10 year old with scoliosis

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

Q - I’m living in NJ and originally from Russia
> (please excuse my english). I have a wife with pretty bad S-shape
> scoliosis and daughter almost 10 years old. Since my wife has
> scoliosis from the childhood we are very concerned about our
> daughter. Now it seems that she has it (hopefully it is not so bad).
>
> We do not believe in braces and surgery and fortunately we have found
> your wonderful book “Structural Yoga Therapy”.
>
> Our problem is that we are not sure that examinations we did ourself
> are correct, so I would like to ask you about appointment for my
> daughter. We are ready to travel to visit you.
>
> We are know tha t you have certified specialists in NJ and New York,
> but still, if it is possible, would like to show her to you
> personally if you have time.

         A - I realize your concern for your daughter in her development. However in my experience Structural Yoga Therapy and other exercis methods for assisting are only affective if the child is actively exercising on her on motivation.  Without this factor giving her exercises even if done perfectly will not be beneficial.  I have found in the long run it is best to wait for specific scoliosis exercises until the child reaches maturity, about 18.  

       In the meantime she will benefit tremendously by your encouragement for her to fully engage in any form of exercise that she loves.  Keeping her motivation up is crucial for SYT to intervene succesfully later on.  The first step of my procedure is to get her as strong as possible.  You can do that now by exercising all your family together.  More details can be found at my other website www.yogaforums.com then go to Q & A with Mukunda where you can search for all previous questions on scoliosis and ask more Q if you wish. With your permission i would like to post this inquiry there too anonymously if you wish.  

        namaste mukunda.
#2

Q - Regarding her physical strength she is a very sport and strong girl. She was a member of the Rhythmic Gymnastics team (until recently we stopped it) in our Gymnastics Club. She still is doing some regular gymnastics and started to swim in the YMCA. She is taking a dance classes too. In the November she will take some Yoga classes for the girls (8 classes in the YMCA).

        A - That sounds good that she does gymnastics with swimming an excellent combination.  Yoga is ok too but needs to focus on stamina not flexibility.    

       Q - Unfortunately, we have found a lot of problems in her posture and alignments (according to your book) later. She is very clever and wants to be perfect. We are already trying to do some exercises together, but we are in a fear to do wrong things. I understand that you are very busy person, but still think that we should try to work on her body before maturity (especially I hope she wants it a lot). We would be really grateful and can pay for your help if it is possible.

If you do not have time may be you can recommend some of your previous students to us (NJ and New York area), If you will be able to help us yourself we will visit you or I will be able to send you pictures and movies about how she is doing her exercises using email or provide URL from which you will be able to take a look at her. 

       We need to develop right approach how to strengthen her weak muscles and relax tight ones. Since i'm not a doctor and did not practice anatomy it is still (even when I read your book) very hard to understand which side should be trained more and how.  Basically according to our findings (may be we are wrong) she has:

Forward posture, lordosis, high left shoulder, knock-knees (not too bad), right hip is more rounded and she has slightly visible rib curve on the right side of the thorasic spine. Sorry for my persistence and english
Yours.

         A -  Your persistence is good and credible for a father.   If you wish my consultation it is fine.  you are welcome to come see me here or in western MA.  I am there a lot as I may move there. You can book time with me via email (yogimukunda@comcast.net) for Dec. or beyond. namaste