Risk-Based Treatment

February 7, 2023

In this episode of Scoliosis World, Dr. Morningstar explains the difference between a systems-based approach and a risk-based approach to treating scoliosis. No two people are alike and scoliosis treatment needs to be tailored to the individual to provide the best results.

  • Historically, scoliosis treatment is based on the curve measurement
  • The curve measurement is not the only thing effecting quality of life issues and pain levels
  • Given that, why do anything based on the curve measurement alone?
  • At ScoliSMART, we treat patients based upon a “risk assessment”
  • Example: Younger children with the same degree curve as older children need to have more aggressive treatment because they have more growth ahead of them
  • What we see on an x-ray that we call scoliosis is not really the entire condition, It is the end-stage cascade of things going wrong in scoliosis
  • We seek lasting-outcomes and to prevent anything from sabotaging that
  • We assess biochemical and genomic risk factors
  • Treatments are tailored to the individual