The best way to stay safely active with scoliosis is to ensure no exercise or sport is practiced without first being cleared by a patient’s treatment provider. When a sport is deemed appropriate for a scoliosis patient, staying active can help with treatment, not to mention being an important part of leading a scoliosis-friendly lifestyle.
Scoliosis activity restrictions are case-specific but often include sports that overuse one side of the body, place the spine in unnatural positions, and/or involve repeated shock from impact. There are, however, a number of sports and activities that are deemed safe for people with scoliosis.
Staying active is important for everyone, but for people with scoliosis, it can help make the body more responsive to treatment.
There was a time when a diagnosis of scoliosis was thought to mean a life of inactivity, but we’ve since learned that not only can scoliosis patients lead active and healthy lives, exercise can also be a valuable facet of scoliosis treatment.
In fact, a conservative nonsurgical scoliosis treatment approach uses exercise to impact conditions in different ways.
Scoliosis causes an unnatural sideways-bending spinal curve to develop, and as a progressive condition that can cause the spine to become increasingly rigid, maintaining spinal flexibility and range of motion is a focus of scoliosis treatment.
Staying active is important for general health, and in terms of supporting a healthy spine, it can help keep it strong and flexible so it’s more responsive to treatment, and it can also help with spinal support and stability by strengthening the spine’s surrounding muscles.
Maintaining a healthy activity level can also help with maintaining a healthy weight; carrying excess weight puts more weight on the spine and its individual parts so staying active can help with treatment, as well as leading a scoliosis-friendly lifestyle.
One only has to consider the number of professional athletes with scoliosis, like Usain Bolt, considered the world’s fastest sprinter, to see that not every case of scoliosis involves sports being too risky.
Bolt had to work hard to adjust his stride with one leg being shorter than the other, but instead of giving up, he modified his approach and went on to become an Olympic Gold medalist.
So which sports are considered the riskiest for people with scoliosis?
For people with scoliosis, certain sports should be approached with caution, while others should be avoided.
No two cases of scoliosis are the same. Each patient’s experience of life with scoliosis will be their own; activity restrictions that one patient faces won’t necessarily indicate what others will face.
In general, sports that overuse one side of the body should be approached with caution, or avoided entirely by people with scoliosis, because they can exacerbate the condition's asymmetrical effects.
The main symptom of childhood scoliosis is postural deviation caused by how the condition’s uneven forces interrupt the body’s symmetry, so sports like tennis, bowling, and golf can be risky for people with scoliosis.
Scoliosis doesn’t just interrupt posture; it’s also associated with a muscular imbalance as the unnaturally-bent and twisted spine pulls its surrounding muscles in different directions, and sports that overuse one side of the body tend to leave one side weaker, and as an effect of scoliosis, this isn’t something people with scoliosis want to expose their spines to more than is necessary.
Sports that also place the spine in unnatural positions and involve hyperextension can also be considered risky for people with scoliosis, and these types of activities involve some types of dance (ballet) and gymnastics.
Unnaturally arching or hyperextending the spine can introduce more adverse tension to a spine that’s already facing a number of challenges.
In addition, for patients who have reached skeletal maturity, scoliosis is a compressive condition, so sports that introduce more compression are also risky: football, long-distance running, wrestling, horseback riding, etc.
So the best way to determine whether a loved sport is safe for someone with scoliosis is to be assessed by a scoliosis specialist and have the activity cleared by the patient's treatment provider.
Sport and exercise can help facilitate a healthy mindset and a good attitude when it comes to handling the rigors of treatment, and it can also help with improving the spine’s support and stabilization through increasing the strength of the spine’s surrounding muscles.
Sports and activities that are generally considered safe for people with scoliosis include swimming, walking, certain yoga positions, cycling, cross-country skiing, and strength training.
As mentioned earlier, there are even exercise-based approaches to scoliosis treatment, but it’s important to understand that as a structural spinal condition, scoliosis has to primarily be impacted on a structural level, and this is worked towards through chiropractic care capable of facilitating a curvature reduction.
When used as a facet of scoliosis treatment, physical therapy and scoliosis exercises can increase spinal support, improve posture, address any muscular imbalance, and stimulate certain parts of the brain for better communication.
If the spine’s surrounding muscles are strong and supported, the spine is more stable, and this takes pressure off the spine and its individual parts and helps maintain its natural curves and alignment.
The prevalence of exercise-based approaches to scoliosis treatment shows the power of exercise when it comes to addressing and living with scoliosis.
There was a time when the value of exercise in scoliosis treatment was unknown, but we have learned a lot about scoliosis over the years and now know that when combined with other treatment disciplines, exercise can be invaluable.
SEAS (Scientific Exercises Approach to Scoliosis), for example, focuses on improving the spine’s stability and postural awareness through self-correction; the goal is to train the body to hold itself in a healthy position and posture.
As a 3-dimensional spinal condition, the goal is to achieve 3-dimensional correction, so a SEAS approach works towards self correction during daily activities through stabilization exercises that are based on balance and proprioception (body’s ability to orient itself without visual cues), training, and neuromotor control.
SEAS treatment plans are fully customized based on the specifics of each patient's curvature type and location.
The Schroth Method is another exercise-based scoliosis treatment approach that uses physical therapy to improve muscle symmetry, breathing patterns, and postural awareness.
Performing scoliosis-specific stretches in front of mirrors can help with postural awareness during movement and can teach rotational angular breathing; as the Schroth Method is a singular treatment method, it tends to take longer to produce results, whereas SEAS is combined with other forms of treatment so results can be faster as multiple forms of treatment are impacting conditions on multiple levels.
When it comes to sports and scoliosis, awareness is important; knowing which sports and exercises are deemed safe, which should be approached with caution, and which should be avoided entirely is important.
Playing sports that are risky for scoliosis can mean overusing one side of the body and exacerbating the condition’s asymmetrical effects, placing the spine in unnatural positions that expose it to adverse spinal tension, and repeated shocks from impact can add more compression to a compressive condition (adult scoliosis).
Sports and exercise need to be cleared by a patient’s scoliosis treatment provider, but in general, sports considered safe for people with scoliosis include swimming, walking, cycling, yoga, and strength training.
It’s important that people understand the progressive nature of scoliosis because even when diagnosed as mild, scoliosis can progress to become moderate and severe, particularly if left untreated, and as progression is triggered by growth, childhood scoliosis can progress faster than adult scoliosis.
Scoliosis affects all ages, but the most prevalent type is adolescent idiopathic scoliosis, and for these patients between the ages of 10 and 18, whether sports can be continued or not can be a major concern.
Again, no two cases of scoliosis are the same. Conditions vary based on patient age and overall health, condition type, severity, and curvature location, and there are also multiple different curvature types and patterns to further differentiate one condition from another; this is also why treatment plans need to be fully customized.
Here at the CLEAR Scoliosis Institute, exercise plays a pivotal role in addressing scoliosis because as part of a conservative treatment approach, multiple forms of treatment are applied including chiropractic care, physical therapy, and scoliosis exercises.
So while there are certain risks to participating in sports with scoliosis, there are also risks associated with leading a sedentary lifestyle that doesn’t include sports and exercise; this can make the spine less flexible and responsive to treatment, make muscular imbalances more severe, and can lead to carrying excess weight which puts more pressure on an already-strained spine.
Staying active with scoliosis can help with pain management, spinal strength, flexibility, and increasing core strength so the spine’s surrounding muscles can support and stabilize it.
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