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I get many, many questions about what exercises are appropriate for patients with mild scoliosis (also called early stage scoliosis).  While their is no cut and dry type answer for every child with mild scoliosis on the planet, there are a few guidelines that can help in appropriate decision making.

 

One thing to remember is that scoliosis is the result of genetic AND environmental factors that combine to develop into the condition.  So, what are the environmental factors that should be avoided?  Well, no one knows for sure at this time but it is a safe bet  that significant spinal trauma should be avoided (duh, right?), but also activities that cause excessive compression on the spine (heavy weight lifting, trampolines, horse back riding) or activities that cause repetitive compressive shocks to the spine (like those produced by running on a hard surface for example).

 

Another possible key component could be "non-friendly scoliosis exercises" like repetative back bends that cause a flattening of the thoracic (mid back) spine.  This type of activity could help de-stabilize the spine's ability to deal with dorsal shear forces and cause an acceleration in the curvature.  This could explain why we see such significantly higher scoliosis rates in dancers.

 

Other possible "lifestyle" type activities should be avoided as well.  Stomach sleeping (sleeping on one's stomach) should be avoided due to the flattening of the thoracic curve (mentioned above) and sitting/standing in a slouched posture is never a good idea......for anyone.

 

There are literally thousands of environmental type things that can effect almost any size curvature and many of them we probably aren't even aware of yet, but a little common sense and some general guidelines may go a long way.