By the time you finish reading this article, you will know the main ways of correcting scoliosis and, step by step, will gain good posture and a beautiful walk, get rid of pain and problems in the neck, back and lower back, feel lightness in your movements, and stop feeling tired and uncomfortable through the day.
People with posture problems, and with scoliosis in particular, turn up not only at my sessions but also at the consulting rooms of general practitioners, neurologists, mental-health specialists, cardiologists, urologists and gynaecologists… And that is the shortest and by no means complete list of specialists who deal with the consequences of a lateral curvature of the spine. Those consequences are not only a visible asymmetry of the body and poor posture, but also headaches and dizziness, painful sensations in the chest, neck, back and stomach. Digestive problems, a disturbed menstrual cycle, erectile dysfunction. A constant feeling of tiredness and an inability to stand up for yourself.
- Scoliosis can be corrected — a necessary addition;
- Put the body to work. Exercise as the main method;
- Fall in love with water. Swimming;
- Hippotherapy — still not about Hippocrates;
- Coloured strips, or the useful "sticking plaster". Taping and orthopaedics;
- Summary, or drawing conclusions.
Scoliosis can be corrected. Step by step
The main task is not correcting posture, as it may seem at first, but holding on to what has been achieved at each stage. First comes mobilisation of the curved section of the spine (we stop the condition from progressing), next comes correction of the deformity (we put it right), and then comes stabilisation of the spine in the posi-
tion that correction has achieved (we keep and improve the result).
Your work on your posture has to be constant and persistent.
Self-help methods of correcting a lateral curvature of the spine include a daily set of exercises, swimming, horse riding and a gentle, well-judged balance of work and rest. Where there is reason for it, we add passive body work — massage, manual therapy, reflexology, physiotherapy. And let us not forget a balanced diet, vitamins and minerals. I can say with confidence that without a whole set of measures to hold and correct scoliosis, the result will be, to put it mildly, of little use.
Therapeutic exercise and its leading role in correcting scoliosis
The main method of correcting scoliosis is a specially chosen, individual set of exercises, which will help you to:
✓Build and strengthen the muscular corset. The muscles will hold the spine in a position that keeps your posture right.
✓Stabilise the spine. Keep it in place, without it shifting one way or the other.
✓Stop the condition from progressing.
Your health will get better with every day. The body's own repair mechanism will start up.
Scoliosis can be corrected with general strengthening, breathing and special exercises.
Special or corrective exercises are movements aimed mainly at straightening out the wrong curves of the spine. They can be symmetrical, asymmetrical (with the emphasis on one side) and detorsional (rotational ones, which bring back the parallel alignment of pelvis and shoulders). I recommend starting the exercises from further away — with the joints of the arms and legs — and then gradually moving on to exercises for the spine.
Go to the swimming pool
Swimming is one of the important additional ways of correcting posture. Its healing and relaxing effect on the spine should not be underestimated.
Swimming releases muscle spasm, and the self-traction that happens as you glide through the water strengthens the corrective effect. Swimming strokes use almost every muscle, the uneven load on the spine disappears, and the conditions for a normal position of the body are restored. At the same time the muscles of the abdomen, back and limbs grow stronger and coordination improves. Researchers have shown that the main swimming stroke for treating scoliosis is breaststroke on the chest with a long glide. The spine is stretched to its full length, and the muscles of the trunk get a workout. This stroke involves almost no rotation of the body and pelvis, and rotation is undesirable with scoliosis.
PLEASE NOTE! Front crawl, butterfly and dolphin in their pure form must not be used in scoliotic disease!
Hippotherapy, or a few words about riding
Besides the traditional ways of dealing with posture problems such as a stoop or scoliosis, horse riding — hippotherapy — is also used.
This method works in the following ways:
✓ it stabilises the mobility of the spine (we take out the “wobble”)
✓ it builds a strong and dependable muscular corset; ✓ it actively corrects the curvature; ✓ it removes stiffness of movement; ✓ it develops good posture; ✓ it makes you psychologically steadier; it takes away the “inferiority complex”; ✓ it strengthens the heart, the blood vessels and the breathing; it develops agility, courage and orderliness, ✓ inner discipline.
Orthopaedics and taping
Orthopaedic products — orthoses, braces, kinesiology tape. All these “posture correctors” spread the load evenly across the muscles that hold the body in place, which is what is needed with lateral and other curvatures of the spine. Elastic (soft and springy) supports are used; they are worn for a limited time during the day, for a few days in the case of taping, and also when you have to stay in one position for a long time or have to do heavy physical work. Such “posture correctors” will not become a full support for the spine, but they do back up weakened muscles, take the load off the spine, limit its extreme movements and stabilise it in a normal position.
Special insoles and foot pads are another orthopaedic aid: they give the body a normal position and take out the tilt in the pelvic area.
Orthopaedic correction is a way of changing posture deliberately and of compensating for the impaired function of the spine in scoliosis.
Information about further methods, as well as a programme of scoliosis correction, posture correction and spinal health designed especially for you, is available at the open and one-to-one meetings of the club Freud's Legacy Take care and stay healthy!
