Hi Jordan and Austin,
I’ve been watching and learning from you guys (and Alan) on YouTube and Instagram and barbellmedicine.com over the past year. I have learned an incredible amount and it has motivated me to become stronger. I’m currently the strongest I’ve ever been and I love lifting. I have encouraged my girlfriend to join me in our home gym and she has begun learning the basic movements and she has seen great beginner progress. One of the things I’ve tried to help her with is her posture, as she tends to “slouch” and round her shoulders and upper back. I attributed this to her desk job. Recently I noticed her shoulders were uneven, one higher than the other and I made a comment about it. She said she has scoliosis. Apparently they caught it in middle school and prescribed her physical therapy and stretching to help mitigate the effects, but her parents never took her/made her do it and she just forgot about it. This kinda blew my mind because now I realize all her postural issues are probably actually her scoliosis. I looked at her back more carefully and I can see a definite difference in the height of her ribs indicating a twist in the spine, as well as a difference in shoulder height. She also seems to be unable to extend or flex her thoracic spine.
My question: Is it safe for her to lift? Should she not squat deadlift or press? I’m very sad for her if that’s the case because this has been a huge confidence boost for her to progress in these lifts. Any general recommendations for lifting with scoliosis other than “dont do it?”
Thank you guys for all you do. You change lives.
Kevin