Dr. David KoivurantaDoctor Of Chiropractic, Toronto Neck and Back Pain Clinic · I Prevent the Work Injuries I Treat Daily | Clinical Ergonomic Assessments for HR & H&S | GTA

Told You Have Scoliosis? It May Not Be True! 🦴 #backpain

12 May 2026 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:31

In this educational video, Dr. David Koivuranta explains the distinction between true developmental scoliosis—typically diagnosed in adolescence when spinal curves exceed 10 degrees—and later‑life spinal buckling, a postural condition that arises when the normal sagittal curves of the spine flatten. He describes how loss of these side‑view curves reduces spinal resiliency, prompting the spine to develop compensatory front‑to‑back curvatures that may be misdiagnosed as scoliosis. Unlike structural scoliosis, buckling‑related curvature can often be improved both structurally and functionally through targeted treatment, helping to prevent future degeneration and alleviate existing aches and pains. The speaker advises viewers who have been told they have scoliosis, or who are uncertain about their spinal alignment, to seek professional evaluation and consider treatment options to achieve improvement.

Chapters

Is it a scoliosis or is your spine just buckling? And what's the difference and why is it valuable to know? We're gonna fill you in. Sometimes people have a developmental problem and in their adolescence their spine, instead of being straight up and down, is found to have some curvatures in it that ideally wouldn't be there based on the text. And that's a traditional formal kind of scoliosis, especially if those curves are more than 10 degrees. That would be the diagnosis. However, sometimes later on in life we're still diagnosed with a scoliosis, but it may not be for that same reason. Sometimes scoliosis develops over time through what's called spinal buckling, and one of the biggest reasons for spinal buckling these days comes back to our posture. That when we start to lose some of these curves that should be there from the side of our spine and they start to straighten out, we lose some resiliency in the spine. From front to back, the spine starts to put curves where there were no curves to try and bring that resiliency back, and that's where we see some spinal buckling, or what someone might be diagnosed with as a scoliosis later on or through life. The difference is that the one that's caused functionally from the buckling can actually be improved quite a bit structurally and functionally, and that's important so that it prevents future degeneration and other problems like aches and pains. And if there are already some aches and pains, it could help make those aches and pains feel better. So if you've been told you have a scoliosis, or you're curious as to whether or not your spine is sitting up and down, it's a smart thing to go get checked and also get some treatment to see if you can have some improvement.