Scoliosis is an abnormal curvature of the spine that causes your spine to curve laterally to one side or another. In some cases, there may be two abnormal curvatures of the spine. This is referred to as S-shaped scoliosis or double scoliosis.
Scoliosis can affect any part of the back, but it typically occurs in the lumbar (lower) and cervical (upper) regions of the spinal column.
Symptoms
In a lot of cases, people with scoliosis are oftentimes not aware that they suffer from this condition, as it doesn’t always cause symptoms and just live with it for a long period of time. In people who do have symptoms, what they typically experience is one or a combination of the following:
- Lateral deformity of the spine
- Unbalanced shoulders or hips
- Pain in the back or in the legs
- Difficulty breathing
Causes
For most people, scoliosis is of idiopathic nature, which means the cause of its onset is unknown. Genetics, as well as aging can sometimes be considered as contributing factors to the change in the spinal curvature leading to scoliosis.
How scoliosis affects your ability to run
Scoliosis may not necessarily cause any symptoms, but it may affect your ability to engage in physical activities, including running. These are some of the things you can expect to impede your ability to run if you suffer from scoliosis:
- Leg length discrepancy. Because your spine is curved towards one side due to scoliosis, it may cause a discrepancy in the length of your legs. This means that one of your legs may appear or feel shorter than the other due to the abnormal curvature. This does not, however, mean that your legs are necessarily of different lengths, but rather they appear and behave that way.
- Further risk of injury in your spine. The impact of the up and down motion in running can put pressure on your distorted spine, which may cause your scoliosis to worsen and the curvature to deepen.
- Muscle imbalance. Your back and leg muscles may be at different level of development/ strength because your weight is spread differently due to the scoliosis curve.
- In some cases, reduced lung capacity. The spine compression that occurs due to scoliosis can also partially compress your lungs and place pressure on this. This, in turn, can reduce your ability to breathe properly, and can pose a risk if you run. Scoliosis patients oftentimes find this a challenge when it comes to engaging in long distance runs such as cross country marathons.
- Limitation regarding the physical activities a scoliosis sufferer can engage in. You may not be able to engage in particular forms of exercise due to the distortion of you spinal curve.
Diagnosis and Treatment
For people whose symptoms do not impair their ability to carry out everyday activities, living with scoliosis has become normal.
However, in the long term, if it is left untreated, scoliosis can worsen. That’s why it is important to seek medical advice and obtain a diagnosis and choose the most appropriate treatment for you. Scoliosis treatment options include:
- Physical therapy. This method works great for milder to moderate cases of scoliosis (with a curvature of up to 40 degrees). It can include specific scoliosis exercises to restore the natural curvature of your spine.
- Scoliosis surgery to correct the abnormality in your spinal curvature is considered mostly for very severe cases, where physical therapy cannot correct the deformity in the spine
Spinal Backrack Technology
Do you want to take your recovery from scoliosis to the next level and run carefree? The Spinal Backrack, a patented class I medical device, can help you fix your spinal curvature without causing any side effects. It has been carefully engineered by the brightest minds on Harley Street to give you the best possible comfort and results.
Its aim is to treat the underlying causes of your scoliosis pain. By following specific exercise programs using the Backrack, you can fix your scoliosis and leave your symptoms in the past.
