Pilates & Scoliosis

[cbiondillo]

Cheryl,

If your daughter's Pilates instructor hasn't figured out that your daughter has scoliosis on her own and knows how to work with it, she may not be the right person to achieve anything other than ballet strength training.

I should point out that the Pilates instructor that I was talking to was telling me about younger ballet dancers/students with curves between 30 and 40 degrees achieving a reduction. There's a difference between very large, mature curves and smaller, youthful, flexible curves. The purpose is not to just work around the scoliosis but to work with it.

That's another reason why I feel like I've been a bad mom. I was thinkiing about all of this and about my experience with my own scoliosis. When I had my surgery in 1980 I wasn't given the option to wear a brace. So, when I discovered that my daughter had it, too, I was just happy that she could avoid surgery by wearing the brace. I never questioned her doctor about his treatment plan for her. He said when she has 2 visits in a row where she doesn't grow, he will x-ray her wrist and see if her growth plate has closed. In the meantime, she has gotten more and more serious about ballet. I did ask her doctor if there was a connection between ballet dancers and scoliosis, although in my daughter's case, I believe it is hereditary. There have been 6 girls in her ballet company, that we know of, that have scoliosis. Is that a lot? I don't know. Does the flexibility that a ballet dancer has help or hurt the scoliosis? Her pilates teacher has her once a week in a class of about 20 girls. I feel bad that I haven't spoken with her teacher about the scoliosis. I plan to before the next class, that's for sure. We go back to the doctor on the Jan 20 for our next set of x-rays. When I look at my daughter, I see the scoliosis. I can see the right side of her back sticking out further than the left side. I wonder, though, do I see it because she's so darn skinny and has no body fat at all, or has it gotten worse?? I really hope it hasn't gotten worse.

[cbiondillo]

Moreover certain types of PT are contraindicated with certain connective tissue disorders. These disorders are relevant because some have scoliosis as a sign/symptom.

People should always ask an experienced orthopedic surgeon if any PT is okay for a person with scoliosis before starting it, whether for a child or an adult.

Last, Ask your orthopedic surgeon for whether there is any evidence that pilates has ever permanently reduced a structural scoliosis curve. Also ask how you can tell if a curve was not going to progress anyway even if doing no PT and how you can separate that out from the people whose curves stop progressing due to PT.

Remember that a majority of girls with smaller AIS curves will not progress to needing surgery for progression no matter what they do or don't do. Get the facts and don't get taken by someone with no relevant training and no way to prove any curve reduction like a pilates instructor.

Those are good questions that I will ask my daugther's doctor.

I don't think her pilates teacher even knows about her scoliosis, so I'm pretty sure that the exercises she has my daughter doing, aren't meant to reduce the curve that she probably doesn't even know my daughter has. I'm going to talk with her teacher and her doctor about it.

Thanks!!

[cbiondillo]

Thanks for the link. I like that doctor's way of thinking.

My daughter's pediatric scoliosis specialist, Dr Newton, has recommended exercise daily out of brace with the goal of keeping her core strong and countering the muscle atrophy that can occur with the TLSO.

I have been cleared by a spinal surgeon for full activity and am followed by a sports medicine physician who encourages stretching out my tight spots, core strengthening, pilates, yoga and massage.

I did a course of PT at Spine and Sport and learned about torso rotation from them. Out of all the exercises I learned there, this just feels the best to me.

This is just where I am coming from and just posting in case it's helpful to others.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the TLSO?

[Ballet Mom]

I did the Torso Rotation exercises at their PT site with their machine, a Cybex I believe, which was the BOMB! Felt great! Locked my legs in and had a top part that I hugged and twisted.

My gym has a torso rotation machine which is OK but not as great.

PT at Spine and Sport was covered by my insurance, Cigna PPO.

Since Dr. Mooney died some time ago, none of the current PTs actually knew him.

Thanks Resilience! Sounds like a great machine. Interesting that it's use is covered by your insurance. That's pretty nice!

[Ballet Mom]

That's another reason why I feel like I've been a bad mom. I was thinkiing about all of this and about my experience with my own scoliosis. When I had my surgery in 1980 I wasn't given the option to wear a brace. So, when I discovered that my daughter had it, too, I was just happy that she could avoid surgery by wearing the brace. I never questioned her doctor about his treatment plan for her. He said when she has 2 visits in a row where she doesn't grow, he will x-ray her wrist and see if her growth plate has closed. In the meantime, she has gotten more and more serious about ballet. I did ask her doctor if there was a connection between ballet dancers and scoliosis, although in my daughter's case, I believe it is hereditary. There have been 6 girls in her ballet company, that we know of, that have scoliosis. Is that a lot? I don't know. Does the flexibility that a ballet dancer has help or hurt the scoliosis? Her pilates teacher has her once a week in a class of about 20 girls. I feel bad that I haven't spoken with her teacher about the scoliosis. I plan to before the next class, that's for sure. We go back to the doctor on the Jan 20 for our next set of x-rays. When I look at my daughter, I see the scoliosis. I can see the right side of her back sticking out further than the left side. I wonder, though, do I see it because she's so darn skinny and has no body fat at all, or has it gotten worse?? I really hope it hasn't gotten worse.

