Idiopathic Scoliosis; To brace or embrace other ideas. Dr. Charschan weighs in. The Wall Street Journal reported on scoliosis in their article "Weighing the Treatment Options for Scoliosis " (read the article here). The article talks about a 12year old active girl who has to wear a brace 16 hours a day to prevent her scoliosis from progressing. The peak years for this developing are between the ages of 10-15. Girls are more likely than boys to develop this. As the article states "A large study currently under way known as Braist aims to compare the risk of progression in adolescents with spinal curves of 20 to 40 degrees who wear braces, versus those who opt for watchful waiting." In the book Cheating Mother Nature, a different picture emerges. Watching and waiting is a huge failure says Dr. Charschan, the books author. The problem begins because of body mechanics, which as the article suggests, has a genetic link. Simply stated, those who develop scoliosis of this type are built asymmetrical and many of them have flat feet. Charschan says the reason many girls are more likely to have it has to do with puberty and the widening of the hips. An asymmetrical body places asymmetrical forces on the spine as it continues to grow. In some many children, this asymmetry is what is passed down from generation to generation rather than a scoliosis gene. Girls who are asymmetrical also have hips that widen as well. In an asymmetric built, this markedly increases the forces on the spine aggravating the curve progression. This is no different than placing stress from a wire on a tree and seeing it grow with a distortion in it. Like the tree, with maturity comes permanency of the curve. Charschan believes we should look at this differently. He believes children who are built asymmetrically should wear shoes with good arches, nothing flat and that the other problem is how the myofascia which surrounds all the muscles and organs will form according to the forces placed upon it. Charschan says almost all of the cases he sees respond well to manipulation, fascial release (to reshape the fascia and reduce the stress on the spine and extremities) and wearing off the shelf orthotics (to create symmetry during a child's growing years and then finally, exercises, to stabilize the core muscles.. This low cost intervention can prevent years of suffering and possibly eliminate the need for bracing. If the public only knew about a different option for care I believe we could reform the way we look at scoliosis. When someone becomes skeletally mature, it is too late. Watching and waiting without knowing and understanding body mechanics makes little sense, and it usually results in bracing or more life altering procedures such as surgeries and years of suffering into adulthood which can be avoided altogether with conservative intervention. Read Cheating Mother Nature today. You can find it at Amazon.com in both kindle and paperback formats.