Spine

Can Exercise help my scoliosis? - The answer is a resounding "Yes!". I have seen in my practice time after time. Strengthening and stretching plays an important role in correction of scoliosis. The prevailing myth is that once spinal damage has occurred, including disc and nerve damage, you either need surgery or are condemned to live with the pain. This cannot be father from the truth.

How do the intervertebral discs rehydrate and regenerate? - They need three thing: water, nutrients, and motion. Research has shown that if we can create loading and unloading cycles in our spine, we can actually "suck" water back into the disc and rehydrate it. Loading and unloading are nothing more than compression and traction movement as the spine goes through motion. Simply put: your spine thrives on physical activities whether that be walking or swimming.

Two common responses to pain can make a bad situation even worse. First, trying to ignore your pain by masking with drugs. It became known that COX-2 inhibitors (Vioxx, Bextra, Celebrex) have been taken off the market because they can contribute to a higher risk of heart attack. Drugs such as Oxycontin, Morphine, and Oxycodone are highly addictive and can cause many problems of their own. Second, limiting activities so as not to aggregate the pain. Unfortunately, it can be very maladaptive over time. By becoming more sedentary, you may also develop more degenerative conditions. Your only option truly is to act on the cause, or root of your pain. However, it is a decision that you must make on your won.

Muscle stiffness and knots (also known as trigger points) form when a portion of your body is injured or overworked. These should not be ignored because trigger points typically issue their pain to some other place in the body. Which is why conventional treatments for pain so often fail.

If you have a knot in a muscle, it causes pain when you stretch that muscle. You then avoid stretching this muscle because it hurts. Muscles are designated to work best with motion. When you don't stretch the muscle, circulation in the capillaries becomes impaired around the knot. Nutrients and oxygen can't be delivered easily, nor wastes removed. Your lymph system depends on muscle movement to move toxins, so system begins to stagnate. Other muscles have to do the work of knot-weakened muscle.

You can learn massage on yourself or you may seek the help of a trained therapist. Massage will immediately result in soft tissue release, allowing increased blood flow, and the break-up of scar tis sues. In the process it will also eliminate build-up of metabolic waste. In this fashion, your boy will undergo a neurological release, a marked reduction in the pain signals to the brain, resetting of neuromuscular system.

When you are going through scoliosis correction, avoid high-impact activities. Reserve these until the curve has improved to below 20 degrees. If the deformity becomes visually worse (such as increasing curve, pelvic or shoulder imbalance), avoid any kind of back-bending exercises. These may cause severe strain and may worsen the problem.

- Book: Your Plan for Natural Scoliosis Prevention and Treatment -