T Nation

Scoliosis Getting in My Way

#1

Hey guys, could use a little help and advice here.

Years back I was told I have a slight case of Scoliosis, I have been lifting for years but this has always gotten in my way when it comes to building a solid core. Whenever I do squats or deadlifts I have pain in my mid to lower back that sends me right back to the Hip Sled. I am trying to get back to basics so I can start the building blocks all over again but cant seem to get past this obstacle, any information on how to combat this would be awesome!

#2

Well, I have no real medical information and perhaps I might do some research on the subject; I have scoliosis, I think the doc said I had a 14% curve of the spine. I was diagnosed at around 11 yrs old and never took any steps to get it corrected. My point here is that I do not suffer from any real back pain that enables me to do squats or any other back exercise. You might want to get that checked out by a back specialist. Just like with any body part you should work around it for now, just do other back exercises that do not hurt. If you can, do lighter squats for now.

#3

See a good chiropractor.

#4

I’ll try to find the article, but there was a powerlifter out of CO in the 80s who had awful scoliosis - a full C curve - and he did alright. SI did a full story on him. Inspiring dude.

#5

I have a fucked up back and got diagnosed with scoliosis at a young age. Front squats and HS Hack squats probably won’t give you any pain. They work for me and I can’t even put 185 lbs on my back squat without pain in my back.

#6

Have you gone to a sports doctor to see what other imbalances you might have?

To relay a personal experience about an imbalance I just found out about:

I have a slight curve in my spine too. Back in June, I did something to my back (fatigue on heavy deadlifts followed by an active weekend running around with my kids on my shoulders) and have been trying to work around it. I finally went to a PT at the end of August and she did an overall eval on me and has been having me work on hip mobility and better stability in my spine. She also just sent me to a sports doctor who confirmed:

  1. I have a slight sprain in my lower back.
  2. My left leg is 1/4" shorter than my right (they confirmed this with x-rays, the only way to know for certain).

Because of the sprain, the effects of the leg discrepency are aggrevating things more. The glute medius is getting spasmed with extended standing / walking and this translates into a lower back pain. Working the knots out with a tennis ball is helping a lot too. The leg discrepency is probably partly responsible for the sprain too, since I was out of alignment lifting heavy weight (275 was heavy for me).

2 probably explains why even in the past, I would get pain from squatting too heavy. I could also feel, during deadlifting, my right side working harder, but didn’t realize this was the cause. I’ll be getting a heel lift for my shoes soon. Only downside is that I liked squatting and deadlifting barefoot, so now I’ll have to look into a pair of flat shoes.

#7

Lamar Gant.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1122739/index.htm

#8

[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
Lamar Gant.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1122739/index.htm

[/quote]

Wow. Very interesting article. Thanks for the link pushmepullme!

#9

All,

Thanks for all the info. Its been years since I’ve been to the doctor and had it really brought up, but now that my lifting is getting more and more serious I think I should probably go see a Sports Doctor ilke ds1973 said.

I have been incorporating exercises into my routine which should help strengthen my core i.e lat pull downs, rows, and cable crunches. I just feel that its really not improving at all. Time to suck it up and go see the Doc…

#10

I have pretty bad scolosis too and a chiropractor has made a huge difference. I go every 2-3 weeks and with that and the self myofacial release that I just started after reading about it on here (thanks guys), keeps my back in pretty good shape. If I didnt go to the chiroprator I dont think that i could make it without pain meds everyday and the strongest thing that I have taken in 15 years is celebrex and ibuprofin.