By Request: Scoliosis

This month, I’m taking requests for things folks want to know about fitness (yes, please!  Ask me questions and I will blog the answers!).

I have scoliosis.  What kind of exercise can I do?

 

This is one of those questions that requires my usual disclaimer.  I am a personal trainer and Pilates instructor, not a doctor or physical therapist.  My scope of practice does not include diagnosis or treatment of any condition.  I do know how to modify exercises to keep my clients safe.

 

Scoliosis, as many of us know, is a curvature of the spine.  There are varying degrees of severity, so a lot depends on the individual.  That said, nearly everyone in our society has some functional scoliosis. 

 

Functional scoliosis means that we have muscle imbalances that result in faulty posture.  Think about the way right-handed people tend to reach for things with their right hands.  Think about the way we hold our children on a hip, or stabilize a bag of groceries.  We move in lopsided ways and our bodies learn lopsided patterns.

 

Structural scoliosis means that our actual bones exhibit some lateral curvature.  It also leads to muscle imbalances as our bodies compensate for the structural shift.

 

Whatever kind of scoliosis we happen to have, we want to address it with similar kinds of movement.  The side we are curved toward needs to be lengthened and the side we curve away from needs to be tightened up a bit.  If the scoliosis is not severe, bringing some mindfulness to our posture can go a long way toward evening things up.

 

My very favorite technique to help balance out scoliotic tendencies is also very simple and pleasant.  It uses two yoga tune-up balls or roughly tennis ball sized balls of whatever hardness works for us.  One is placed under the fleshy part of the glute on the side we curve toward as we lie on our backs on the floor.  The other one goes under the PSIS on the other side.  (The PSIS is our posterior superior iliac spine and the spot we want to hit is the place where we have the little dimple near our spine.)  Then we just lie there and breathe for a while, allowing the muscles to relax and balance themselves.

 

Try it and let me know how it feels!