Stop thinking you're a bad mom. Really, who is going to question their doctor's treatment plan without digging deeply into the research? Not many people have time or willingness to do that. I think every parent goes through the guilt phase for not knowing about scoliosis, not catching it early enough, etc.

It actually sounds like your daughter's doctor has a pretty reasonable plan of action for her. I like the way he's planning to discontinue her brace. That gives a year of zero growth to help decide if she's done growing and then do an assessment of her skeletal growth. That seems rather reasonable to me, even though vertebral growth can continue after skeletal growth is complete in some instances. There's a thread in the research section if you're interested in looking at it.

If you want an exercise that probably has more direct effect on scoliosis, perhaps you can look into the sideshift exercises that are explained in the following link. She could do them while she's out of her brace, like when she's waiting around at ballet, etc. They seem to be pretty effective if performed consistently.

http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/showt...d-by-Min-Mehta

Min Mehta is the doctor in Britain who developed the casting technique for infants, which can actually cure babies of their scoliosis! She's awesome.

[Ballet Mom]

Oh, I forgot to answer your question about scoliosis in ballet companies. Scoliosis is very prevalent in professional ballet companies and rhythmic gymnastics. I think that's due to the collagen that allows for the hyperextension of the joints that is so valued in those activities. It seems that most girls who have hyperextended joints in serious ballet have some degree of scoliosis although most do not have to be braced because of it.

My daughter always tells me that she doesn't understand my interest in scoliosis because "everyone has it". lol.

[cbiondillo]

Thank you for your help. I'll stop beating myself up now. I am interested in the side-shift exercises. Thanks for sending the link.

[Resilience]

While exercising at the gym today I realized that the machine there is the Cybex machine. So the Torso Rotation Machine at Spine and Sport must have been called the MedEx machine. That's the one that was the Bomb! and the one cited in Dr. Mooney's studies.

This Ex, That Ex, I have a lot on my mind right now!!

Just wanted to be accurate on the post, sorry about that!

And TLSO stands for Thoracic Lumbar Sacral Orthotic aka Boston Brace.

[skevimc]

Thanks for any info you can give on that, I'm curious if one can do those exercises effectively using therabands, for instance.

You can do the rotation exercise with a thera-band but you have to get a grey or gold band. I suppose black would work as well. The point being that it needs to offer enough resistance. Stick it in a door frame and get a stable chair that won't slide or roll across the floor. Then slide away from the door, i.e. stretching the theraband, sit in the chair, arms across your chest while gripping the t-band, and rotate. The important part with this is to make sure your hips remain stable. An exercise ball is good to sit on as well. If you have access to a bar stool type of chair, i.e. a seat that swivels but does not have wheels on it, is a good test for pelvic stabilization. Sitting on that chair, when you rotate, if you are moving your hips the chair will rotate with you.

I can further explain this if anyone is interested and this doesn't make sense.

[Karen Ocker]

Off topic

The last few posts are totally off topic(Pilates).

[hdugger]

The last few posts are totally off topic(Pilates).

And, yet, oh so helpful. (Thanks to Dr. McIntire - actually just emailed his last post to my son.)

[foofer]

You can do the rotation exercise with a thera-band but you have to get a grey or gold band. I suppose black would work as well. The point being that it needs to offer enough resistance. Stick it in a door frame and get a stable chair that won't slide or roll across the floor. Then slide away from the door, i.e. stretching the theraband, sit in the chair, arms across your chest while gripping the t-band, and rotate. The important part with this is to make sure your hips remain stable. An exercise ball is good to sit on as well. If you have access to a bar stool type of chair, i.e. a seat that swivels but does not have wheels on it, is a good test for pelvic stabilization. Sitting on that chair, when you rotate, if you are moving your hips the chair will rotate with you.

I can further explain this if anyone is interested and this doesn't make sense.

By sticking it in a door frame, do you mean looping it around the outside door knob and then closing the door, with the theraband coming through the crack in the door frame? The rest of it I get...

Hdugger...for neck and thoracic pain, my PT has me do a lot of standing rows with a theraband at home (or in the gym, but that's a couple miles away ). I loop it around the banister and just do sets - it's barely any resistance but feels great...also I make sure my neck is pushed back and down, like you are trying to make the worst double chin ever, elongating the back of the neck to its max.

[hdugger]

Thanks, foofer. I'll pass that on as well.

[skevimc]

By sticking it in a door frame, do you mean looping it around the outside door knob and then closing the door, with the theraband coming through the crack in the door frame? The rest of it I get...

Either that or tying a knot at one end and putting it through the hinge side with the door open. Then when you close the door, it's locked in place. I usually told people to do it this way (hinge side). It just seems more stable to me. I got popped a couple times by a stretched band while trying to figure all of this out. Kind of funny.

[foofer]

Either that or tying a knot at one end and putting it through the hinge side with the door open. Then when you close the door, it's locked in place. I usually told people to do it this way (hinge side). It just seems more stable to me. I got popped a couple times by a stretched band while trying to figure all of this out. Kind of funny.

Yeah, I've been wacked myself a time or two. And it is funny - kind of a slapstick pain.