PT as a treatment of scoliosis

[flerc]

And yes, bones can and do move. At least, that is what my orthodontist told me. I think that's why braces work, even in adults.

They also can grow! External fixator are used to lengthen leg bones in very short height adult people.

[mashkine]

Hi Boogaloo, I think you are on the right track, in fact, I wish I was thinking this way whey I was 21 and not having problems. My curvature was slightly bigger than yours at that age and then progressed in the next decade, pain really hit at 30. I'm now exercising to correct with a combination of Schroth breathing, strength work, spine correction and even some ballet . I'm very pleased with the progress, but wish I had started much earlier. I'm not sure Kevin comes on here much these days, but there is a lot of great science out there on bone remodeling and muscle weakness to address specific to scoliosis. Also I recommend the yellow Schroth book written by Katarina Schroth, it has a lot of interesting research in it.
Anyway, I just wanted to encourage you on your path. Exercise does work, and in your case most doctors would not operate anyway, so why not hit it now instead of 'waiting and seeing' your curves get worse.

[mashkine]

Sorry, mistyped on that Schroth book - it's written by Christa Lehnert-Schroth, daughter of Katarina

[flerc]

there is a lot of great science out there on bone remodeling and muscle weakness to address specific to scoliosis.

May you copy some links? I have only find about braces in order to remodeling bones and I dont' know what muscles should to be strengthened in order to resist the gravity force.

[flerc]

In fact I'm not sure if muscles can do it or they only can move the bones

Kevin, I'm asking again about this point because I heard that probably only ligaments holds the spine in a static way, that is, if all the muscles would be cutted in a cadaver with scoliosis, sitting against the wall , the curve would not increase nothing, but if ligaments would be cutted it would collapse. Others said me that this experiment was done (probably not with scoliosis) and that was what happened. Do you know if it is true?

[flerc]

If it would be true, we should to find the way to strengthening ligaments. Do you know which exercises may do this? In that thread Kevin said me what should to be taken into account, but my imagination seems to be short. He also talked about bone remodeling.. I miss him.

[flerc]

I'm rereading that thread and it seems that Kevin replied muy muscular question..

mm.. only ligaments? they had cut muscles? I believe that muscles in a static way also would help, in the same way as ligaments.

[springchicken]

If it would be true, we should to find the way to strengthening ligaments. Do you know which exercises may do this? In that thread Kevin said me what should to be taken into account, but my imagination seems to be short. He also talked about bone remodeling.. I miss him.

Hi Flerc,

I'm not sure if this is what you had in mind, but one thing I used to do to try and target and strengthen weak areas of my back were various types of planks, especially side planks. I also worked with a teacher who taught yoga for scoliosis and I followed the schroth book. I practiced iyengar yoga and used props like ropes, chairs and blocks.

I ended up having surgery but I still plan to return to these types of exercises after I'm further in my recovery to address my imbalances.

Good luck!
Spring

[flerc]

If the spine may stay with exactly the same shape without muscles, how may we think that changing the muscle lenght or tone, a structural improvement may be achieved?

[flerc]

Hi Flerc,

I'm not sure if this is what you had in mind, but one thing I used to do to try and target and strengthen weak areas of my back were various types of planks, especially side planks. I also worked with a teacher who taught yoga for scoliosis and I followed the schroth book. I practiced iyengar yoga and used props like ropes, chairs and blocks.

I ended up having surgery but I still plan to return to these types of exercises after I'm further in my recovery to address my imbalances.

Good luck!
Spring

Thanks springchicken, I allways think in Iyengar and Schroth.. How many years did you tried?

[springchicken]

Flerc, I practiced yoga on and off for years, but I only worked with an iyengar teacher for about 2 years. I would also sometimes go to nyc for private lessons at a place called yoga union backcare which is excellent. The teachers specialize in yoga for scoliosis and I learned so much!

I have never practiced the schroth method formally, but I did have the yellow book and followed that the best I could...

[flerc]

this is the yellow book? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Dimens.../dp/0914959026
I could never understand it, is extremely complex for me.. and Schroth is not in my country

[flerc]

Why you had surgery? I'm trying to undesrstand why some curves progress and others not. And I cannot be sure if muscles has to do or not.

[springchicken]

this is the yellow book? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Dimens.../dp/0914959026
I could never understand it, is extremely complex for me.. and Schroth is not in my country

Yep, that's the book. I found it very hard to understand, also! But one thing that worked for me- "side planks" or variations that engaged the weaker muscles in my back that were otherwise hard to target. She showed similar types of these exercises in the book.

As to why I got surgery: my curve was stable for many years, but recently in the past few years, it started gradually creeping up again. Who knows why? Maybe because I had a curve very low in my lumbar area, those curves tend to progress, I think, especially when you are sitting all day at a desk job.

I figured it was going to continue slowly progressing the rest of my life and I didn't feel like waiting till I was older to have the surgery. I was in good shape and the timing was right. Every individual is different, though, of course!

[flerc]

Yep, that's the book. I found it very hard to understand, also! But one thing that worked for me- "side planks" or variations that engaged the weaker muscles in my back that were otherwise hard to target. She showed similar types of these exercises in the book.

As to why I got surgery: my curve was stable for many years, but recently in the past few years, it started gradually creeping up again. Who knows why? Maybe because I had a curve very low in my lumbar area, those curves tend to progress, I think, especially when you are sitting all day at a desk job.

I figured it was going to continue slowly progressing the rest of my life and I didn't feel like waiting till I was older to have the surgery. I was in good shape and the timing was right. Every individual is different, though, of course!

I think to have surgery being young is the most common decision.. and a reasonable decision of course..this is probably the only kind of decisions we can hope to take. Which decision could be the best in each case, requires a knowledge, intelligence, intuition.. surely beyond our possibilities.

I'm rereading what Kevin said and I'm not sure..

Yes, N=Newtons. And yes, it isn't much weight at all. I believe Stokes was the one who published this. While it is a very small amount of weight, remember that these studies were done on cadaver spines with only ligaments attached.

if muscles are cutted the curve would remains the same?