There are millions of people worldwide suffering from scoliosis. Thousands of children will have dangerous and unnecessary spinal fusion surgery every year because parents are told that surgery is the only way to treat scoliosis. In fact, that was part of a Gannett News Service report published this summer in the St. Cloud Times.

Recent discoveries, however, have paved the way for noninvasive treatment options that actually work. With more than 800,000 cases of scoliosis in the United States alone, people affected by the condition can, and should, now demand treatment without risk or danger.

Scoliosis is an abnormal curvature of the spine causing physical deformity and pain, wreaking psychological and emotional mayhem on sufferers. The standard treatment protocol for scoliosis and the profusion of misinformation leaves parents, doctors and training institutions repeatedly using archaic methods to treat the condition.

When my daughter was diagnosed with scoliosis, we were advised to do nothing until her curve reached 25 degrees. We watched her deformity develop before our eyes, feeling helpless because we were doing nothing except waiting for her curve to increase so that she could be treated. When she ended up in a brace, it failed and we were told she needed surgery as nothing else could be done.

It felt like a plan. I began exploring options and was met with dismissive attitudes from medical professionals who refused to believe anything other than what they already knew. As months went by, I dragged my daughter to holistic practitioners, acupuncturists, chiropractors and physical therapists. Nothing worked.

Then, online, I discovered Clear-Institute, a clinic and training institution in St. Cloud, which claimed to have made new discoveries in the treatment of scoliosis. Correction was mentioned for the first time, so as a last-ditch effort, we traveled from our home in New York City to undergo this specialized two-week treatment program in St. Cloud.

Her entire body was under a microscope, unlike any other time. She was educated about the condition and given a rigorous exercise routine requiring willing participation to reap the rewards, which were great.

Doctors and the media continually reiterate the belief that nothing short of surgery, or what was done yesterday, can be done to provide relief today. They fail to mention that what has been done for years (such as bracing and surgery) doesn't work, and the possible long-term complications of the horrific surgery leave many patients permanently disabled.

Spinal fusion surgery is continually positioned as the ultimate solution to scoliosis, yet it is not a quick fix. We must question why it continues to be "sold" as a simple and easy solution. Today, when you are told that nothing short of surgery will provide relief from the pain, discomfort and deformity of this condition, be skeptical and search for options.

We watched her achieve drastic improvement in her scoliosis within days, affecting her emotionally, as well as physically. Two weeks after we began treatment we saw the first set of X-rays that confirmed what I could see on the surface of her body after only the first few days. I was floored. For the first time in almost three years, the curves in my daughter's spine that had ruled our world were going in the opposite direction.

After years of being told, and believing, that improvement and relief were impossible and that cutting her body open and sawing off pieces of bone from her spine, hip and ribs was the only way to help her, we learned to be skeptical of tradition.

The belief that scoliosis is not correctable leaves the medical profession to repeat the past and this thwarts progressive thinking.

Most doctors, including chiropractors, are not taught anything new about scoliosis, and so the same protocol is repeated because doctors are misinformed or ill-educated despite new, proven approaches. Parents must, therefore, stay informed and challenge protocol.

This is the opinion of Teagin Maddox of New York City.