Scoliosis and Abs

Hello… it’s very confusing to post a new topic on this place… I’m new.

Okay, I’m 18 years old, about 5’10 and 140 pounds. I know I’m skinny, and I’m working on it. I have no dreams of becoming a body builder, as I have a job, school (well summer classes are over), and just play basketball.

I have a problem, however. At 11 years old, I was told that I had scolisis, curved about 11-13 degrees, in my lower back. Back then, the pain was too much, I’d have back pain just by sitting down, or even lying down.

Now, all of the inactive-pain has went away. No longer do I get pain in my back from sitting at a computer chair for hours (rarely). The only time my spine hurts is when I’m bending over, standing up, bending over, standing up, like lifting boxes and whatnot, OR if I’m trying to work my ab muscles.

If I do situps, crunches, decline crunches, …my back hurts. I can’t work my abs because my back gets a great amount of pain and I’m forced to stop.

Zercher Squats and Plate loaded front squats come with a little bit of back pain, but I don’t feel like I’m working my abs at all with them. If I use too much weight, my back will hurt. If I don’t use enough weight, my abs won’t get worked. I guess it has something to do with the load being in front of my body… I can do back squats fine and dandy… deadlifts hurt some.

Yesterday I was doing decline tricep extensions with a barbell, and on the last 2-3 reps, I forced them… I had more ab burn at that time than I ever had doing crunches… blah.

So I’m very upset… I have a low amount of body fat, I’m cut, but I have no ab muscles, zero definition.

Are there any exercises out there that I can do that works my abs but are scoliosis-safe? I can’t deal with the back pain.