Scoliosis and Massage Therapy

What is Scoliosis?

All people have natural curves in their spine, but scoliosis causes the spine to curve in the wrong direction. It causes sideways curves, and those are different from the spine's normal curves.

If you were to look at your spine from the side, you'd see that it curves out at your neck (cervical spine), in at your mid-back (thoracic spine), and out again at your low back (lumbar spine). Your back is supposed to have those curves. But if you look at your spine from behind, you shouldn't see any curves at all. When there are sideways curves in the spine from this view, that's scoliosis. The curves may look like either an 'S' or a 'C.'

Scoliosis is generally associated with children, but adults can have it, too. This typically happens when scoliosis is not detected during childhood or the disorder progresses progressively. Scoliosis also brings up images of braces and perhaps memories of being tested for it in grade school by the school nurse. Bracing is one of the most common treatment options for scoliosis – a way to try to correct the curve conservatively (without spinal surgery). Sometimes, though, the curve is too extreme and bracing doesn't help enough. In this case, you can have surgery to correct the curve.

For children especially, it can be frightening to learn that they have scoliosis. Having that label makes them different at a time in their lives when they don't want to be all that different. They might not like the idea of wearing a brace, either. But scoliosis is not something to be scared or ashamed of. With the proper treatment, scoliosis doesn't have to define your life.


Massage Treatment for Scoliosis

Left untreated, scoliosis can produce chronic back pain, breathing problems and headaches, all depending on the severity of the curvature. A thorough professional evaluation is needed before finding an effective form of therapy.

Various alternative health practices, such as yoga and acupuncture have been found to help in lessening the problems cause by scoliosis. Another alternative health practice, several massage therapy techniques are also effective in alleviating discomfort.

Cranial-sacral therapy, which utilizes gentle pull or traction, can help to restore some balance to the spine and improve mobility. Also, deep tissue massage and assisted stretching techniques can help to increase blood circulation, ease some of the pain and reduce soft tissue adhesion.

Massage therapy is not one of the more common options for treating scoliosis, but it can help to relieve some of the resulting symptoms.

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