“Help! Half our team is out injured. Please come down, take a look and do what you can?”
When I arrived, the coach was right. More athletes were packing their legs in ice than running on the track. Having never met these runners before, I just sat next to each one and asked what happened.
Their histories had a common thread. Most had received orthotics within the last month. A team podiatrist felt that by “correcting” their foot and ankle mechanics with an orthotic (a precise, synthetic shoe insert), their times would improve and they would have fewer injuries. But, just the opposite happened to many of them.
Interestingly, others on the team who had ankle, knee or leg pain were helped by the orthotics.
What’s The Truth About Orthotics? Do They Treat Injuries Or Do They Cause Them?
The answer is Yes.
As I learned in the years that followed with U.C.L.A., Cal State Northridge and the Olympic Track and Field Teams (as well as with my non-athletic, family practice), some were helped and some were hurt. It depended on the patient and the orthotic they received.
Unfortunately, there are a few common myths about Scoliosis that need to be cleared up (many still believed by doctors to this day)
• Myth: Scoliosis effects only 2-3% of the population.
• Fact: One third of all adults and two-thirds of those over the age of 70 have spinal curvatures over 10 degrees (the official starting point for a scoliosis).
• Myth: Once we become an adult, our spinal curvatures stops increasing.
• Fact: Unless we stop gravity, our spinal curvatures usually increase with age.
• Myth: Scoliosis is harmless unless severe enough to compress your organs.
• Fact: Scoliosis often increases the rate of spinal arthritis, stenosis, disc herniations, slippage (lateral listhesis), nerve compression and pain.
• Doctors need to develop a plan to slow or even reverse scoliosis, not just measure its progression.
Obviously, structures that are imbalanced wear faster than one more structurally aligned. Think of the tires on your car—when out of alignment or imbalanced, don't they wear considerably faster?
What Causes A Scoliosis?
A Scoliosis is usually caused by the uneven development of one's spine, muscles or legs.
Many of these asymmetries start at birth. One of the most common culprits (and usually unrecognized by doctors) is your tailbone (sacrum). The sacrum is composed of five separate bones that fuse together before we’re born. But, occasionally they fuse together slightly twisted, causing the rest of the spine to be crooked as well--voila, a scoliosis.
While some of these leg length discrepancies are “functional” (i.e. caused by pelvic misalignment) and can be corrected by chiropractic treatment and postural changes, others come from prior leg fractures, hip or knee surgeries, bad foot mechanics or just having grown that way. These cases need to be treated, with a shoe lift or foot orthotic and physical or chiropractic therapy.
These two types of scoliosis are especially distressing for me to see, since most could have been prevented or, at least significantly improved, with something as minor as a shoe insert.