Scoliosis is a major concern for teens and adults. Scoliosis is the abnormal curvature of the spine, also called an s-curvature. In the absence of physical injury or trauma, the cause of scoliosis is unknown, which is why it’s called idiopathic (unknown origin).
While western medical literature holds that there is no cure for scoliosis, people who have the condition are often subjected to wearing restrictive braces or undergoing invasive surgery to install metal rods that support the spine and prevent it from further curvature. Unfortunately, these interventions aren’t always successful and in some cases, such as surgical intervention, can cause additional pain due to a stiff, inflexible spine.
Let’s look at scoliosis in a new way….if we look not at the bones but at the things that keep the bones in place, the soft tissue structures. What is visible to to eye is the musculature is imbalanced side to side, however internally the spine is in a corkscrew, it’s a 3 dimensional twist! Again, all that is visible to the eye, is 2 dimensional: one side is too tight, pulling the spine sideways, and the other side is too loose, letting the spine get pulled.
Okay, so regardless of what we see, it is safe to assume that it’s not a disorder of the spine, but rather a disorganization of the things pulling on the spine. But what controls the things that pull on the spine? If you guessed the brain, your right!
Our brain sends signals to our muscles, each and every single muscle fiber, telling them to fire or relax. Our brain does this all day long without you having to think about it. When we reach out for a glass of water, our brain organizes and coordinates that movement, again, without our conscious intervention.
So, obviously something in the wiring of a person with scoliosis got a little mixed up. This is due to a little thing called proprioception – your body’s orientation in space. Proprioception is what keeps you from banging into doorways and sticking your fork in your eye. It’s how you know where your feet are.
But studies have shown that people with scoliosis have a less refined sense of proprioception. Somehow, they’ve lost their sense of space. The first thing we do as babies once we are born (along with breathing, of course) is orient to ground and sky. Which way is up, which way is down?
To get an idea of how important a sense of up and down are, try jumping in the air just by pulling your feet up. You don’t get very high, do you? No, you have to push down into the ground to get upward movement. The same is true for your posture. It’s hard to have a straight spine if you don’t have support from the ground.
So, back to the question of whether or not Rolfing works for scoliosis…I have seen tremendous changes in scoliotic spines with the basic 10 series of Rolfing. If the person is young enough, the curve/twist can be greatly reduced, almost to a level of imperceptibility. In adults, the changes are slower because the bones have actually changed shape to fit together into an s-curvature; however, I see tremendous restoration of mobility and flexibility within one to three sessions.
