My Scoliosis Story

I was diagnosed with a mild case of scoliosis back in 6th grade during gym class. I never really thought much about that diagnosis until this past year. I am now 26 years old.

My back curves to the left. My scoliosis has left me with overdeveloped back muscles in my mid and lower right back and extremely weak and shortened muscles in the neck area. I'm pretty sure that my scoliosis has something to do with the worsening of my right TMJ and subsequent EXPENSIVE dental work and broken teeth. :/

This is basically what my neck looks like.

Forward neck posture photo courtesy of this blog (scroll down just a little to view photo): ***note: this photograph is not of me. 

So, reasonable people (including myself, really) would ask: How did your neck get to such a crazy point? Shouldn't you have realized something was going wrong along the way? 

The answer is: YES! Of course I would have loved to NOT be where I am today with my (self induced) neck problems. But, alas, here I am. So, here I go. 

A left scoliosis curve looks like this:

Left scoliosis curve photo per this bodybuilding discussion thread...

As you can see, this girl's left shoulder is lower than her left. Her left hip is also higher than her right hip. You can almost see a vertical line of muscular overdevelopment on the right side from her right shoulder blade to her right buttocks.

As in the photo: I think it about it as my spine curving in a "C" shape toward my left side, and my right side becoming a reverse "C" shape as a result. When the left hip curves like a "C", the left shoulder and left hip come together. This results in the right shoulder and the right hip "spreading" outward into a reverse "C" position. The goal is then to re-balance the straight line of the spine and reduce the left "C" (and right reverse "C") that has developed on the sides of the body. 

This picture basically describes perfectly how I have lived the past 15 years of my life. 

Some changes are in order!