Scoliosis, Posture, Chest/Back Imbalance

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1

Hey, so a few doctors have told me that I have a slight curve in my upper spine. So basically, I get a really annoying pain between the two plates on your back right on top of the spine when I stand, walk, or even sit with no back support for a long time.

I’ve been getting physical therapy for this, but it has not helped at all. My doctor keeps talking about posture and that mine needs improvement. He says that I have overdeveloped Pecs and a weak back compared to them, so I slouch forward a bit. When I ask him if improving my posture will fix the back pain, he says that it won’t and keep talking about posture…

He got the rehab doctor to show me exercises and they told me that I need to stretch my Pecs using a door twice a day, do core exercises daily (balancing and such) and make my back stronger. The doctor basically told me to stop working out for a while and see what happens. She didn’t even know what any exercises are called or anything though. They also told me to do “wall angels” where you stand with your back flat to a wall and try to move your arms in a show angel motion while keeping everything to the wall. That’s supposed to strengthen my back.

When I just started working out, I did chest and no back, but I have been doing a balanced program with a chest:back ratio of 1:1.
Not working out is something that I’d rather not do.
Has anybody been in a similar situation?
To balance out my chest:back, should I maybe train back:chest in a 2:1 ratio for a month or so? Will I lose any progress that I have made?

General health and not having my back hurt while walking are more important to me than getting big, but I like the getting big part too. It just really irritates me that back pain is something that I have to worry about at 15.

I’m very confused with what to do here and would love some advice. Thanks a lot.

2

Read up the article on face pulls, shrugs and pushups, and any of mike boyle’s joint stuff. The wall angels are basically scap wall slides.

Also, if you continue to work out, I think an added focus on back over chest, at least for a while, wouldn’t be a bad thing.

And be aggressive with the chest and lat stretching.

3

2:1 or even 3:1 if you’re that worried.

Easy if you’re following a split, just do 2 or 3 back days to every chest day. Sorted.

4

‘wall angels’ are scapular wall slides, they are recommended a lot in many articles to help with shoulder health.

You could also do behind the neck band pulldowns instead of these.

And if I was you, I would drop chest work completely until my back in shape.

And if your problem is scoliosis, saxon side-bends with no weight helps alot.

Posture contributes to lots of problems with your shoulders,back,chest etc. I recently fixed mine and a shoulder problem I had is pretty much almost gone, it lingered with me for 7 months!

My posture 3 weeks ago was awful, if you check out this thread (http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=2105863) you can see what I mean.

It’s now almost perfect, I acommplished this by deadlifting every other day, behind neck band pulldowns, band pull aparts and standing in front of a mirror in military posture for over 2 hours a day.

edit- and you are 15!!! you don’t need to be worrying about losing any minor progress you have made. You need to be worrying about fixing this problem as soon as possible! And when you have fixed it your future programs should focus on the main basis of staying healthy, and all the other stuff secondary.

5

You stand in front of a mirror for 2 hours a day???

6

[quote]Sxio wrote:
You stand in front of a mirror for 2 hours a day???[/quote]

Fixes my posture faster than going to the gym and doing postural work for 2 hours :stuck_out_tongue:

7

Really? You are aware that military posture is still dysfunctional right?

8

[quote]Sxio wrote:
Really? You are aware that military posture is still dysfunctional right? [/quote]

I’ve pretty much fixed my pronounced forward head posture, kyphosis, lordosis and thats dysfunctional?

edit - I haven’t been in the army so it was ignorant of me to say military posture.

I just stood as straight as I could, tilted my hips forward slightly, chest out, pulled my head back, shoulders down and back and had my hands on the side of my legs.

10

Did not know that, thanks for pointing it out. That being said what I did was still very helpful to my shoulders along with deadlifting every other day, perhaps in future I will just doing it sitting down instead.

12

definitely going to try that, and yeah my right scalene/neck area is very tight from carrying a heavy bag on it ages ago, and it feels a lot tighter than my right especially when I pull my head back to help fix my forward head posture.

14

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Goodfellow wrote:
definitely going to try that, and yeah my right scalene/neck area is very tight from carrying a heavy bag on it ages ago, and it feels a lot tighter than my right especially when I pull my head back to help fix my forward head posture.

OK, here is a good stretching exercise for the anterior neck musculature that I have developed (by accident, lol).

Sit at your desk, knees just under it, elbows on top.

Make your hands into fists, palms facing each other, with your thumbs out, pointing towards you.

Place the point of your jaw onto your thumbs. Use the thumbs to supprot the jaw, as well as tucking the chin back.

Now, sit up straight, and breath out, forcing your upper ribs downwards (these are the insertion points for the scalenes and SCM, so by breathing out, you move origin away from insertion, lengthening the muscle). You may feel a stretch, but if not, simply tip the head to one side, to feel the stretch. Hold it, then stretch the other side.

The best way to stretch all ofht e 3 scalenes is to have a partner do it, unfortunately. However,. once you’ve had it done, you really feel the difference, straight away.

Bushy[/quote]

Ever done any self ART here? I’ve found it’s been very easy to pin muscles in this area and stretch away.

16

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
HoratioSandoval wrote:
bushidobadboy wrote:
Goodfellow wrote:
definitely going to try that, and yeah my right scalene/neck area is very tight from carrying a heavy bag on it ages ago, and it feels a lot tighter than my right especially when I pull my head back to help fix my forward head posture.

OK, here is a good stretching exercise for the anterior neck musculature that I have developed (by accident, lol).

Sit at your desk, knees just under it, elbows on top.

Make your hands into fists, palms facing each other, with your thumbs out, pointing towards you.

Place the point of your jaw onto your thumbs. Use the thumbs to supprot the jaw, as well as tucking the chin back.

Now, sit up straight, and breath out, forcing your upper ribs downwards (these are the insertion points for the scalenes and SCM, so by breathing out, you move origin away from insertion, lengthening the muscle). You may feel a stretch, but if not, simply tip the head to one side, to feel the stretch. Hold it, then stretch the other side.

The best way to stretch all ofht e 3 scalenes is to have a partner do it, unfortunately. However,. once you’ve had it done, you really feel the difference, straight away.

Bushy

Ever done any self ART here? I’ve found it’s been very easy to pin muscles in this area and stretch away.

Actually, that’s a very good point. Self ART here can be effective. However, when I did have some PIR done on all scalene muscles, it immediately ‘deloaded’ my cervical spine, reducing compressive forces acting to prematurely degenerate that area (I already get clicking and grinding there, from a forward head carriage).

Bushy[/quote]

Bushy that stretch felt amazing, could feel my upper back freeing up and tingling as I did it, right after a back session.

I also got clicking in my neck every time I moved my head to the left, it was so annoying. It’s getting better slightly though since I’ve been stretching my neck and haven’t been lying in bed all the time with my head twisted to watch tv.