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...