Stretching for people with "Scoliosis"or "Ankylosing Spondylitis"

[shihdavid]

Hi all,

I am a freelance manual therapy practitioner, i have 3 questions in mind and hope someone can explain for my future clients.

Q1. Is there any suggestion on muscle group to stretch for clients with "Scoliosis" C-Shape or S-Shape?

Q2. From ST workshop in Hong Kong i understand clients feeling is the most important truth about effective or not effective stretching, but is there any case that we should not appled rotation exercise like from Kit video but i do it on massage table and side bend exercise with "post isometric relaxation techniques" for people with "Scoliosis" ?

Floor partner lying rotation

Partner Quadratus Lumborum stretch

Q3. If you have a client who just notice she has Ankylosing Spondylitis, is there any video from "Kit Laughlin youtube" can help them?

Thank you teachers,

Cheers,

David

[Kit_L]

Hello David, great to see you here.

Regarding question one: the degree and nature of the scoliosis is the most important factor by far. As well it is essential to distinguish between induced scoliosis caused by a leg length difference or some other skeletal/muscular factor and developmental scoliosis where the lateral curves are fixed in the spine itself.

There is a seated test that we did not do on the HK workshop called the slump test. It is simplicity itself: ask your patient to sit on a chair facing the chair back and ask them to slump slowly and gently as far as they can. In this slumping action, the hips roll backwards towards you and the shoulders forward away from you. If the person's scoliosis is induced it is very likely that the shape of the spine will not change during the slumping action, and the spine will look straight while sitting, even with an LLD.

On the other hand, if the scoliosis is developmental, then one side of the rib cage will move towards you and side of the rib cage will flatten and this is very obvious to see.

Stretch therapy is most effective in the induced scoliosis version. For people who have genuine developmental scoliosis and in whom the lateral induced curves are extreme, then our system is not the most effective one to use I feel. Please google the Schroth Method; I have linked this here.

I have run out of time now and as you may know I leave for York in the UK on Monday. I will come back to this post and add to it later; thank you.

[shihdavid]

Dear Kit,

Thank you for the the detail explaination to my questions, i had found "slump test" video in youtube and i will try it and see what will happen to my clients, the short term "LLD" is stand for "Leg Length Discrepancy" right?

I will read the Schroth method that you recommanded.

Thank you again and i think many people will join your class after the "introduction".............

Have a nice weekend.

Cheers,

David

[BodylineHealth]

Hi David & Kit,

Thanks for asking that question, David. I wouldn't have thought about it in as much detail had you not posed the question.

Kit, thank you for including the link for the Schroth Method; very interesting and makes perfect sense. I'll be able to include these principals in my own practice (both classes and clinically) - I'll be buying that book.

Hol

[shihdavid]

Hi Holly,

You are welcome and the book is worth to buy.......

Cheers,

David