Aging With Scoliosis: What to Expect in Every Decade

Jul 20

What happens as you grow older with scoliosis? What can you expect for your curve and your overall health and wellness? And perhaps more importantly, what can you do to minimize pain and other potential effects of aging with scoliosis?

It’s important to understand what to expect as you grow older: how aging will affect your curve, mobility, flexibility, musculature, and overall movement. If you know about potential issues and what to look out for, you can identify possible problems when they occur and know how to respond to help yourself feel better.

Aging With Scoliosis in Your 20s

For most of us, our 20s are times of extensive change. You might be going to college, figuring out your career, and possibly even getting married and having children. You might move several times, especially as you transition from college to career to possibly a long-term romantic relationship or partnership.

So one of the things to keep in mind as a scoliosis patient in your 20s is to think about your career and how your daily work setup can affect your back. For example, if you work at a desk job, create a setup that helps you protect your back.

Invest in a comfortable, supportive chair that allows you to maintain an ergonomic position at your desk. If possible, get a desk that rises and lowers to accommodate sitting and standing positions. Switching positions throughout the day can help you protect your spine and avoid the other negative consequences of sitting in a sedentary position for hours at a time.

If you have a more active job, make sure that you give your body the chance to prepare for the daily activities and movements the job requires. That means learning how to move correctly, exercising to build the strength and mobility you need, and getting used to listening to your body so you know the warning signs of a potential issue.

This decade of your life is when you can start establishing those daily routines and habits that will carry you through the rest of your life:

Go on a daily walk to get in some movement, and walk outdoors if possible to get vitamin D. Walking can also help you lower your risk of osteoporosis.
Establish a strength training routine. Building strength can improve your overall wellness, but it’s especially important with scoliosis. Lifting weights helps you build the core strength you need to support your spine in proper alignment and reduce pain.

If you start an active lifestyle in your 20s, it’s easier to carry that through as you age than it is to try to start being active in your 40s or 50s.

In your 30s

Now let’s look at what’s generally going on in your 30s. You might be getting married or establishing a long-term relationship. Maybe you’re having children. And you might be transitioning from temporary jobs to a long-term career.

This is when it’s important to continue building strength in your body. The stronger you are, the more prepared your body is for any of the changes you might experience: pregnancy, birth, postpartum, parenting, career changes, maintaining a home, commuting, and similar daily activities. If you’re a woman with scoliosis, it’s especially important to prepare for pregnancy. It’s one of the three times in your life when your curve is most likely to progress. (The other two are puberty and menopause).

It’s essential to consciously pay attention to your body and gain awareness of your curve. The more you understand about scoliosis in general and your curve in particular, the more tools (e.g., strength training, scoliosis-specific exercise, etc.) you have to keep yourself feeling good as you continue to age.

In your 40s and Beyond

Most people start losing muscle mass in their 40s. That’s not to say that you can’t build muscle in your 40s, 50s, and as you age. But it becomes more difficult for your body to gain muscle mass than it was when you were younger, so you need to be more consistent in your exercise routine.

If you’ve already established a strength training routine when you were younger, that muscle memory can make it easier to exercise in your 40s and beyond. But remember, it’s never too late to start strength training!

Resistance training is extremely important as you age. Adding a strength training routine to your daily walks and scoliosis exercises can help you maintain muscle mass.

If you’re a woman, your 40s and 50s are when you’ll likely enter peri-menopause or menopause, so make sure to stay in contact with your doctor so you understand what’s happening with your hormones. Knowing that information makes it easier to manage your exercise, diet, and lifestyle to minimize discomfort and maximize your overall health.

Balance is another potential issue to watch for in your 40s, 50s, and beyond. Most of us tend to lose some of our natural balance as we age. But you can slow that deterioration by actively practicing balance exercises.

Proactively Manage Your Health to Reduce the Effects of Aging

Everyone encounters changes in their health and physical body as they age. But these changes can have even greater effects on scoliosis patients. Preparing your body for these changes can help you minimize those negative effects on your curve.

Help protect your spine by building a strength training routine, walking, and integrating scoliosis exercises and auto-corrections into your daily life. The earlier you build those routines, the easier it is to maintain them as you age.

If you’re ready to establish an exercise routine, join the Scoliosis Strength Collective. This small-group coaching program gives you everything you need to start building strength safely and effectively. Find out more and join the Scoliosis Strength Collective here!

And don’t forget to subscribe to my podcast, Ahead of the Curve, to get every episode when it airs.