hey everybody it's Doctor Jo and wonder Kali, and today I'm going to show you my top
10 exercises for scoliosis. so this get started.
so scoliosis can be a bunch of different things, and scoliosis can be either
postural induced or something that you've had all your life. so sometimes
you have a C curve. sometimes you have an S curve. sometimes it goes one way or the
other way. so you have to get evaluated by your doctor or physical therapist to
know that. I can't tell you what that is since I can't evaluate you. so these
exercises are general exercises. they should help for all of that, but a lot of
times it's best to know what kind of curve you have. so let's start off with
bridging. bridging is one of my favorite exercises it's easy to do and it really
helps strengthen the the pelvis, the core, and the back muscles. so it's a really
good exercise, and it's pretty easy to do. with bridging, what you want to do is
prop your knees up. and you want to make sure you control the movement. so you're
not just coming up and going down like that. with a bridge you want to really
control the movement. kind of go one segment at a time. but you don't have to
stop at each segment. and when you come up, really kind of push forward that way.
your knees are kind of going that way versus just kind of popping up like that.
so really start kind of one segment at a time come up, pushing those knees forward,
and then nice and slow coming back down. so again you don't have to stop at each
segment, but that's what you want to feel. that one segments coming up at a time,
and then same thing going back down. so you're kind of curling that back up and
down. so I would just start off with maybe ten of these, two sets of ten, one
to two sets of ten, again it really depends on how severe your scoliosis is,
how long you've had it .and so since I can't evaluate you, I don't really know
those answers. so you'll just have to use your best judgment on that. but start off
with a little bit and then slowly progress up from there. so then the next
one is just going to be a side crunch. with side crunches, you don't have to
come all the way up into a full sit-up, especially if you have some back issues
and it's a little uncomfortable to do. some people like to hold their hand back
here just to kind of support their neck. some people kind of like to come up in
here, but all you're going to do is just come up a little bit right here and then
just kind of crunch side-to-side. some people like to have their arms down and
then kind of do a side-to-side like this. you can even have your hands here and
then do a little bit of a rotational crunch side-to-side, but you don't have
to come all the way up, and try not to stress your neck neck muscles out. I'm
coming up just a little bit because I'm talking to you, but normally I try and
get myself in a more neutral position and then just come up a little bit so my
shoulders are coming up off of the floor, but not my whole body. and again if you
have problems getting up off the floor, you can do these exercises on your bed
or on a couch. you don't have to get down on the floor if you have a hard time
getting back up. so then the next one is going to be a bird dog exercise. and so
that's just kind of getting on to all fours with this one. again if you're not
comfortable doing this you know like maybe it bothers your knees or your
shoulders a little bit, you can hold off on this one. but just kind of getting in
this position. what you want to try and do is keep your back as flat as you
possibly can. I know if it's scoliosis, sometimes that's a little hard depending
on what kind of curve you have, but you really want to keep your back in a
neutral position. a lot of times when people go into the bird dog, they end up
kind of trying to come up and lean but imagine that there's something on your
back and you don't want it to fall off. so I would start off with maybe just
doing your arms first. so you're just gonna take one arm and kind of stretch
it out and just alternate back and forth. so if this is easy and you can keep your
back in that neutral position, then next try your legs. so then you're just going
to kick out. so again I'm not kicking up like this, see how I'm really twisting
that back? you want to keep it straight and just kind of kick your leg out,
keeping those the pelvis in a neutral position. and then if you have that down
pretty good, then you're going to do opposite arm
opposite leg. and so it just kind of looks like a dog a bird dog pointing at
the bird. they call it that. so really trying to
keep that back as straight as you can, trying to keep those hips as straight as
you can. so not you know coming up like that, it makes it easier but then you're
not really doing that exercise very well. so the next ones I'm gonna use a Swiss
ball. you can just lie down on your stomach, but I like using the Swiss ball
a little bit better. so Swiss ball. the next one for that is going to be Ts. so
we're gonna be some exercising the upper back now. so the reason I like the Swiss
ball is sometimes it's just a little more comfortable. you can just kind of
get in this position. if you want to make it harder you can bring your knees up
off the floor, but you don't have to do that. and then all you're gonna do is
bring your arms out to the side with your thumbs up and then just bring them
back squeezing those shoulder blades together. so again I can lie all the way
down on my stomach and do this, but it's a little bit harder in the fact that you
don't have as much motion. but I'm what I'm really doing is just trying to
squeeze those shoulder blades together while my arms are straight with my
thumb's in that upward position. so I would just start off again with maybe 10,
1 to 2 sets of 10, a couple times a day and then progressed from there. so then
the next one is a back extension movement. and this is the same thing you
can do it lying down on your stomach but since I have that curve in my hip over
the ball, I feel like I can do a little bit more motion with it. so you might
want to start lying all the way down on the floor, but then if you can work your
way up to the Swiss ball or some people call it therapy ball, stability ball, you
can do that as well. so this time you're just going to kind of place your hands
on the back of your head and you're just going to kind of go back bending that
back back into extension. so again if you have scoliosis this might be kind of
tough. it might be a little hard it might be a little bit painful.
