Seeking the Scoliosis Treatment Secret – A Personal Journey
In 2001, Dr. Marc Moramarco diagnosed his twelve-year-old daughter with scoliosis. Dr. Marc and his wife (Kathy) were appalled at the lack of viable treatment options offered by Boston’s best scoliosis surgeons for their daughter’s rapidly progressive scoliosis.
Both parents and daughter were adamantly opposed to spinal fusion surgery. The doctors prescribed the SpineCor brace and despite wearing it 23 hours per day their daughter progressed, rapidly. When Dr. Marc asked her doctors what type of rehabilitative exercise he could do with his daughter, they answered, “just wear the brace.”
Undeterred by the doctors’ advice (or lack of it), Dr. Marc set his sights on finding a way to help his daughter. Their journey involved a lot of time away from work and school, extensive travel, and dead-ends. In January 2001, the internet wasn’t what it is today. Online information about the Schroth Method was nonexistent. On the plus side, there weren’t sites making unrealistic promises and careless recommendations, like ‘don’t brace,’ to parents wanting treatment options for scoliosis other than ‘watch and wait’ or surgery.
Dr. Marc spent a frustrating year researching (most of the published research on scoliosis is related to surgery), studying scoliosis, and calling anyone who might provide helpful information – SRS surgeons, scoliosis associations, MDs, other DCs, research scientists, and academics. It was a year of lost time as his daughter continued to mature. In that time, no one had alluded to any type of viable scoliosis exercise or the Schroth method. It was as if it were a secret! One day he had the idea to track down a former professor he recalled with great respect. He was in Texas researching low back pain. He listened to Dr. Marc’s story, then simply advised, “Go to Germany and learn the exercises.” A lead! Dr. Marc immediately called the Asklepios Katharina Schroth Clinic in Germany. Dr. Weiss, who luckily spoke English, took Dr. Marc’s phone call and invited him to visit!
A Trip to Germany and the Beginning of Schroth Method in the United States
The family scheduled their trip. It was the first glimmer of hope after months of searching! Dr. Marc spent time in the clinic observing and was immediately encouraged by what he learned. Father and daughter also attended sessions together to learn the Schroth method.
Upon returning to the US, the Schroth method became a way of life in the Moramarco household. In time, Dr. Marc and Kathy couldn’t help but think that other families dealing with scoliosis needed to know what they had discovered.
Dr. Moramarco continued his study of Schroth and eventually returned to Germany to become the first US practitioner certified in the Schroth Method. Dr. Marc’s relationship with Dr. Weiss also enabled him to be on the ground floor during the development of Schroth Best Practice®. The two communicate almost daily. Their mutual bond is their commitment to improve the lives of scoliosis patients and increase awareness for the newest innovations in Schroth protocols and Cheneau-Gensingen bracing.
It’s been almost two decades since Dr. Marc’s involvement with scoliosis first began. His expertise and experience with the Schroth method, and Schroth compatible bracing, is now unparalleled in the US. He is a Schroth Best Practice® Academy Board member, the Advanced Instructor for Schroth Best Practice® in the US, and the North American distributor of the Chêneau Gensingen brace. He is also co-author of Schroth Therapy with Dr. Weiss and the late Christa Lehnert-Schroth, PT.
