers get it completely wrong.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: For example, I remember one day I was talking to a pain management specialist, and I was explaining how we address degenerated squish in adults.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I was explaining saginal and chronal alignments and how we actually look at the spine.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And he looked at me and he said, I have no idea what you're talking about.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, We literally just try to template them the pain.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, All these things about spine biomechanics, these alignment issues, he goes, and the alignment issues, he goes, not only do we not look at them, he goes, I don't even know what you're talking about.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: You see, what's actually happening with degenerated scoliosis and pain in adult scoliosis is you're in a tug of war with gravity.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: And gravity is pushing down and it's winning.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why your spine gets worse and worse every single year.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: You see, when you're growing, your spine is actually growing asymmetrical.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Scoliososis in children and adolescents is actually a growth deformity.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: But when you're done growing, it becomes a degenerated problem.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And as gravity is pushing down, if your spine has misalignments, that puts that uneven pressure on the spine, which causes it to break down and wear down unevenly.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: As I previously mentioned, that causes asymmetrical wear and tear and degeneration on your disc.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: It causes asymmetrical wear and tear on the joints, specifically your facet joints, and it causes uneven stress and tension on your muscles.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the muscles are actually starting to weaken or atropy and shrink.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: And the other muscles are constantly being stretched and pulled so they're under chronic tension, they never get a relaxed.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: And as this happens year over year, you start to notice big changes in your posture.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: You may notice your body starting to shift to the side and tilt back.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then when viewed from the side, slowly starting to lean or hunch forward.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: You see, this is where pain was probably manageable when someone's in their 30s and 40s when the curves are still smaller.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: But as the curves progress and get more severe over time, that's when the pain gets more and more severe.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't tend to go away and it tends to come on easier.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And when it comes on, it's more intense and it starts to impact your daily life than the activities you do at a much higher level.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the missing connection.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: See, many people are told once they're done growing that their scoliosis will not get worse and it's no longer a concern.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: But here's what people get it wrong.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: What causes your curve to get worse in adolescence is completely different than what causes it to get worse as an adult.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: In adolescence, it's an asymmetrical growth deformity.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: In adults, it's a gravitational degenerative deformity.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: You see, the mechanisms are completely different.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: So how and why we treat scoliosis in children and adolescents is completely different than how and why we treat scoliosis in adults.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: You see, 68% of adults that had scolius when they were an adolescent, their curves continue to progress in adulthood.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: So the idea that curves don't get worse when done growing is a complete myth.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: We know the majority of cases do.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I also see adults that never had scolas when they were younger and it actually develops as an adult.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: This is called adult degenerative de novoscholiosis.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: De novo means new, so it's a new scoliosis that develops in adulthood.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: In women, this typically happens around the age 50 or with the onset of menopause.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because with the onset of menopause and change of hormones, we start to get a loss of bone mineral density.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: So as the bones get thinner and more brittle, they break down and decay a lot easier.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: In men, this typically develops a little bit later in the 60s or 70s.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: But what's also interesting is the scoliosinic actually begins in adulthood.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: This adult degenerative de novo scoliosis, it tends to be more severe or progress at a faster rate than people that had scoliosis when they were younger that they still have as an adult.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: So if your scoliosis has been gradually progressing over the last five to ten years, this is not an aging issue.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is a losing the war with gravity issue.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: And until you actually address the underlying structural imbalances that are actually causing and driving the scoliosis, it's only going to continue to get worse.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the other thing gravity and degeneration are not the only things driving your pain.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: And some of these other hidden contributors could be the primary drivers of pain.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you're watching this and thinking, this is the first time someone's actually explained why my back hurts, then I want you to click on the link below and subscribe.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: I release videos specifically for adults and families dealing with scoliosis who want real answers, not just another prescription.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the third reason you may be having pain is your muscles are fighting a battle they can no longer win.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: You see, as your spine bends, twists, and rotates, part of the muscles on the inside are actually starting to atrophy and shrink away.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the muscles on the outside are constantly being stretched and pulled.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: They never really get a chance to relax.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: And when the muscles are in a chronic tension are always working, that's one of the things that can drive pain.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Think of it like this: when you bend over to touch your toes, you feel the stretching or the tightness in the back of your hamstrings.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's because when you stretch a muscle, it forces it to contract.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is what happens with the muscles that hold up your spine.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: As your spine starts to shift and rotate or bend over, and if your body's out of balance, these muscles are being stretched and pulled on the high side of the curve, which is what actually causes them atrophy, but they're always under chronic tension.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: And if they never get a chance to relax, they can eventually weaken, and that actually drives pain.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's like if you were holding a bowling ball like this, it doesn't matter what you do to the muscles, whether you give them, you know, cream or you massage them or you give them injection, until you actually take the tension off the muscles and make them happen to stop work hard, nothing you do is going to provide lasting relief.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: The same is true for your spine with scoliosis when you're putting that chronic tension on your muscles.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta take the tension and you gotta get those muscles to be able to relax.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is why one of the most common things I hear from adult patients is that the pain is worse when they're sitting or standing for prolonged periods of time, or they walk for long periods of time, or when they're on their feet and they're doing things in their everyday life, like standing and cooking, or they're reaching, doing vacuuming, things like that.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's when the pain in adults with scores tends to be the worst.