In my last blog post I explained how I identify my clients’ compression areas from looking at their X-rays. In this blog I’m going to connect how the compression areas on the X-ray images correspond to what a person might look like at a first session.
Here are two pairs of images showing my compression areas. A pair indicating my thoracic compression area in both X-ray and photograph, and then the same for my lumbar compression.
As I’ve been working with people who have scoliosis for many years it’s not difficult for me to see their scoliotic pattern even when they’re standing in their normal clothing. It becomes easier still when they are in their treatment clothes. For those clients who have an upright posture where their scoliosis is harder to see I use the Adams Test.
The Adams Test is a simple observation exercise. The client stands with their back to the practitioner and bends forward as if to touch their toes. As they do this, if they have a scoliosis, the ribs on the side of the convex aspect of their curves will become more visible. If a client does a forward bend and their ribs seem larger on the right then they have a right thoracic curve – and therefor they will have at least two compression areas. One compression area on the concave aspect of the thoracic curve and one compression area beneath their thoracic curve in their left lumbar area. Depending on whether the client has a C curve or a S curve there may be one more lowest compression area. The Adams Test is not as accurate in revealing lumbar curves as it is thoracic curves, which is why an X-ray is so important for identifying the shape of your spine.
I look at my clients as they stand and I also look at them in a seated position. The seated position is useful, because any disorganization in the relationship of the legs to the torso causes less interference to the torso when you’re sitting. I also ask my client to go from sitting to standing and back again. The simple movements of moving back and forth between sitting and standing tend to be very revealing about a person’s scoliotic habits. In every case that I have seen a person with scoliosis doesn’t just have a scoliotic shape, which can be seen in their X-ray and in their static postures. The scoliosis can also be seen in their habits of movement. Whenever a person with scoliosis stands or sits they compress further into their scoliotic shape. One I first noticed this about myself it was a realization that I found disheartening – I was making my scoliosis worse not only each time I stood up or sat down, but also throughout my daily life in all kinds of simple or complicated movements. I would compress further into my scoliosis to brush my teeth, talk on the phone, do the dishes, and I would compress further into my scoliosis when I was playing tennis, doing up my shoelaces or throwing a frisbee.
It cannot be underestimated how completely our scoliosis and our scoliotic habits of movement are entwined. However, since I made my first realization about this connection, my feeling of being disheartened has shifted. While unconscious habits of movement can continually enforce and exaggerate a person’s scoliosis, conscious habits of movement that aim to avoid the scoliotic habit can be learned. Our daily movements, which for so many of us are enforcers of our scoliosis can become the means to free ourselves from the grip of our scoliosis and allow us to move with more uprightness and poise.