SCOLIOSIS

[relaxed man]

My best friend has been diagnosed with Scoliosis last year. I was wondering what some techniques I can use to treat it.

Thanks
Mark

[jdcan]

The book, Clinical Massage Therapy by Rattray, has a whole section on it. Has different curves, patterns, what to lenghten, what to strenghten, etc. Well worth the investment if your the fix-it type.

[riversinger]

Active Isolated Stretching is great for dealing with this condition, combined with strengthening the weak areas.
You may want to go on the website: www.stretchingusa.com for practitioner locations.

Also, combining bodywork with chiropractic treatment can be helpful, depending on the severity of the curves.

Structural integration techniques are extremely helpful, as they realign the tissues & can dramatically affect the pulling effect of spastic areas while releasing torc in the body posture too.

[AnastasiaB]

According to what I learned in school, from a book by good old John Harvey Kellogg - treating scoliosis entails working to loosen and stretch muscles on the "shortened" side and to firm and tone up muscles on the "lengthened" side.......... the few clients I have with scoliosis have such mild cases that this doesn't really apply to them though.......

[WaltFritz]

In my practice, I find treating scoliosis to need a multi-faceted approach. Opening up the shortened strructures is vital, and they can be on both sides of the spine. Balancing the pelvis is crucial as is teaching self pelvic balancing to the client. Doing work to open up the rib cage (again, both sides) is necessary as well. I have had very good luck with reversing the curve and reducing the overall deformity in many patients. I am currently working with two teenaged equine athletes (the riders...not the horses) who compete at a national level. They are seeing their shoulder and seat become more level and their performance is gaining. Some of the changes occur rather quickly, others are slower, but the myofascial release that I perform has really worked.

There is a research paper on my website's research page that documents the effectiveness of MFR with scoliosis. Take a look.

[cstbrian]

In my work with scoliosis I see a lot of dural tube restrictions and facilitated segments ... often with compression at L5-S1, the occipital-cranial base and the sphenobasilar joint (other Sutherland sphenoid lesions are often present as well). Plus I have seen a high number of scoliosis patients who have some degree of hard palate lesion.

I believe that if there is slight twisting or tension within the dural tube, the bones surrounding it (vertebrae) will begin to compensate for the fascial imbalance. I feel it is just as important to address the soft tissue inside the vertebrae as it is to address the soft tissue external to the vertebrae.

[JasonE]

Part of the difficulty with scoliosis is that it may be structural or functional in nature. Functional scoliosis is addressed much more readily, but left untreated it may result in structural changes.

Structural scoliosis results from developmental abnormalities, and success rates are lower. I personally would like to see more studies of aggressive intervention with adolescents to see if more surgeries might be prevented. Right now I have limited access to work with a young girl that has two Cobb angles in excess of 55 degrees. It's an uphill battle, but her family is supportive and we'll do the best we can. Most of what we are doing is based on Active Isolated Stretching, and she is beginning to show some signs of improvement.

I feel it's very important for the scoliotic client to begin treatment ASAP and to learn stretches and strengthening exercises specific to rebalancing their particular pattern of development. This latter part is outside the scope of practice of most MTs, but we can refer them to PTs for therapy or to competent trainers for exercise instruction.