When I treat scoliosis with exercise, I work with four themes.
· Strengthening
· Stretching
· Improving proprioception
· Integration
As I’ve discussed in other articles, I describe scoliosis in terms of compression zones in the torso. In these compression zones, muscles are small, tight and lacking vitality. By “lacking vitality” I mean that these muscles remain in a state of contraction rather than behaving like healthy muscles. Healthy muscles go back and forth between contracting and releasing depending on their role in various movements.
The fundamental principle of my treatment method is creating volume and vitality in the compression zones of the torso.
Strengthening
A proven way to increase volume and vitality is through the use of strengthening exercise. The ability of strengthening exercise to enlarge muscles has been thoroughly and dramatically demonstrated in the world of bodybuilding. I advocate an ambitious approach to strengthening the muscles in the compression zones of the torso to bring about greater volume. Increased vitality is also demonstrated by a person’s ability to move heavier weights.
Stretching
There is now an enormous body of research showing that muscles can be lengthened through stretching. The most popular stretching practice is the art of yoga, but a person doesn’t have to be a student of yoga to have an effective stretching routine.
Improving proprioception
Those of us with scoliosis feel that we are more or less straight most of the time, when we are in fact curved. This shows that our proprioceptive sense – our sense of the relative position of our body parts – is inaccurate. Along with an exercise based regimen of strengthening and stretching I also advocate retraining our proprioception so that it is more accurate. The method I have studied is the Alexander Technique. I also use mirrors in my exercise routine, so that I can compare my sense of myself with the reality that I’m able to see in a mirror. Over time my proprioception has improved, as demonstrated by my ability to stand straighter.
Integration
One of the things that I say constantly to my students is that exercise alone is not enough to impact scoliosis. Any exercises can only be considered successful if they teach us how to integrate a more upright way of moving and living into our daily lives. We can only spend a certain amount of time doing a strengthening or stretching exercise. But we will be in our bodies 24/7 – and for some of that time we will be awake! Our ability to integrate an exercise program so that it positively impacts our moment to moment living will be the difference between success and failure with non-surgical treatment of scoliosis.