THREE Facts Every Patient Should Know About X-RaysCommonly, people living with scoliosis dread x-rays. After seeing their condition steadily deteriorate with x-ray each series, combined with the fear of too much radiation, some patients are reluctant to have more x-rays taken. But before you hesitate to undergo alternative scoliosis treatment for this reason, please consider the following facts about scoliosis x-rays.

Evidence-based contemporary spinal rehabilitation often requires radiography. Use of radiography (X-rays or computed tomography scans) should not be feared, avoided, or have their exposures lessened to decrease patient dose possibly jeopardizing image quality. This is because all fears of radiation exposures from medical diagnostic imaging are based on complete fabrication of health risks based on an outdated, invalid linear model that has simply been propagated for decades. (2) low-dose radiation enhances health via the body’s adaptive response mechanisms (ie, radiation hormesis); (3) an X-ray with low-dose radiation only induces 1 one-millionth the amount of cellular damage as compared to breathing air for a day; (4) radiography is below inescapable natural annual background radiation levels; (5) radiophobia stems from unwarranted fears and false beliefs; (6) radiography use leads to better patient outcomes; (7) the risk to benefit ratio is always beneficial for routine radiography. Radiography is a safe imaging method for routine use in patient assessment, screening, diagnosis, and biomechanical analysis and for monitoring treatment progress in daily clinical practice.
The common X-ray is an essential tool for doctors and manual therapists in the treatment of musculoskeletal and neuromus-culoskeletal diseases and conditions associated with poor posture and spinal deformity. 1-10 There has been an ever- expanding evidence base substantiating the effectiveness of nonsurgical rehabilitative methods for the treatment of posture and spinal deformities, such as forward head posture, 11-20 cervical hypolordosis/kyphosis, 14-21 thoracic hyperkyphosis, 22-29 thoracic hypokyphosis,30,31 lumbar hypolordosis/kyphosis, 32-37 and scoliosis. 38-41 The common radiograph is an invaluable tool that will continue to be a “go to” procedure to assess and monitor treatment effects related to improving posture with contemporary treatment approaches. 11-41 There are, however, many fears concerning the exposure of radiation (ie, radiophobia), particularly for the acquisition of diagnostic medical X-rays (including computed tomography [CT] scans). 42-47 Radiophobia stems from decades of scientifically erroneous extrapolations from high-dose atomic bomb survivor data assumed to be linear down to a zero exposure, the so-called “linear no-threshold” (LNT) hypothesis or model. This simple linear model has been the basis for safety standards and theoretical cancer estimates for over 60 years. 48,49 (referenced sources per request).