Scoliosis Blog

YAY!!!!  Its July.

Winter is here and we have had to ensure that the heating is on in the studio.

Quite a few patients who are now on school holidays have returned for their follow up reviews after commencing therapy between November and February.  Some have done well, some have stayed the same but none appear to have regressed (curve progression). It does however appear that those who have done the best have been most compliant in their exercise program. It also appears that, over time, small unwanted compensations creep into the exercise positions and that these reviews are important to keep things on track.

Last week I had the pleasure of working with a very special young man from Melbourne who did very well during his sessions.  He and his mother commented during his post session debrief that it would be beneficial to get some kind of idea about Schroth and the treatment regime we use before attending the first treatment session.

So.... here goes..

Schroth therapy aims to replace the existing scoliotic posture with a new posture that reduces and hopefully counteracts the scoliotic progressing forces. Lior Neuhause once stated that "if you can understand the curve, you can treat the curve". Therefore , the first part of the treatment protocol involves a comprehensive deconstruction of the components of the scoliotic curve and then a workshop period where the patient gets to "understand and internalise" their existing curve profile.  This involves x-ray analysis, physical measurements and discussion.

Katarina Schroth called her technique 3 Dimensional treatment of scoliosis. We then apply the 3 dimensional correction protocol to the patients current existing curve profile. The Schroth technique is applied through a systematic series of postural corrections which are dependent on the curve profile.  Over the course of the following week the systematic corrections are taught in a variety of starting positions. Once these postural corrections have been achieved then the patient is ready to commence specialised schorth breathing called Right Angled Breathing (RAB), which is an essential component of Schroth. The aim of the breathing is to expand the collapsed areas of the thorax and flank as well as to counter-rotate the chest wall and floating ribs in the abdomen. 

Once we have achieved corrected posture, performing RAB we teach the patient activation exercises to strengthen the muscles that are required to maintian the new corrected posture.

to be continued