Scoliosis
Scoliosis is a case in point. It is so complicated, involving the pelvis, back, ribcage, breathing, etc, that it can serve as a test for a good bio-mechanical understanding of the body.
I only know of two approaches that try to get to the causes of scoliosis, the Schroth Method and Postural Restoration. All other attempts deal with the symptoms of scoliosis and they don’t need a thorough understanding of it.
Katharina Schroth suffered from scoliosis herself and she developed an exercise program based on her intuitive understanding of what helped. The Schroth Clinic in Germany, since the middle of the last century, has been very successful, even with older people with significant curves.
Postural Restoration provides a bio-mechanical understanding of the causes of scoliosis and the very precise exercises are based on that understanding. The exercises help diminish the curvature, particularly among young adults or teenagers. The main difficulty is to get teenagers to do these exercises religiously on a daily basis.
The younger the people and the less pronounced the curve, the easier it is to re-balance the body and get rid of the curve. However, young teenagers are the hardest to motivate.
One of our therapists, Susan Henning, is hoping for or dreaming of a regular screening at schools for scoliosis, because the imbalances and the suffering that follows for a whole lifetime, could be avoided.
