Episode 24: Should People with Scoliosis Avoid Certain Exercises?

Can certain exercises affect your Scoliosis?

Exercise is important for all types of patients and especially important for patients who have Scoliosis.

Did you know that there is an assumption that if you have Scoliosis, you shouldn’t remain active? Another thing would be you're too fragile and if you’re doing some type of exercise or some type of activity, you can hurt yourself.

There is a possibility of that being true in very small cases but the majority of Scoliosis patients can participate in activities and in exercise and they can participate in things they want to do.

The big question is how can exercise affect treatment outcomes.

Movement is important.

It is important for muscles, joints, and for spine health. The spine, especially after you’re done growing, only gets its nutrients through motion. Movement allows the discs, ligaments, tissues, and spinal fluid to circulate. The more you move your spine, the more nutrients circulate properly throughout the spinal tissues, that's why movement is really important.

What exercises can actually help treat Scoliosis?

General exercises really don’t have an effect on the curve type or the curve size. If you’re strengthening your abs or your back or you’re doing yoga or Pilates, these general exercises may be good for general health and muscles and tissues but in terms of affecting your Scoliosis or curve size, they have very little effect.

A corrective exercise or something that we call Scoliosis-Specific Exercise is an exercise that is prescribed for a specific curve type. You perform exercises that are designed to reduce your curve type based on what type of Scoliosis you have.

What can Scoliosis specific exercises do for Scoliosis patients:

• Help improve core strength
• They create stronger spinal muscles
• They optimize support
• They improve body posture and positioning
• They can help with body coordination
• They can help stimulate areas of the brain that are not properly stimulated because of the abnormal alignment

The most important thing is they can help affect the structure and curvature

And when combined with other types of therapies and bracing, they can be very effective.

For more details about Scoliosis-Specific Exercises, please check out Dr. Tony Nalda’s podcast below.

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