Can Scoliosis Go Away on Its Own? Charlotte NC | Spontaneous Resolution Data | Clear Life Scoliosis

By Dr. Justin Dick, DC (ORCID 0009-0001-2794-2159) · Clear Life Scoliosis and Chiropractic Center, Charlotte, NC · Published November 10, 2026

Some small curves do improve without treatment, and a few disappear. In a Greek school screening program, Soucacos and colleagues followed 839 children with idiopathic curves of 10° or more for a mean of 3.2 years: 27.4 percent improved by at least 5°, 9.5 percent resolved completely, and 14.7 percent progressed. In a Korean series of 169 untreated, skeletally immature children with curves under 25°, Modi and colleagues found 32.5 percent regressed, 41.4 percent stayed the same, and 26 percent progressed. Curves that are larger, found earlier in the growth spurt, or found in girls before their first period are the ones most likely to progress.

I am Dr. Justin Dick, DC, at Clear Life Scoliosis and Chiropractic Center in Charlotte, NC. Families sometimes hear "it might go away" at the first visit. This post shows what that statement rests on and where it stops applying.

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What the Screening Data Show

Soucacos's study screened 85,622 children. Progression risk was highest in girls, before menarche, during the growth spurt, with curves of 30° or more, and with right thoracic or double curves in girls. Left thoracic curves showed a weak tendency to progress. The authors concluded that only a small percentage of screening-detected curves progress. That conclusion fits a population found by screening, which contains many small, mild curves. It does not describe a curve that is already 25° to 30° in a girl who has not started her period.

Why Some Curves Look Like They Went Away

Part of the "improvement" in these studies is measurement error. Carman and colleagues found the average difference between two readings of the same film was 3.8°, and a change had to reach about 10° before it could be called real with 95 percent confidence. A 5° improvement in a 12° curve can be noise. Modi also found that 46.1 percent of children changed curve pattern during follow-up before settling, so a single film is a snapshot. My post on Cobb angle measurement explains the error range.

Curves That Resolve Because the Cause Was Treated

Some curves are a response to something else. Mehta described five children whose scoliosis was provoked by painful bone lesions; two resolved completely after the lesion was treated. Zhou and colleagues reported a 12-year-old girl whose 50° thoracic curve resolved within two years of surgery for a high-grade L5-S1 spondylolisthesis. Those curves resolved because the driver was removed. They are not idiopathic scoliosis, and they are a reason to look for a cause when a curve is painful or atypical.

Infantile and Juvenile Curves

Figueiredo and James reviewed 98 children with juvenile idiopathic scoliosis. Seven resolved spontaneously, and 56 percent eventually had spinal fusion. Infantile curves have a different natural history, covered in my post on infantile scoliosis. My post on juvenile scoliosis covers ages 4 to 10.

What This Means for Watching a Curve

Observation is appropriate for many small curves, and the data above support that. It is a monitoring plan with defined intervals and thresholds, based on growth stage. My post on why "let's just watch it" is rarely neutral and my post on when scoliosis progresses the most explain how risk changes with growth.

How Dr. Justin Dick, DC Monitors Small Curves at Clear Life

At our Charlotte office, a small curve is staged by Risser grade and menstrual status, re-measured on comparable standing films, and judged against the 10° error threshold before any change is called. Painful or atypical curves are evaluated for an underlying cause.

Comparison

Research and Evidence

Evidence tiering: Soucacos is a prospective screening cohort; Modi a retrospective observational series; Figueiredo a case series; Mehta and Zhou case reports; Carman a reliability study. None tests an intervention. My statement that observation is a monitoring plan reflects SOSORT guidance and clinical practice.

My own published work tracks measured curve change over time. The 13-month follow-up case, Reduction of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A 13-Month Follow-Up (Cureus, 2025, PMID 40062184), reports radiographic change in one adolescent and cannot separate treatment effect from natural history.

References

1. Soucacos PN, Zacharis K, Gelalis J, et al. Assessment of curve progression in idiopathic scoliosis. Eur Spine J. 1998;7(4):270-7. doi:10.1007/s005860050074
2. Modi HN, Suh SW, Yang JH, et al. Spontaneous regression of curve in immature idiopathic scoliosis: does spinal column play a role to balance? An observation with literature review. J Orthop Surg Res. 2010;5:80. doi:10.1186/1749-799X-5-80
3. Figueiredo UM, James JI. Juvenile idiopathic scoliosis. J Bone Joint Surg Br. 1981;63-B(1):61-6. doi:10.1302/0301-620X.63B1.7204475
4. Mehta MH. Pain provoked scoliosis. Observations on the evolution of the deformity. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1978;(135):58-65. PMID 709953
5. Zhou Z, Song Y, Cai Q, Kong Q. Spontaneous resolution of scoliosis associated with lumbar spondylolisthesis. Spine J. 2013;13(5):e7-10. doi:10.1016/j.spinee.2013.01.027
6. Carman DL, Browne RH, Birch JG. Measurement of scoliosis and kyphosis radiographs. Intraobserver and interobserver variation. J Bone Joint Surg Am. 1990;72(3):328-33. PMID 2312528
7. Negrini S, Donzelli S, Aulisa AG, et al. 2016 SOSORT guidelines: orthopaedic and rehabilitation treatment of idiopathic scoliosis during growth. Scoliosis Spinal Disord. 2018;13:3. doi:10.1186/s13013-017-0145-8
8. Dick JM, Spurgeon S. Reduction of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: a 13-month follow-up. Cureus. 2025;17(2):e78669. doi:10.7759/cureus.78669

Frequently Asked Questions

Service Area

Clear Life Scoliosis and Chiropractic Center sees patients from Charlotte NC, Huntersville NC, Ballantyne NC, Matthews NC, Concord NC, Mooresville NC, Rock Hill SC, Fort Mill SC. Families from across the Charlotte region and the South Carolina border communities come to the Rachel Freeman Way office for radiographic scoliosis evaluation with Dr. Justin Dick, DC.

Related Pages

• When Scoliosis Progresses the Most
• Why Watching Is Rarely Neutral
• Cobb Angle Measurement
• Infantile Scoliosis
• Juvenile Scoliosis
• Best Age to Treat Scoliosis
• Can Scoliosis Be Misdiagnosed
• What Happens If We Do Nothing
• Scoliosis Care Program
• Dr. Justin Dick, DC Research

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If you have been told a curve might go away, the growth stage and the next measurement decide what happens next. Dr. Justin Dick, DC sets up that plan at our Charlotte office.

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