While surgery may be necessary in some cases, in many cases it is not. Paul Harrington, known for inventing the surgery that implants metal rods in scoliotic spines, stated in 1963, "metal does not cure the disease" of scoliosis, which is a condition involving much more than the spinal column.

Consider these facts:

• Complications of surgery include: hooks becoming dislodged, fracture of the rods, skin protrusion of the upper end of the rods, pseudarthrosis (spine did not fuse), and pain where there once was none (neurological problem).
  
  
• Younger patients are susceptible to crankshaft phenomenon (worsening of the rotation and rib deformity).
  
  
• Scoliosis affects the entire skeleton (i.e. rib deformities) and impacts on neurological and hormonal systems. Surgical rods do nothing to address the wide range of bodily structures and systems affected by the disease.
  
  
• Initial average loss of spinal correction post-surgery is 3.2 degrees in the first year and 6.5 after two years with continued loss of 1.0 degrees per year throughout life.