Why you should consider pilates if you or someone you know has scoliosis. 

Hello, my name is Andy Tseng. I'm a physical therapist, occupational therapist as well as a Pilates and Gyrotonic instructor here at CORE Therapy and Pilates.

Scoliosis is a very common condition that we've seen with a lot of our clients and usually, they will suffer from lower back pain, neck pain, shoulder problems, hip problems, and even many other conditions as a result of scoliosis because of the compromised awareness of their body movement and the awareness of their body alignment position in the space.

In this video, I'm going to talk about the benefits of Pilates exercises based on the six principles proposed by Joseph Pilates, the founder of this movement.

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What are the six principles proposed by Joseph Pilates?

1. Breathing

You are required to breathe throughout the whole exercise in order to improve your movement efficiency as well as the stability to holding certain positions.

2. Centering

You are required to engage your core throughout the exercises in order to have better proximal stability at your trunk so that you can move your distal limbs more freely.

3. Concentration

You are required to concentrate on the movement throughout the pilates session, all the time.

4. Precision

Pilates choreography usually involves multiple joints throughout the body from proximal to distal to be held at a different position or to be expected to be moved into different angles or degrees at different times.

5. Flow

Pilates choreography can also be adjusted with different rhythms, speeds, or tempos for different purposes, such as endurance strength, or agility.

6. Control

You are required to control all your body parts while maintaining stability by holding to certain positions at a different speed, tempo, and rhythm throughout the whole session and for each exercise.

Pilates Workout for Scoliosis

Clients with scoliosis would benefit significantly from practicing pilates because of the huge focus on breathing which we all know that the curvature that happened in scoliosis, especially to the thoracic spine can really compromise the mobility of the ribcage and then further compromise the lung function and breathing capacity.

Moreover there will be able to get more movement experiences along the midline and maintaining symmetrical alignment of their body because of the huge focus of centering and precision in pilates choreography.

Clients with scoliosis will also be able to develop a better awareness of movement and how their body is in space by practicing pilates with the focus on concentration, control, and flow.

Since scoliosis is a condition not only affects the alignment of the spine but also compromises the client's awareness of movement their body alignment in space but also their capacity to breathe practicing pilates can be very beneficial for them to improve their general overall motor function as well as the quality of life.

Feel free to let us know what you think about this video. If you would like to learn more about pilates or scoliosis I created another video previously talking more about the six principles proposed by Joseph Pilates.

We also have other videos that are already made talking more in-depth about scoliosis and if you are interested in starting pilates today I would encourage you to go to our website www.therapyandpilates.com to look for more information or give us a call at 512-215-4227.

We are doing our best to help people in Austin and West Lake Hills to be active and fit and return to doing things they enjoy doing. 

We would love to help you as well… have a great day and see you next time.

I have scoliosis. Should I do stretches? Watch this video to find out more. Can you do me a favor and subscribe to our channel by clicking the button you see below to get notified when all of our content comes out?

We provide content on health and wellness, physical therapy, pilates, and Gyrotonic exercises. So why should you do stretches for scoliosis? By the end of this video, you will find out the reasons why it's important to do stretches to help with your scoliosis.

My name is Dr. Danny Masters and I'm a Physical Therapist. I can't wait to help you learn why it's important to do stretches with scoliosis.

What is Scoliosis?  

First off, what is scoliosis? Scoliosis is a curvature in your spine that happens in the lower back, the upper back or it can occur in both. So what it means is that there's a curve in the frontal plane. What that means is when you look at someone's back when they're either bending over or you can look at an x-ray, you'll see a curve in either the two locations that I talked about... so the low back, the middle of the back or it could be in both. 

Now along with having a curvature in the spine, there's also a rotational component. So that means that it's turned to one side or the other along with the curve.

Why is this important? 

So it's important because with these changes you're not having the proper alignment not only in your back but also in your pelvis so and that can lead to changes in muscle length and can lead to pain. 

On the side where the curve happens, so on this side or what we call the convex side, so the muscles on that side of the spine become overly lengthened which can lead to decreased strength, and then you can also get your pelvis raised on that side and you can also have your ribs jutted outward like this.

Now on the other side of the curve, so on the inside of the curve or what we call the concave side, the muscles can become shortened which can also lead to decreased strength but you can also have a lowering of the hip and the pelvis and then your ribs are rotated inward.

So these are all important because when all of these muscles when all of these changes happen, like they shorten or lengthen muscles, the changing in strength, the changing in the position of your pelvis and your hips, your spine and your ribs... this can lead to a lot of problems including breathing issues, pain, difficulties with walking because your body has to compensate for these things which can lead to overuse.

Why is it important to do stretching with these? 

So on that concave side that we talked about where the muscles are shortened, it's important to do those stretches. One to help get the muscles in the proper position but from doing those stretches then you can help realign everything.

So that'll help realign your pelvis, it'll help with getting the proper length in both sides of the muscles, getting the rib cage more in the proper position so that you can assist with breathing, with getting your muscles in a better position to be strengthened and helping to decrease your pain.

Now, after doing all of these stretches... so like I said it can help with pain, it can help with your breathing, and it can help with getting your body in a proper position so that when you're doing everyday activities like walking or things that you need to do like putting away groceries and lifting and all of that kind of stuff your muscles and your body are in a proper alignment so that you can do it without causing yourself pain.

So comment below and let me know how this video helped you. 

So you can click on our website to check out other scoliosis blogs  by our other physical therapists and by our trainers. Okay, thank you for watching. I hope this helped you a whole lot. Now, do you live in the Austin area?

Let's get you in for an evaluation, okay! You can go ahead and call 512-215-4227 to learn more...

So you've been told that you have scoliosis by your healthcare practitioner but they didn't really tell you what to do about it. They didn't tell you how to manage it or really how to improve it. 

Could you do me a favor and subscribe to my channel and click on that bell so you're notified of all of our content that comes out. We put out content on physical therapy, pilates, Gyrotonic exercises, as well as all health and wellness ideas. We'd love to have you a part of the team watching. 

So what stretches are there for scoliosis to help my back pain? Well by the end of this video you'll know what you need to do first before going out on YouTube and searching and doing random exercises and stretches that you find there. 

My name's Stephen Dunn. I'm a holistic physical therapist and I've helped hundreds and hundreds of patients over my 23-plus year career as a physical therapist and I can't wait to teach you as well. 

So do scoliosis stretches help with my back pain?

Well, the answer there is that it depends. Again I mentioned this earlier, if you just are doing random exercises off the internet with no intentional purpose then the chances are that they are not going to help you. but the first thing you should do and the most important thing is to be evaluated by a physical therapist.

Yes, your doctor is probably the person to let you know that you have scoliosis or maybe that nurse found it in school when you were doing the bend-over test to touch your toes. I don't know if they still do that but when I was a kid we did that every year but someone along the line has told you that you have scoliosis.

Now, what do you do about it?

Well the first thing you need to do, again, is get evaluated by a physical therapist so that they can determine where you're tight, where you're stiff, where you're strong, where you're weak and where your imbalances are from scoliosis and then an individualized plan can be determined and that's where you'll have specific stretches and exercises to improve your scoliosis that are designed for you that are based on your curve and where your imbalances are.

Again, random videos on YouTube showing you what to do without an evaluation may be doing more harm than good. 

This book is designed for anyone with back pain, not just scoliosis but it's a great place to start. It is not an evaluation by a physical therapist but it is a great place to start to improve the things you need to improve. So with that said, thanks for watching guys and I hope to see you soon. 

Call 512-215-4227 to get started with our team at CORE.