if you're feeling any sharp pain or anything like that you want to hold off
on this one, but I'm really just kind of getting that bend and going into
extension. so really kind of working those back trunk muscles. you can do a
little pause if you want to. come back down. you can make it harder by
coming up on your knees and then coming back down, and that adds a balance
component to it. so that one's a little bit harder. you might just want to start
off with five, maybe three sets of five, and then just kind of see how that goes
from there. so then the next one is going to be a side plank, but we're gonna do it
modified because again depending on how severe your cases is, a lot of these
exercises might be pretty tough to do. so that's why you really just want to build
them up, you want to modify them. if you're still having a hard time, make
sure and go see your physical therapist because then they can modify things even
more. so with a side plank modified, you're gonna be on your knees. but even
though you're on your knees, you still want to get your body in a very straight
position as much as you can. if you're bending up like this, then
you're not quite getting that exercise right. so I'm just going to start here.
make sure that elbow is kind of an alignment with your shoulder because if
you're too far this way or too far this way you're gonna end up getting a
shoulder problem. and then you're just gonna I like to put my hand on my hip. if
you need this for balance you can place it on the floor and kind of come up, but
see how I'm still kind of in a straight line? so I like holding it up here just
so sometimes I can feel if my hips start collapsing in, and if they do then you're
probably not quite ready for it yet. but you really want to be in a straight line.
if I'm sagging down like this, again I'm probably not quite ready for this yet. so
I'm going to start off with maybe just like a 10-second hold. eventually you
want to work your way up to maybe a minute, but that's gonna take you several
weeks to do. so don't try and force it because if you end up being in pain or
hurting yourself some more, then you're not gonna want to do any of the
exercises, and then it kind of defeats the point of doing everything. so the
next exercise is just going to be a standing side lean with a weight. so this
is just a soup can, vegetable can, usually they may be at the most one
pound, depends on if you're getting extra
chunky soup or not. but you want to start off again with something pretty light
and work your way up because if you start off with like a 10-pound weight,
you really might end up hurting yourself a little bit. but all you're gonna do is
just kind of get yourself in a good stance position, pick it up,
shoulder-width apart, and just hold the weight on one side. and you're just
gonna lean over and then come back up. but the goal is you're not kind of
leaning forward like this or twisting, you're really just bending over towards
the side and then nice and controlled coming back up. so I would maybe just
start off with five and then come over to the other side and do five on the
other side, but really try and get that full side Bend, not twisting, not coming
over. so if you have that scoliosis and this is all you can do because you're
really tight on one side, that's okay, that's that's fine to do, but just make
sure that you're getting that nice controlled movement with those exercises.
so again start off with something really light,
then you can kind of progress from there. so then the next one is going to be bear
hugs. and so using a resistive band is a really nice way to do the bear hugs. make
sure again you're starting off with the lightest resistive band. different brands
have different colors, so make sure you're paying attention to which one is
the lightest one because a lot of times with resistive bands it might feel
really easy, but then after later after you've kind of settled down a little bit,
then you're you're hurting. so make sure you're not overdoing it. again just
starting off with maybe ten ,you know two sets of ten, a couple times a day. but
with the bear hugs you're gonna put it around behind you. and the goal is is
just like you're going in to give somebody a bear hug. so if someone was
standing in front of me, I would come around and touch, and then come back
around because I don't want to smack them when I come back in. keep it a
little bit low some people kind of try and arch their shoulders up, but try and
keep those shoulders down and come around nice big hug, and then come back
in. and get that little squeeze at the end so nice big rounding it out, make
sure you're not taking the person out when you come back in. so again just
start off with a little bit, and then kind of progress your way up from there.
so the last full ones are going to be squat movements. so again these are a
little bit tougher, so make sure that you're ready for them. you might not
quite be ready for them. you might have to work up to them a little bit, so the
first one is going to be a side squat with a little bit of a reach.
so make sure that you're keeping good technique with your squats. squats should
be your feet are flat you have equal weight shift. so you're not up on your
toes, you're not back on your heels, you're keeping that equal weight shift.
you're not taking your knees in front of your toes because that's putting all the
weight on your toes. so really sticking your butt back, hinging at your hips, and
keeping your back straight. so when you go to step out, you're stepping into that
squat. and as you step you're gonna reach over. But see I'm keeping my knee kind
of where it is, I'm not leaning over past my toes. it's still staying in that range.
so I'm coming down, reaching over, coming back up. squat down, reach over, come back
up. if you want to alternate back and forth, squat down, reach over, come back up,
you can. but make sure that you're not doing this because then you're going to
know having your knee hurt you. so make sure you're doing good
controlled movements, proper technique, and if you don't feel like you are being
the exercise is not worth it to end up and even hurting something else. so the
last thing is going to be a squat with a reach to either the opposite knee or
the opposite foot depending on how much flexibility you have and how much
balance you have. so all still the same techniques where you're doing that
correct spot squatting to get that correct technique.and when you come down
into the squat, I'm just going to rotate it over a little bit and touch the
outside of my knee. if this is easy and you can do a lot, and you can keep that
good form, and you have no problems, then you can eventually squat down and touch
the outside of your toes. but again if I'm doing this and really leaning over,
and putting all that weight on that side, then it's not worth it because you're
gonna end up hurting something else. so I would just definitely start at the knee
and just get that little bit of a rotation with that squat. so those are
your top 10 exercises for scoliosis. if you'd like to help support my channel,
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clicking where? Down there. and remember, be safe, have fun, and I hope
you feel better soon.