Why We Specialize in Scoliosis Treatment
Caroline explaining spine curvature types with Schroth method diagrams
Many patients ask me “How did you get into scoliosis treatment?”, usually followed by, “Do you have scoliosis?” Surprisingly, I do not have scoliosis. I like to say that scoliosis found me; not vice versa.
As a general physical therapist, I treated countless cases of back and neck pain, and enjoyed it, especially the low back/hip complex. However, I kept seeing malalignment in people’s spines, over and over again, but I couldn’t identify the specifics of the malalignment. As a recovering perfectionist, this was maddening!
In physical therapy school, we received just an hour of lectures on scoliosis. For anyone who knows how all-consuming a graduate medical curriculum is, that hour of scoliosis was small fish: there were so many other big-ticket diagnoses to study, memorize, and learn.
Given the complex nature of scoliosis, there truly needs to be an entire course devoted to evaluation and treatment for it. Enter the Schroth Barcelona Institute.
I had heard of Schroth through the proverbial PT grapevine for years. My close friend and colleague Kerry and I would fantasize about dropping everything and heading to NYC for the 10-day intensive Schroth training (a difficult feat when you have a full caseload of patients). For years, our fantasy never materialized due to work, family, travel, and timing.
Finally, in May of 2019, I made a snap decision to travel to NYC for a more manageable 3-day Pilates for Scoliosis course that was advertised as Schroth-based. Attending this course with the magnetic Israeli-turned-New Yorker Hagit Berdishevsky Schroth-goddess just barely whet my appetite for scoliosis knowledge. I wanted MORE!
Hagit was offering her 10-day intensive just a month later in June 2019 in NYC and encouraged me to join. I dropped everything, trusting my gut, and made it happen. What a life-changing decision that was. Unknowingly, I embarked on a journey that I now consider my life’s work, or in Hindu terms (remember, I’m a devoted yogi!), my dharma.
Fast-forward two and a half years, and I’m working full-time in the scoliosis realm, within the office walls of one of the top scoliosis orthotists in North America. I can’t imagine doing anything else. I love the spine, the complexity of the spine’s movement, and I love working with patients who are looking for answers that have eluded them—until Schroth came into their lives.
I once had a yoga teacher that said, “pay attention to the things that light a fire inside of you, and follow them with all your heart.” Schroth lit a fire inside of me, and Schroth DC now exists to keep that fire burning.