Therapy Massage is an ideal complement to scoliosis corrective treatment along with other disciplines such as booster exercises, therapeutic swimming, stretching, pilates, etc.
Scoliosis is a deformation consisting of excessive (non-physiological) curvature of the spine seen from a posterior plane of the person. These curvatures in the vertebrae are also often accompanied, in most cases by vertebral rotations, making treatment even more difficult.
These vertebral curvatures and rotations also cause some affected muscles to be tense and contracted. As scoliosis is an alteration that requires a long time of treatment (it can be said that it is a chronic alteration), the sessions should be on a regular basis, that is, every week (depending on the patient's pain) between 1 and 3 sessions. The duration of the session can be between 1 hour and 1 hour 30 minutes.
The techniques to use will depend on the patient's condition and scoliosis. I will be guided by the no pain rule, following your needs to improve you symptoms. Scoliosis, as we have seen, is a deformation of the spine and its treatment is a long and sometimes complicated process.
Deep tissue massage works, assisted stretching and intramuscular therapy all help the spine relax by increasing blood flow and elongating tightened areas, which can help relieve muscular pain. The objectives will be the following:
- Reduce pain: This objective will be the basis of the treatment. Therefore, i will focus or spend more time on the massage to the areas where you reports the most discomfort. Thanks to massage, the release of endorphins is achieved, which will improve your pain tolerance.
- Reduce muscle tension: Due to the alteration in the natural position of the vertebrae, they will generate tensions in the musculature that is inserted into them. The massage will try to lower this tension to get the pain to go down and improve mobility.
- Maintain and improve joint mobility: Thanks to massage, it will be possible to reduce the tension of the muscles and improve the overall mobility of the spine, increasing the functionality of as many vertebrae as possible.
- Maintain respiratory function: In the most serious cases, scoliosis can cause respiratory problems, which is why, in some cases, it will be one of the goals to treat.
- Stop or slow down the progression of vertebral inclination and rotations: If you can maintain good mobility with a relaxed (or slightly stressed) musculature, the evolution of the deformation will slow down.
Origin and causes of Scoliosis
Scoliosis can have various origins, from being congenital (from birth), to appearing during the infantile or juvenile stage due to bad postures or alterations in musculoskeletal development. During childhood and puberty we can find causes related to growth, inherited genetics, muscular and / or neurological disorders. If scoliosis is triggered during the adult stage it may be due to hormonal, metabolic, muscular problems; neurological disorders or caused by degeneration of the vertebral discs. Idiopathic scoliosis (of unknown origin), can be caused by different factors among which there would be genetic, hormonal, muscular or growth.
Types of Scoliosis
The curvatures caused by scoliosis can be located in the cervical, dorsal or lumbar area. Depending on the morphology, scoliosis can be C or single curve, S or double curve or Z triple curve scoliosis. Within scoliosis, it is important to differentiate between structured scoliosis (where there is inclination and vertebral rotation and it is not corrected with the change of position); and scoliotic attitude (which are small inclinations of the spine without vertebral rotation that disappear with the change of position). It can also be compensated scoliosis, where the different curvatures compensate each other and the posture is not affected; or decompensated scoliosis, where the curvatures are not compensated and affect the position of the pelvis.
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