Q: What should parents do if they notice that their child’s scoliosis is not straight? A: Parents should be alert to the possibility of scoliosis if they find that their child has asymmetry in the shoulders or lower back. They should take their child to the hospital to have a scoliosis X-ray taken to determine if scoliosis is present. If scoliosis is present, the doctor should measure the angle. Q: If scoliosis is present, what can be done to treat it? A: Generally speaking, scoliosis of 20 degrees or less only requires exercise and regular X-ray observation; scoliosis of 20-40 degrees requires exercise and brace treatment; and if the scoliosis is over 40 degrees, then surgery should be considered for correction. Q: I heard that some hospitals do massage and traction and other conservative treatments, is it reliable? A: It is not recommended to try yoga, massage, traction, or herbal medicine to correct scoliosis. There is no scientific basis for these treatments. Thousands of years ago, the Greek medical books can be found in traction beds and other methods of treatment of scoliosis, but after thousands of years of verification, these simple treatment concepts have been proven to be ineffective and eliminated. In recent years, a large number of patients have tried and proved to be ineffective, and this is the reason why all public tertiary hospitals in China do not do this treatment. Only some private small and medium-sized hospitals still do these treatments, but often for commercial purposes and with very limited results. Some of the small hospitals in Beijing that do conservative treatment for scoliosis have proven to be fraudulent. Some hospitals claim to have more than 20 patents, which is also false propaganda. They even show foreign patients on the internet, but in fact they are just a few foreigners posing for photos. I hope that patients and parents who have the ability to distinguish between them will not be fooled again. Q: Do I not need a brace for 20 degrees or less? A: The corrective effect of the brace is directly proportional to the degree of scoliosis, the larger the degree, the greater the corrective space of the brace. If the scoliosis is very small and less than 20 degrees, the bracing effect is limited and may restrict the child’s thoracic development, so it is better to wait until the scoliosis is more than 20 degrees before considering bracing treatment. Q: How often should I take the radiographs if I just take them periodically without a brace? A: If the child is at the peak of development, i.e., between the ages of 10-13 years, the films should be taken every 3 months, and after 13 years of age they can be taken every 6 months. Q: If the degree is 20-40 degrees, what is the brace treatment like? A: The brace treatment must be customized by a professional technician, don’t simply buy a back brace, the back brace is to correct habitual hunchback, it is useless for the real scoliosis. The brace must be worn for 20-22 hours a day, including bedtime, and can only be removed for bathing and exercise. As the child grows in height, the brace needs to be replaced annually. Girls should generally wear the brace for at least 2 years after menstruation. Q: What are the precautions for brace therapy? A: After the brace is done, we need to take a picture to see the effect of brace correction, and we need to wear it for 1 hour and take a picture, the effect at this time is the effect of brace correction, and we can also feel whether the brace is suitable or not, if we feel uncomfortable, we can let the technician to adjust it. In the past, some patients reported that they wore the brace after it was made in other hospitals, and they did not take the radiographs to see the effect. This is not a good idea. Imagine if the brace does not work well or does not work at all, then wearing it for a year would be a waste of time, and the child would suffer a lot. If you want to take a follow-up picture every other year, you need to take off the brace 4 hours beforehand, so that it can truly reflect the current degree of correction. Because after removing the brace, the degree will rebound, but the degree of rebound is different for each person, and we need to look at the real degree after rebound. Q: If I have 20-40 degrees, what does exercise therapy involve? A: Exercise consists mainly of lateral bending, swallow flying and swimming. Lateral bending is appropriate for a “C” (single bend) scoliosis and is not recommended for an “S” bend (an “S” bend is when there is both a thoracic and a lumbar bend). Bend in the opposite direction of the crestal bend to counteract the scoliosis. 50-100 per day in 2-3 sets. Swallow fly, can exercise the back muscles, increase the soft tissue balance, 50-100 per day, divided into 2-3 groups to complete. As for swimming, freestyle and breaststroke can be done. 600-1000 meters per day. Some people also recommend hanging the bar, but it is difficult to adhere to, the girl itself is small strength, can not do a few sets a day, the effect is difficult to guarantee.