Understanding your scoliosis curve is very important when practising yoga or any other type of physical exercise. Once you understand it you can work with it!
The easiest way to start is to look at an x-ray. If you don't have an x-ray have a look in the mirror and see if there is one hip or shoulder than higher. This gives you an indication of which side the spine bends to but ultimately only an x-ray will give you the full picture.
In the illustration below the right side of the hip (looking from the back) would be higher than the left which is an indication for a left lumbar scoliosis.
Some Scoliosis Facts & Figures
- you can either have a C or a S curve (or even double or triple S!)
- a curve bigger than 10 degrees is considered to be scoliosis
- a curve bigger than 20 degrees might be visible to other people
- 7 times as many woman have scoliosis than men
- scoliosis affects approximately 3% of the population (that's over 200 million people worldwide!)
Concave VS Convex
In Yoga for scoliosis we often work asymmetrically, meaning that we approach each side differently. It's important to know which side of your body is concave (the valley side of your curve, think "cave") and the convex side (mountain side).
Usually we're trying to lengthen the concave side and strengthen the convex side.
4 Common Scoliosis Curves
Scoliosis curves can have an infinite number of exact shapes, combinations and degrees but these 4 seem to be the most common ones.
1. Right thoracic: the spine is curved to the right in the upper spine. There might or might not be a smaller (compensating curve) in the lumbar spine.
2. Left lumbar: the lower spine is curve to the left and might or might not be a compensating curve to the right in the upper spin.
3. Right thoraco-lumbar: the spine is curved to the right affecting both the upper and lower spine (C curve)
4. S Curve (right thoracic, left lumbar): there are two equal sized curves in the upper and lower spine.
Understanding your curve is the key to effectively working with it. Once you understand it you can direct your breath into the areas that need it, you can lengthen the muscles that need to release and lengthen and you can strengthen the muscles that are short.
Scoliosis is not straight forward unfortunately. It comes with both side bends but also rotation which makes the whole thing a lot more complicated! Start with the basics, however, try to find out where the peak of the curve is, try to find out which type of curve you have and then modify your practice accordingly.