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: When you're on your feet, you're standing, walking, or you're starting to lean or bend forward.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that's because your spine is out of balance, the muscles are working harder, and when you do certain activities, the muscles work even harder, and that's part of the reason why the pain gets worse.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: So ask yourself these three questions to help you identify if muscular imbalances could be one of the things driving your pain.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: One, is your pain worse on one specific side of your body, typically at the peak of that curve?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Two, does the pain get snippeting worse with prolonged standing, walking, or sitting?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Three, have you ever gotten sudden muscle spasms in your back that seem to come out of nowhere?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you answered yes to at least two of those, the muscular balances from your scoliosis are very likely contributing to your back pain.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: And no amount of massage or muscle relaxers or rubbing or stretching is gonna fix that.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: And your pain is never gonna go away until you actually address the actual imbalances, which are the underlying driver to your pain.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: So now you understand three of the forces that actually could be driving your pain with scoliosis.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: One, the structural imbalances or misalignments, two, the gravitational collapse that comes with degenerated scoliosis, and the muscle imbalances.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's actually one more piece or one more thing that frequently drives pain in adults with scoliosis.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: You see, when your spine starts to shift and collapse, the nerves frequently pay the price.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if your pain is not just in your back, but it radiates down your butt, down the back of your leg, or into your thigh and around into your groin, that tells us that the nerves are also being affected.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: You see, your spinal cord runs from your brain's hem all the way down the spine.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Then you have little openings between the vertebrae where your nerves actually branch out.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: But when the spine shifts out of alignment with scoliosis and you actually get that degeneration, you start to close out those openings, frequently compressing the nerves.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have scolosis in your lower back or your lumbar spine, you may be getting symptoms down into your leg.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: The most common symptoms are when you start to get numbness or tingling or even shooting pain into the thigh or pain that wraps around the groin.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then other times you get it down the back of the leg, which is sciatica.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually really common for adults with scoliosis come to me after they've been getting treated for you know sciatic-related pain.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: They've possibly gotten injections, maybe they've done some decompression or chiropractic care, maybe even got to the point where they're getting nerve blocks because the facets are also getting irritated.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: But many of the times no one has actually addressed what's actually going on structurally with the scoliosis.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: And once we actually improve the overall misalignment and we improve posture and balance, and we actually start to take pressure off the nerves, the pain tends to go away.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: So stop treating the nerve pain in isolation.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you have scoliosis and ridicular symptoms, make sure your provider, whoever you're seeing, is actually evaluating your spine in full with full spine x-rays from both the front and the side.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Have them evaluate for postural collapse.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Have them evaluate from for chronal and sagittal imbalances, or imbalances when you view your body from the front, is it shifting to the side?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Or when viewing them from the side, have you lost the curve in your lower back, or are you starting to lean or hunch forward?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: You see, when your spine shifts by four millimeters or more, whether you're viewed from the front and then shifting over this way, or viewed from the side, shifting forward this way, that four millimeter mark, that four millimeter shift, research shows is a point where it starts to drive more severe pain, more severe scolosis progression, and it's also linked to health-related quality of life problems and disability from the back pain.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: So now you understand all four drivers of scolosis-related pain.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: But understanding is not enough.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's one thing you can do right now that will tell you more about scoliosis pain in the next five minutes than most doctors ever will.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: You see, you need to be a detective on your case.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: We're no longer in an age where you can just go to any provider and take their word for it.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: You have to learn about your own condition and investigate your own condition.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: See, pain leaves clues.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's just a warning signal.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: But you need to know what questions to ask both your doctor and also yourself.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: And once you start connecting the pattern, you can walk into any doctor, explain exactly what's going on.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're going to the right doctor, they should know or be able to evaluate if that's being caused by or being contributed to if your pain is actually coming from scoliosis.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now, most providers probably don't know what to do, but they may know or should know that what they do is not going to treat it and get you to a specialist that actually can provide help.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: So tonight I want you to take a few minutes and ask yourself these questions and write down your answers.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: The first question is where exactly is your pain?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Is it more on one side or do you notice it more in the center of your spine?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Does it radiate down your leg and your hip or your thigh?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: Does your pain get worse when you're sitting, standing, or walking compared to when I'm laying down?
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And when does your pain get better?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: Does lying down and taking pressure to your spine tend to provide relief?
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: And has your pain gradually been getting worse over the last few years, or do you feel like it stayed the same?
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you ever had your full spine analysis from the front and the side, not just sections, but the whole spine when viewed from the front and side.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: These are the things you should be talking to your healthcare provider.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: And if you already have some, make sure you discuss them on your next visit.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: And if your provider hasn't already looked at these and asked these questions, you probably want to find a different provider, someone that actually specializes in the non-surgical treatment of scoliosis.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: You see, scoliosis pain is not random.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just aging and it's not something you simply have to live with.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: It follows exact structural patterns.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: And once you understand that pattern, you can actually stop chasing symptoms and start addressing the real cause.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: The name of the game is to stay ahead of the curve.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that applies the pain as much as it does to the curve itself.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to understand the bigger picture of what scoliosis actually is and what most patients are never told about it, watch my video on the five things every scoliosis patient and parent needs to know.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: I will link it in the description and right here on the end screen.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'll see you there.