Posture Alignment & Scoliosis

The following article was written by John Elder, Egoscue Nashville.

Egoscue and Scoliosis 
 by John Elder on July 14, 2010

We see clients with scoliosis every week, and the majority of the time those clients think they have to live with it and that their condition is unchangeable. We at Egoscue disagree. I believe your body has an amazing ability to heal itself and the spine is movable, rather than ‘fixed’ in that scoliotic curve. The spine has the ability to move not just when you’re bending and flexing, but also when thinking about it from the perspective of scoliosis. Egoscue’s thinking is that muscles move your bones. Whether you’re taking a walk, swinging a golf club, or getting up out of a chair, your muscles are moving your bones.

For those with scoliosis, it’s no different. I believe your muscles moved your bones into that position due to the body adapting to its surroundings, hobbies, occupations and other negative stimulus. I also believe when you place a positive stimulus on the muscles and (re)teach them how to function properly, they will move the spine back into a more neutral position. Will we ever get your spine back to neutral (zero degrees)? Maybe not. But what if we’re able to bring your curve from 40 degrees to 30 degrees (or better)? It may not sound like much of a change, but when it comes to overall function of your body, including how scoliosis can impact your circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems, it’s huge.

Still don’t think the spine can move out of its S- or C-Curve? Here are a couple of before/after x-rays for you:

Talk about improving someone’s quality of life. These were from a 14-year-old client. She now has the rest of her life to work on improving her function.

I wanted to post these for those of you who have been told that scoliosis is your ‘health destiny’ and that you’re never going to be the same. Some of you have probably been told that your only option is surgery, and that your spine needs to be fused or needs a rod. Hopefully these pictures give you a more optimistic outlook on your current condition than what you’ve been told before.

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Do you or someone you know have scoliosis?  Why wait to improve your posture and reduce or eliminate limitations?  Let us help you prevent or eliminate musculoskeletal pain and improve neuromuscular function quickly and easily.  We can help you improve athletic performance and quality of life beyond what you have ever experienced before!  

Call The POSTURE Clinic at 772-559-1532 to start living life to your fullest.