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My Tips for Reducing Scoliosis Pain with Yoga |
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Many doctors state that there are no well done studies proving that exercise can help scoliosis. If your doctors tells you that, ask him if he has read the best-selling book, Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. One of Mr. Taleb's main points in this treatise on logic and probability is that it is difficult, if not impossible, to prove something doesn't exist. His main example. For years in Europe, everyone thought all swans were white. Then when the first Europeans laned in Australia, they found that there were black swans in in that country. It doesn't matter how many white swans people had seen in Europe over the years. There could have been millions - yet no matter how many white swans were viewed it never could prove that black swans didn't exist, which evidently they did and still do. So this means that no matter how many medical studies have been done that show that some types of exercise performed by some types of doctors or therapists didn't help scoliosis, it doesn't exclude the possibility that some people do know how to correct spinal curvature through some forms of exercise, specially therapies like yoga and pilates, that have not yet been medically studied by people in white lab coats. Just because there aren't any studies proving something doesn't mean it isn't true. I alieviated my spinal curvature and pain issues with yoga and exercise , plus I get emails occasionally from people who have corrected their curve or children's curve with exercise. It can be done. It would probably be done more often if so many medical doctors encouraged their patients to give exercise a try. I just grit my teeth every time I read on forums that doctors tell parents that their children have scoliosis but there is nothing to be done and to just take a wait and see attitude. Personally, I suspect a small curve would be much easier to nip in the bud with yoga and some simple stretching exercises.
I think that each case of scoliosis is very individual. Tight, unbalanced muscles over time can push bones out of place, so for me the key to correcting my spinal curvature started with getting my muscles more in balance. In a paper that appeared in the journal, Orthopedics, on strength training for scoliosis, the authors noted that in 10 of 12 patients muscles were weaker on the thoracic side of the curve. This is exactly what happened to me. The muscles on the left side of my body, where my curve was convex, were strong and over developed, while the right side of my body on the concave side of my curve the muscles were short and weak.. Though I still have work to do, stretching on my left side and doing both lengthening and strengthening exercises on my right side has reduced the majority of my spinal curve as well as eliminated my TMJ and neck pain that occurred on my right side. |
| In order to correct a a spinal curve where the convave side is on the right and the muscles on the right are shortened, you may find it helpful to do yoga poses that stretch to the left and hold the pose for awhile. Over time this will usually shorten the muscles on the left and lengthen the muscles on the right, making both both sides more balanced in length. |
I know exercise helped my scoliosis significantly, and ther are many cases of exercise helping others with spinal cuvatures, too. I used to have to have my work suits specially tailored because on my left side I had a low shoulder and a high hip. After intensive sessions of yoga, trigger point and physical therapy, those suits no longer fit at all because my shoulders and hips are now even. These days I can wear suits right off the rack with no lopsided hemming or shoulder pads required.
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