Rebalancing muscle inbalance caused by scoliosis

xidia

I have a mild - untreated and untreatable - C curve in my upper spine. Dr aware, chiropractor aware, looking for a local professional to ask for "proper" advice etc etc But in the meantime, can anyone answer my questions please?

I've been doing Strong Lifts 5x5 for around 3 months and loving it. However, I've now hit problems on my bench (50lbs) and overhead press (35lbs), because my right side (outside of the curve) is stronger than the left (inside). I've always known that I have underdeveloped muscles on the left - you can see the hollow on that side of my spine compared to the normal development on the right. I'm now lifting the bar unevenly on these, and I'm not happy about it.

How can I develop the specific muscles on the left side of my thoracic spine? The non-curved parts of my spine (above and below) have balanced muscles, so my deadlifts (125lbs) are even, for instance. Pendlay rows seem to be even too, but I may just not have hit the weight which will tax the underdeveloped side yet (currently at 60lbs).

The secondary effect is that there's a slight twist to my ribcage (causes me no problems) which leads to a correctable twist to my pelvis (hence seeing the chiro). Are there any exercises I can do to strengthen some muscles (which?!) to stop this pelvic twist occurring, since it screws up my squat (77lbs) form and puts unequal pressure on my knees?

Many thanks in advance.

sijomial

Bump for later

fishlover888

Hey,
I've been thinking about this since your post in Stronglifts. I don't have any super specific answers unfortunately, but the last physical therapist I did my clinical with had special training in scoliosis and 'unwinding' the spine. The problem with chiro is that even if they re align you the muscles will pull back into the scoliotic curve based on tightness/weakness.

He used the Scroth Method for 3-D treatment which is basically one of the best researched treatments for thoracic curvatures. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3180431/) (http://www.schrothmethod.com/)

So overall my recommendation would be to look for a physical therapist in your area with advanced certification or experience in treating scoliosis. It's really not an entry level thing so I don't know enough about it... I just remember that based on the location of your curve he would put people in weird looking unwinding positions and then strengthen within those positions. I'll do some more reading and see if I can come up with something more specific for you.

Edited to add: there was a lot of emphasis on breath and breathing into the part of the rib cage where the ribs are closer together (which I think should be the... concave side? )

xidia

bump - anyone else?

fittocycle

I have scoliosis in my lower spine, which causes my muscles to tighten up on left side. As the muscles tighten, my left leg shortens which throws my back off.
Both the spine specialist and my chiropractor recommended I do Pilates on the reformer machine to strengthen those imbalances. The reformer machine is great for this because it makes it easier to work both sides with equal force and strength. I do free weights but find I cannot correct the imbalance on my own.
That said, Pilates lessons on the reformer is expensive. It's a great workout but I could not afford to continue, despite seeing some noticeable results. Sure wish insurance would cover it!:ohwell:

DrMAvDPhD

I started a group on here for people with scoliosis:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/7217-scoliosis

I spoke with my ortho before starting a heavy lifting routine. Mostly he only cautioned me to take it easy on deadlifts (I suspect my curve is worse than yours though). As for strengthening, I would add exercises that work your core. Planks, side planks, leg lifts, etc. You may also want to look into a yoga course for more core/balancing work (I lift heavy but a tough yoga class is still a better core workout than anything I've tried in the weights room).

I always push the limits on my weak side, so that my stronger side is never fully taxed. I just don't see any other option that won't make the problems worse. I have had success IMO, here is me before/after about 8 months of lifting, may people have commented that my back looks a lot better:

xidia

Thanks gals - I'm about to add regular Pilates to my routine - probably only once a week. I've done it before, I love it and the flexibility won't do me any harm either. Oh, and some sun salutations each morning.

@Mavd - that's fantastic progress!

I'm also going to go more regularly to my chiro so I stand a better chance of training the muscles in the *right* place.