10 Core Exercises for Scoliosis: Your Guide to Back Pain Relief

Scoliosis, characterized by a sideways curvature of the spine, can cause discomfort and imbalance in the body. Addressing scoliosis involves more than just passive treatments; it's about actively working to restore balance and strengthening the lateral sides of your core through targeted exercises. In this guide, we'll explore ten exercises that can help reduce scoliosis-related pain and discomfort. Additionally, we'll discuss a strategy for approaching these exercises, ensuring you get the most out of your efforts.

Understanding the Strategy

Before diving into the exercises, it's crucial to understand the strategy behind them. The key principle is to identify and focus on the weaker or tighter side of your body. By doing so, you can gradually achieve a balance between the left and right sides, which is essential for reducing scoliosis.

Step 1: Test Each Side

For each exercise, start by testing both sides to determine which side is stronger, more flexible, or easier to perform. This involves performing the exercise on both sides and comparing your endurance, strength, and form.

Step 2: Focus on the Weaker Side

After identifying the weaker side, spend more time and effort working on that side. This approach ensures that the weaker or tighter side catches up to the stronger side, promoting overall balance.

Core Engagement: The Key to Stability

Core engagement is the foundation of all these movements. Without it, your body compensates in ways that reinforce existing imbalances, which can lead to discomfort rather than back pain relief. Properly engaging your core stabilizes your spine and pelvis, reducing the imbalance caused by scoliosis and improving posture.

If you're unsure how to engage your core correctly or if you're not confident about core connection, this is precisely what we teach in Core Balance Training. We dedicate the entire first module to developing a healthy core engagement, ensuring it becomes second nature before progressing to more complex movements. When your core is strong and properly engaged, every movement you make contributes to better spinal alignment and less pain.

The Exercises for Scoliosis-Related Back Pain Relief

Let's explore ten exercises designed to target the imbalances caused by scoliosis and provide back pain relief. We'll start with simpler exercises and progress to more complex ones, saving the most critical exercises for last.

1. Side Plank

Purpose: Strengthens the lateral sides of the core.

How to Perform:

• Lie on your side with your legs straight.
• Prop yourself up on your elbow, keeping your body in a straight line.
• Hold this position, engaging your core.

Strategy: Test both sides to see which one is stronger or easier to hold. Focus on the weaker side by holding the plank longer or doing more repetitions.

2. Posture Opener

Purpose: Stretches and strengthens the sides of the body.

How to Perform:

• Stand with your feet wide apart.
• Bend one knee while keeping the other leg straight.
• Reach one arm up and over your head, feeling the stretch through your hips and torso.

Strategy: Compare the tightness and flexibility on both sides. Spend more time stretching the tighter side.

3. Hip Rotation

Purpose: Improves hip joint mobility.

How to Perform:

• Stand with one leg forward and the other back.
• Put your hands together and reach forward.
• Move your hips in a circular motion, focusing on the side that feels tighter or less mobile.

Strategy: Identify which hip has less mobility and spend more time working on that side.

4. Sagittal Plane Movement

Purpose: Enhances balance and leg strength.

How to Perform:

• Stand on one leg and try to maintain your balance.
• Shift your weight side to side to challenge your balance further.
• Then stand straight and lift your right leg and raise your left hand and vice versa

Strategy: Compare your balance on both legs and focus on the side that feels less stable.

5. Frontal Plane Movement

Purpose: Works on hip rotation and core engagement.

How to Perform:

• Stand with feet hip-width apart.
• Rotate your hips side to side, engaging your core throughout the movement.

Strategy: Identify the side that struggles with rotation and focus on improving it.

6. Transverse Plane Movement

Purpose: Strengthens the core and lower body

How to Perform:

• Stand on one leg and get into a plane position.
• Spread your arms apart to improve balance.
• Sway your arms up and down and rotate your hips.

Strategy: Compare the strength and stability of both legs. Sway as far as you can, but don’t overextend your arms, as this may lead to imbalance.

7. Single Leg Squat

Purpose: Strengthens leg muscles and improves balance.

How to Perform:

• Stand on one leg and lower yourself into a squat.
• Keep your other leg extended in front of you.

Strategy: Compare the strength and stability of both legs. Focus on the weaker leg until it catches up with the stronger one.

8. Leg Lowering

Purpose: Strengthens the core.

How to Perform:

• Lay on your back with your feet raised up.
• Alternate raising and lowering your legs.

Strategy: Focus on the side that feels less stable.

9. Bird Dog

Purpose: Targets core muscles and improves balance.

How to Perform:

• Start on your hands and knees.
• Extend one arm and the opposite leg, keeping your core engaged.

Strategy: Compare your balance and stability on both sides. Focus on the side that feels less stable.

10. Single Leg Bridge

Purpose: Strengthens the glutes and hip extensors.

How to Perform:

• Lie on your back with your knees bent.
• Lift one leg and push through the other foot to raise your hips.

Strategy: Compare the strengths on both sides. Focus on the weaker side to even out the strength.

Common Pitfalls: Why We Avoid What We Need Most

One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to correct imbalances is focusing too much on their stronger side while neglecting the weaker one. It’s natural—we all gravitate toward exercises that feel easier. But when it comes to scoliosis, strengthening the dominant side without addressing imbalances only reinforces the problem.

Take my experience as an example. During the decade I struggled with back pain, I loved doing pull-ups because I excelled at them. Pull-ups were a strength of mine, so I did a lot of them, even though I neglected movements that targeted my weaker muscles. The truth is, while pull-ups made me feel strong, they weren’t addressing the root of my problem—my back pain 

This is a key lesson: I didn’t need to work on pull-ups. Instead, I needed to address the movements that challenged me because they highlighted areas for improvement. To achieve balance in your body, you must deliberately spend more time and effort on the weaker or tighter side, even if it feels frustrating at first. By focusing on the side that lacks strength, flexibility, or endurance, you can work toward a more balanced body, preventing future discomfort and creating a solid foundation for healthy movement.

However, it is important to note that in the event of back pain during exercise, listen to your body and scale back, modify, or seek guidance from a specialist.

Conclusion

Scoliosis is essentially an imbalance in your torso and axial skeleton, which includes the spine and surrounding muscles. The core plays a critical role in supporting and stabilizing the axial skeleton. By restoring balance to your core through targeted exercises, you can bring your axial skeleton into a more neutral, congruent position, reducing the strain on misaligned structures. 

Core stability is crucial in managing scoliosis because a strong, engaged core can help reduce curvature progression and improve posture. Consistency and dedication to these movements will make a significant difference. By focusing on the areas that are less developed or weaker, you’ll restore balance within your body. Over time, this balanced strength can alleviate back pain and discomfort, improve alignment, and enhance your overall mobility. Addressing these imbalances with mindful, targeted exercise isn’t just about short-term relief—it’s about long-term improvement and prevention.

Take the Next Step

Now that you understand how to correct imbalances and strengthen your core, we’d love to hear from you! Have you tried these exercises? Do you have any questions or insights to share? Drop a comment below and let’s discuss!

Or, if you’re ready to start your pain relief journey with expert guidance, join our free 7-day trial.