Working Out With Scoliosis: What You Need to Know

No exercise or workout routine should be attempted without first having it approved by a patient’s scoliosis treatment provider. Working out with scoliosis can help maintain spinal flexibility, strength, muscle strength and balance. For people with scoliosis, knowing the difference between safe corrective exercise and exercises to avoid is important.

There was a time when the place of exercise in the lives and treatment of people with scoliosis was questioned. We’ve since learned that there are a lot of benefits to working out with scoliosis, when those exercises are corrective, designed by a specialist, and scoliosis-specific.

What you need to know about working out with scoliosis is that it can be done safely with guidance; in fact, there are entire exercise-based approaches to scoliosis treatment with proven results.

Being Diagnosed with Scoliosis

Being diagnosed with scoliosis means an unnatural spinal curve that also rotates has developed, and as a progressive condition, its nature is to become more severe over time.

Being diagnosed with scoliosis means treatment is needed, and with progressive conditions like scoliosis, the sooner treatment is started, the better.

Scoliosis has been around since ancient times, and it was once thought that a scoliosis diagnosis meant a life of limitations, but we have since learned that’s not the case; in fact, a number of celebrities and professional athletes have gone on to fulfill their life’s goals and set athletic records, despite being diagnosed with scoliosis.

Being diagnosed with scoliosis can mean certain activities, sports, and exercises need to be modified, approached with caution, and/or avoided completely, but there are also exercises that are scoliosis-specific, have corrective potential, and are valuable treatment tools.

So when it comes to living with, and treating, scoliosis, exercise is at the center of a nonsurgical treatment approach.

Following a scoliosis diagnosis, the most important decision is the type of treatment plan to commit to; as a progressive condition, scoliosis treatment is ongoing and can shape the spine’s long-term health and function.

Scoliosis can be treated surgically, or with a proactive nonsurgical treatment plan, and as nonsurgical treatment is a complete approach from diagnosis to rehabilitation, guidance on how to cultivate a healthy activity level for a spine- and scoliosis-friendly lifestyle is included.

Working Out With Scoliosis: Exercises to Avoid

Scoliosis introduces uneven forces to the spine, its surroundings, and the entire body, and as progression occurs, the spine becomes increasingly rigid, effects increase, and conditions become more complex to treat.

Staying active is important for everyone and is aligned with the spine’s movement-based design, and for people with scoliosis, keeping the spine flexible, and its surrounding muscles strong and balanced, can have a number of therapeutic benefits.

When it comes to exercising with scoliosis, the danger is straining the spine and/or exacerbating symptoms, which is why exercise and sports need to be approved by a patient’s treatment provider.

Straining the Spine

Exercises to avoid are those that involve repeated jarring motions, place the spine in an unnatural position, and/or involve hyper-extension; this can increase the spine’s rotational component and pressure on already-strained vertebrae.

Workouts that involve arching the spine can worsen the curve, particularly in cases of thoracic scoliosis, so certain swim strokes, yoga poses, and types of dance should be approached with caution, and/or avoided, by people with scoliosis.

For patients who have reached skeletal maturity, scoliosis is compressive, so workout routines that can further compress the spine should be avoided.

Lifting weights straight over the head isn’t commonly recommended as it can increase weight and pressure on the spine and its surrounding muscles.

Scoliosis causes the spine to become misaligned, making it weaker and more vulnerable to injury and strain, and scoliosis patients need guidance from their treatment provider as to which activities are unsafe.

Muscle Strain

Working out with scoliosis has to focus on using muscles symmetrically as a muscular imbalance is a common effect.

If an unnatural spinal curve is pulling the spine’s surrounding muscles in different directions, it can cause a muscular imbalance to develop as muscles on one side of the spine become stretched and sore from overuse, and muscles on the other side of the spine and body can become weak from lack of use.

Muscle imbalances can be painful, and most exercise and sports are based on symmetrical movement.

Activities and exercises to avoid for people with scoliosis include those that overuse one side of the body; not engaging muscles symmetrically can further exacerbate a muscular imbalance and its effects.

The Power of Scoliosis-Specific Exercise

While there are certain exercises to avoid with scoliosis, scoliosis-specific exercises designed by a scoliosis specialist, as part of an integrative nonsurgical treatment plan, can have corrective potential.

Here at the Scoliosis Center of Utah, scoliosis exercises are customized to address a patient’s posture, ability, symptoms, scoliosis type, severity, location, and treatment goal.

ScoliBalance® is a complete approach to nonsurgical scoliosis care that uses the power of corrective exercise to slow/stop progression, reduce curve size, increase spinal flexibility, improve muscular strength, balance through improvements to the spine’s alignment and stability.

ScoliBalance® is complemented by corrective bracing to further improve the spine’s position and 3D body posture.

Through corrective bracing, the connection between the brain and body position is strengthened, and patients are taught postural awareness through the use of Mirror Image exercises.

Educating patients on the power of posture and movement patterns, to influence the position of the curve is at the center of a conservative treatment because the treatment goal is long-term sustainable results.

Conclusion

Working out with scoliosis should be approached with caution and informed, but that doesn’t mean exercise should be avoided entirely.

Healthy spinal curves and alignment promote healthy posture, movement patterns, and make the spine stronger, more flexible, and better able to handle stress from daily activity and movement; the development of an unhealthy spinal curve can disrupt spinal strength and function in a number of ways.

As a progressive condition, the effects of scoliosis can change over time, and it’s important for patients to understand the value of proactive treatment and scoliosis-specific exercise.

While general exercise and workouts don’t offer corrective potential, when exercise is scoliosis-specific, designed by a scoliosis specialist, and customized to address key patient/condition variables, it can increase treatment efficacy and become a focus of nonsurgical treatment.

Being safe while exercising with scoliosis is key, and this includes not straining the spine and/or overusing one side of the body for asymmetrical muscle engagement. Knowing the types of exercise to approach with caution, modify, and/or avoid completely can help protect the spine and its surroundings.

When scoliosis-specific exercise is customized and integrated into a comprehensive treatment plan, it can help counteract progression, increase spinal flexibility, and increase the spine’s surrounding muscle strength and balance.

ScoliBalance is a complete nonsurgical treatment program that focuses on the power of scoliosis-specific exercise to restore balance and stability to the spine and body, and when combined with the potential of corrective bracing, the scope of nonsurgical treatment widens.