What Does Scoliosis Feel Like? We Asked Our Patients!

Part of diagnosed scoliosis cases is further classifying them based on key patient/condition variables, and these classification points help shape the design of customized treatment plans. Scoliosis pain is more common in adults than adolescents and can range widely in severity. Keep reading to read five real-life descriptions of what it feels like to have scoliosis.

Scoliosis is a highly-variable condition, making each patient-experience unique. Ranging from mild to very severe, there are a number of variables that can affect how scoliosis pain will feel, for those experiencing it. Common symptoms of scoliosis can include back and/or radicular pain.

Before getting to patient testimonials, let's start with the condition's key classification points, as they shape a person's experience of life with scoliosis.

Classifying Scoliosis

If a person is diagnosed with scoliosis, it means an unnatural sideways spinal curve has developed, with rotation, and it's the rotational component that makes scoliosis a 3-dimensional condition.

Part of the diagnostic process involves comprehensively assessing a condition and further classifying it based on important patient and condition factors.

Classifying scoliosis helps streamline the treatment process, and in order to be effective, treatment plans have to be specific to each patient and their condition.

The complex nature of scoliosis necessitates the customization of treatment plans, and as a progressive condition, scoliosis has it it is nature to worsen over time.

Classification points that shape a person's experience of life with scoliosis include patient age, condition severity, condition type, and curvature location.

Patient Age

Patient age is an important patient characteristic not only because it indicates overall health, but also in terms of progression and scoliosis pain.

In the context of progression, patient age is a huge factor because the main trigger for progression is growth and development.

While scoliosis does affect adults, it's most commonly diagnosed in adolescents between the ages of 10 and 18, and due to the stage of puberty, known for rapid and unpredictable growth spurts, this age group is at risk for rapid-phase progression.

So in our young patients, I know that monitoring for signs of progression with growth is going to be a focus of treatment, and in older patients who have reached skeletal maturity, progression tends to slow down.

When it comes to pain, age is an important factor because scoliosis doesn't become a compressive force until skeletal maturity has been reached, and compression of the spine and its surrounding muscles and nerves is the main cause of condition-related pain.

Growing spines are experiencing a constant lengthening motion, and this counteracts the compressive force of the unnatural spinal curvature, so patient age helps indicate whether scoliosis symptoms will include pain, and whether or not pain medication/management will be needed.

Condition Severity

Condition severity is a key feature when it comes to whether or not scoliosis is going to be painful, and conditions are classified, in terms of severity, based on a measurement known as Cobb angle:

• Mild scoliosis: Cobb angle measurement of between 10 and 25 degrees
• Moderate scoliosis: Cobb angle measurement of between 25 and 40 degrees
• Severe scoliosis: Cobb angle measurement of 40+ degrees
• Very-severe scoliosis: Cobb angle measurement of 80+ degrees

Generally, the higher the Cobb angle, the more likely symptoms are to include pain, and an unnatural spinal curve, in addition to having a rotational component, has to have a minimum Cobb angle of 10 degrees to reach a scoliosis diagnosis.

Pain is also related to the angle of trunk rotation (ATR); the more rotation there is, the more likely it is that scoliosis patients will have noticeable symptoms, one of which can be related pain.

Scoliosis is Progressive

An important aspect of condition severity is that as a progression condition, scoliosis has it in its nature to worsen over time, particularly if left untreated, or not treated proactively.

So where a scoliosis is at the time of diagnosis is not indicative of where it will stay.

Mild scoliosis can easily progress to moderate, severe, and very severe; only proactive treatment can work towards counteracting the condition's progressive nature.

Part of the complex nature of scoliosis is that there are multiple different condition types a person can develop.

Condition Types

Scoliosis is complex to treat, not just because of its wide-ranging severity, but also because there are multiple condition types, both typical and atypical.

As mentioned, the most prevalent form of scoliosis is adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), and the idiopathic designation means we don't fully understand its underlying cause, but we know how to treat it, and we know what triggers its progression: growth and development.

Idiopathic scoliosis is also the most common type of adult scoliosis; in fact, idiopathic scoliosis accounts for approximately 80 percent of known diagnosed scoliosis cases, and the remaining 20 percent are associated with known causes: neuromuscular scoliosis, congenital scoliosis, degenerative scoliosis, and traumatic scoliosis.

These forms are considered atypical as there is an underlying pathology, and condition type also shapes the type of related symptoms and what a patient's scoliosis will feel like.

Curvature Location

The spine has three main sections: cervical spine (neck), thoracic spine (middle/upper back), and lumbar spine (lower back).

Scoliosis can develop in any of the spinal sections, but most commonly affects the thoracic spine, which makes sense as it's the largest spinal section.

Curvature location tells me where to concentrate my treatment efforts and also indicates likely symptoms.

