Scoliosis and the Upper Cervical Spine

Scoliosis is an abnormal turning or twisting of the spine that usually results in a “C” or “S” shaped curve of the spinal column. Scoliosis is either classified as congenital, idiopathic or secondary.

Idiopathic is the most common, making up 85% of cases. Idiopathic scoliosis results from an unknown medical cause and is further categorized into infantile, juvenile, adolescent, or adult. Congenital scoliosis results from vertebral anomalies found at birth. Secondary scoliosis results from other neuromuscular conditions such as spina bifida, cerebral palsy, spinal muscular atrophy, or syndromes such as Chiari malformation.

A normal spine has three main curves along its structure and shape. Looking at the spine from the side, two curves bend backward. These are in the neck and low back region. One curve bends forward at the mid-back region. The curves that bend back are lordotic curves and the one that bends forward is a kyphotic curve. These curves help distribute the weight of the spine and help give it its mobility.

For a spine with no abnormally shaped vertebrae, the spine can bend, twist and turn all within their normal articulating joints. All the bones of the back, except for a few, have interlocking joints that prevent them from losing their proper position with the one above, below or both.

Connection between Scoliosis and the Upper Cervical Spine

Very similar to links of a chain: each link has a little freedom of movement, but only within the confines of the two rings it’s attached to on either end. The exception to the rule is found at the base of the skull and the upper cervical spine: the occipito-atlanto-axial region of the spine.

Again, think of a chain, but this time the chain is only secured at one end to a wall while the other end is not fixed and is free moving. Picture yourself picking up the unfixed end and moving it from side to side, up and down, and in all different directions.

Visualize how the rest of the chain bends, twists and turns to adapt to the movement you place on it. Your arm moving the chain represents how the upper cervical region of the spine is structured. Where the head and upper neck go, the rest of the body is soon to follow.

If the upper cervical spine misaligns outside of its normal position and puts added pressure on the brainstem, spinal cord and surrounding tissues, this is called a vertebral subluxation. Whether an acute or chronic subluxation, the rest of the spine and head adapt to it in an attempt to help relieve tension on the spinal cord.

To compensate for a vertebral subluxation, adaptations arise along the spine and surrounding tissues. Let’s say that the atlas bone, the uppermost bone of your neck slips right of its normal position and puts pressure on your brainstem. To compensate for that abnormal position and to relieve some of the tension in the spine, the head might tilt up on the right.

If you ever had a corn or blister on your foot, you altered the way you walked so you didn't put added pressure on that blister to irritate it. The same thing is occurring with the head due to the irritation on the brainstem.

Now your nerve system uses your eyes to see the world. The nerve system senses that your head tilt and has to do something about it so it can see the world on a level plane. To compensate for the head tilt, it will usually raise the opposite shoulder.

Because the shoulder is higher on one side, it now needs to compensate for that by raising up the opposite hip. What do you think your spine now looks like now? Instead of being evenly stacked on each other supporting the load, certain parts of your spine are not in balance.

This uneven support results in muscle imbalances and abnormal movements throughout the rest of the body. Scoliotic curves along the spine can develop as a result of a vertebral subluxation. This uneven contortion of the spine progressively puts wear and tear on your spine. Long before any structural change is noticed in the spine, functional changes have occurred but are a lot more discreet in their presentation.

A subluxation irritates the brainstem and nerve system and interferes with its potential to function at 100%. If the brainstem is functioning at less than 100%, it causes less energy to reach its end product: that end product can be the heart, kidneys, lung or a muscle of the back since every organ, gland and tissue of the body has a connecting nerve tract from the brainstem. We now have a depleted nerve supply.

For an organ or gland to work right, it must have full electrical potential or mental impulse. A subluxation cuts down on that electrical potential.

Some possible presentations of this depleted function could be irritability, trouble sleeping, nausea, neurological deficits, indigestion, decreased concentration or muscle imbalance. Subtler than that, it could be a simple skipped heartbeat once in a while. Unfortunately, most of the time, a subluxation doesn’t show any noticeable symptoms, just depleted function or imbalance.

While the main goal of care at OHIO Specific Chiropractic is to help remove nerve system interference and not “straighten spines”, many patients have seen a reduction or complete resolution of scoliosis once the brainstem pressure is removed. Once the interference is removed, the body can now slowly remove the adaptations it developed to the subluxation.

- Jarek Esarco, DC, CACCP

Jarek Esarco, DC, CACCP is a pediatric, family wellness and upper cervical specific Chiropractor. He is an active member of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (ICPA). Dr. Jarek has postgraduate certification in Pediatric Chiropractic through the ICPA. Dr. Jarek also has postgraduate certification in the HIO Specific Brain Stem technique through The TIC Institute. Dr. Jarek is happily married to his wife Regina. They live in Youngstown, Ohio with their daughter Ruby.