My Scoliosis Story
I first noticed an imbalance as young as 12 years old. The first physical sign I noticed at the time was the way the right side of my waist curved inward, and my left side didn’t have a curve at all. Another imbalance I could feel was, while standing, leaning over to the right side felt a little too comfortable, whereas leaning on the left hip didn’t feel comfortable at all. I remember looking at myself in the mirror trying to understand why my body was growing that way. I didn’t think too deeply about it, I just thought to myself that perhaps I just need to be patient with my growth, all girls bodies change around that age, and maybe I just had to be patient with my growth process.
As I grew, my waist insecurity grew with me. Still, I was aware enough to understand that everyone has insecurities, and everyone is their own biggest critic. I understood that from our own eyes, we notice every little thing about ourselves, which is why it’s important not to give our insecurities more power over us than we have over them. So I figured that being insecure about my waist was just another one of those things I had to accept, and find confidence within myself despite it.
Sometime later, I was told by a massage therapist that I had an uneven back, that it could be scoliosis. I remember her telling me that, what caught her attention was the fact that she recognized how my body had the same issues she did, and that she had scoliosis herself. I was 19 at the time and had no idea what scoliosis was, or who to go to for help. She advised me to see a chiropractor, and so I did.
I was happy to finally understand the root cause of my waist issue I’ve spent years wondering about, but at the same time I felt a little discouraged because I didn’t know how and if it would go away. I didn’t want to hear that there would be things I “couldn’t” do. Movement was really important to me, and I didn’t want to hear that finding this out about my body would mean that it would limit me.
After visiting the chiropractor for the first time, I was really happy to hear that it could definitely be maintained, and that as long as I gave it attention and care, it wouldn’t limit my body’s relationship with movement.
It’s been a couple of years now since I’ve become aware of my scoliosis, and I’ve tried different types of therapy like visiting the chiropractor, acupuncture, islamic cupping, manual therapy and a few others, as well as workouts, yoga and stretching to help with it. I wouldn’t say that it goes forever and will never return, but I can confidently say that in my experience it can definitely become unrecognizable.
After trying out different things to maintain it I wouldn’t say that one is better than the other, I felt that I was able to benefit from all types of therapies and exercises. Although I do think that each one could work better on you depending on where you’re at on your scoliosis journey, and what your personal goals are at the time. I feel like that’s when the choice becomes personal to suit you, but each one definitely does help. I’ve also found that strength training is a must while doing all the helpful things on the side, because that’s what keeps your spine stable and strong while loosening the muscles around it to eventually want to create a strong frame that will hold everything in place.
I felt like the times where I just did the therapy sessions without strength training, I wouldn’t notice my body progress so much. There were times when it felt like a waste because I wasn’t strengthening my body on other days and would just go for an adjustment, obviously the curves would come back faster, because I wasn’t doing my part at home. On the other hand, the times I’d just focus on strengthening my back without going for an adjustment or without softening the muscles somehow, would also result in worsening the curves. I found that including both strengthening and softening the muscles around the spine were what helped me the most to maintain an even spine as much as I can.
Once you find out about your scoliosis, find a balanced routine that strengthens and lengthens your muscles at the same time. Whether your strength training means, going to the gym, or doing body weight workouts at home or even just doing two or three spinal support exercises to start. Have a solid strength routine first. Second, make sure to also include a good amount of time for stretch sessions, this can be a proper 15 minute stretch routine after strengthening, or it can be a passive yoga flow that focuses on mobility and flexibility. Once you have that balance of strength and stretch, choose a therapy type that suits you and stick to it, once a week, once a month, once every three months. Decide what you’re willing to commit to. Sit with the therapist and tell them what your movement routine looks like, tell them them what your goals are, where you feel limited, what you want to work on. If you feel lost and new to scoliosis ask them to explain it to you, if you feel so lost that you need even more information, you can go in for an X-ray, have it printed out and then sit with your therapist with it, to decide what routine suits you. However, the personal habit outside of the sessions are what will make the difference.
So I’ve tried different types of physical therapy, I’ve done the workouts, I gave my helpful advice, why hasn’t it gone away forever? My answer would be stress. Whenever the body is under stress, tight muscles cause the bone structure to shift around a bit, causing the scoliosis to return. More specifically, I mean physical stress. If the body undergoes a huge change like pregnancy and birth, or staying seated on a chair for a long time, or leaving our movement routine, can all be factors that cause the spinal curves and twists to return.
The way our scoliosis shapes itself is always linked to the way our body responds to stress and change. I don’t mean this in a way that is discouraging, but I’m saying it in a way that is realistic to the way life is designed. No matter how much we move forward in life, stress is always a part of the balance. There will always be roadblocks that set us back a bit, that causes our progress to pause or go backward. Until we realize it ourselves, and intentionally reset our movement routine. Even though setbacks like this happen, hopefully it will never be worse than when you first discovered the spinal curve, because now you’re muscles would have gained memory, and the work you put in will show up faster this time than it did before.
Taking care of my spine showed me how important it is to show up for myself, and properly be there for myself. If movement really was important to me, neglecting my spinal health was something I never wanted to do. Looking back I feel proud of my inner 19 year old for staying determined and having a positive outlook on the issue. I have to say that I am grateful that I caught it early, and I’m grateful that my case isn’t too bad, but a huge part of it has to do with the mind body connection. If we break it down and simplify it for ourselves, it’s solutions will feel more accessible and achievable, but if we complicate things, aches and pains will grow and it’s maintenance will get complicated as well. I remember sitting with the chiropractor that first year, and she told me about the way so many scoliosis patients give up, they feel so discouraged by it that they stop their movement goals, they end up believing something is wrong with them until they become limited in their body. I remember her telling me that I should start a blog, to document my scoliosis journey, to inspire others that it is possible to have active lifestyle with scoliosis. That made me happy to hear, and now happy to remember.
The thing is, finding out about an issue with the body isn’t meant to make you stop and take a step back, it’s meant to make you find ways to work around it in order for it not to limit you. The body is meant to move, the spine is meant to bend and twist and fold. Scoliosis is more common than we think. When we think of it this way, we realize that half the people around the world have it and are unaware, we realize that probably 50% of athletes have it and are still athletes. I don’t know if this is true or not, but when we think of it this way, we give the issue less weight than we did at the beginning. So if you are someone with scoliosis as well, I encourage you to explore the way your spine is shaped, get curious about it, and start your healing journey. Experiment with what healing routine suits you best right now, and most importantly listen to your intuition. Only you know what solution feels best in your body.
Most importantly as I end this piece of writing, I want to remind you to take it easy on yourself and be patient. This is something I always have to remind myself, because there definitely are times when I get too in my head about it. Like any other thing in life, scoliosis care is a journey, just embrace its ups and downs. Be proud of your ups and use your downs as growth opportunities. Little by little you’ll notice yourself using all the ways to help your scoliosis as love letters to your body, as true self care, and before you know it you’ll notice that what started as waist insecurities or spinal insecurities will lead you to love your body more than you did before.