While scoliosis, particularly when there is a degree of nerve involvement, can cause symptoms felt throughout the body, in general, the area of the body closest to the location of the unnatural spinal curvature is most likely to be the affected area.

For example, scoliosis in the lumbar spine is the most likely to cause leg pain, while scoliosis in the cervical spine is the most likely to cause neck and shoulder pain.

Now that we've covered the important classification points, let's hear from five real patients what it can feel like to have scoliosis.

What Does Scoliosis Feel Like?

Isabella V: "It feels like your shoulders are uneven and you are being pulled down to one side. Your back is painful."

The main symptoms of scoliosis in children and adolescents involves postural deviation due to the condition's uneven forces, and among the earliest telltale signs of AIS are uneven shoulders, shoulder blades, and uneven hips.

One shoulder can sit higher than the other, and one shoulder blade can protrude more on one side of the body than the other.

The feeling of being weighed down on one side can be understood as the body's attempt to counteract its shifting center of gravity and the condition's uneven forces.

Because the spine runs through the center of the body, if an unnatural spinal curvature has made the spine misaligned as it bends unnaturally to one side, the patient could naturally feel pulled to that side.

While more common in adult scoliosis, back pain can be an issue as progression occurs and spinal rigidity increases, making the spine less flexible and stiff.

Adult patients commonly experience pain caused by compression of the spine and its surrounding muscles, vessels, and nerves.

Rebecca P: "It feels like you are stiff on one side. One side is more curvy than the other, and your legs can feel uneven."

Scoliosis introduces a lot of uneven forces to the body, so feeling stiff on one side tends to accompany progression as the spine's rigidity increases.

As it's not just the spine that's in charge of maintaining its natural curves and alignment, but also its surrounding muscles, the unnatural spinal curve is also putting pressure on muscles that are struggling to compensate for the condition's uneven forces.

When a scoliotic curve develops, it affects the body's overall symmetry as the spine's biomechanics are disrupted, and this can give the appearance, and feeling, of one leg hanging longer than the other.

Kate C: "For me, it feels like my hips are shifted and not aligned. I feel pain sometimes, but chiropractic adjustments have helped tremendously. I have also noticed some of the shoes I'm wearing sit uncomfortably on my right ankle due to the curve in my spine."

An overall asymmetrical look to the body is a common symptom of scoliosis, and this can include one hip sitting higher than the other, or one side appearing flatter or more rounded than the other; this is especially common in thoracic and/or lumbar scoliosis.

Here at the Scoliosis Reduction Center, I apply a conservative chiropractic-centered treatment approach as we work towards impacting scoliosis, first and foremost, on a structural level.

You can see how widespread the sensation of asymmetry can be in Kate's description of how even her shoes feel ill-fitting, and ill-fitting clothing is a common indicator of AIS.

Brianna T: "Emotionally, it feels like a heavy weight; it makes me scared of what I look like. Physically, it feels like pressure on my rib cage and makes it hard to breathe while working.

Too often, the focus is on physical symptoms, but progressive conditions like scoliosis can have a very real psychological effect as well, especially for adolescents.

The average teenager doesn't want to stand out; they want to fit in with their peers. They don't want to look different, walk differently, and look different in a bathing suit.

Especially common with thoracic scoliosis, an unnatural spinal curve can pull on the rib cage and disrupt its positioning, causing the development of a rib arch: one of the condition's telltale indicators.

While mild scoliosis can be asymptomatic or cause subtle symptoms, in severe cases, a rib arch can put pressure on the chest, leaving less room for the lungs to function optimally and affect breathing, particularly during times of exertion.

Baleg D: "It feels like you are being weighed down (pulled down). Your body feels loose, uncomfortable, and fragile."

The sensation of being pulled down is due to the adverse tension that scoliosis introduces to the spine.

The feeling of being stretched is a common description as the spine, and the rest of the body, tries to compensate for the compressive force of the scoliosis.

Scoliosis can also disrupt balance, and scoliosis patients often describe finding it difficult to feel comfortable in their own bodies.

And feeling fragile can be part of the condition's very-real psychological effects as patients have the awareness that they're living with a spine that's less able to absorb/distribute stress, more vulnerable to injury, and less functional.

Conclusion

As such a highly-variable and complex condition, no two cases of scoliosis are the same, which is why the customization of treatment plans is key to efficacy.

Scoliosis symptoms one patient experiences aren't always indicative of what others will face, as you see from our five patient descriptions; that being said, common threads include feeling weighed down, pulled more to one side, and feeling generally uncomfortable.

As scoliosis symptoms tend to increase with progression, the only way to counteract the condition's progressive nature is through proactive treatment that addresses a condition's underlying cause; this is the difference between treating a condition's symptoms, or the condition itself.

Here at the Center, I combine multiple forms of treatment to impact the condition on every level, so scoliosis symptoms, such as pain, are reduced/eliminated as the spine's natural curves, and function, are restored.