Pilates v Yoga for Scoliosis

Discussing the differences between yoga and Pilates and what they have to offer for those with scoliosis.


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⭐We are not a medical organisation and cannot (and do not) give you medical advice or diagnosis
⭐ If you are unsure of your curve pattern then make sure to get a proper diagnosis from your doctor.
Christine Jaureguiberry is a qualified Yoga and Pilates teacher helping those with scoliosis practise safely and tailored to their bodies. Get the best scoliosis exercises workouts and yoga poses to manage back pain and move well now and in the long term future.

[Noochanit]

I have the scoliosis. I do Yoga, Pilates on mat and weight training. Actually, all of them are good for scoliosis but I add on DNS and knowledge of Anatomy trains to train my body via all exercise I do. And now, my body is better much after a few year. Hope your all will find your exercise to get better soon. Namaste

[njame]

I did Yoga for years before finding out I had scoliosis, But with doing twisting injured myself. It's easy to go too far! Love a lot of yoga though and the relaxing at the end is definitely missing with Pilates which I've done since 2007 both mat and equipment. Excited that you intend to mix it - yay

[dahliaborshansky]

I practiced yoga for 25 y and found that it caused me more pain then benefit, the past 4 y i've been doing only pilates as yoga doesn't feel comfortable for my back. Thank you for bringing it up!

[rachelfaust]

Love them both, but if someone told me I could never do yoga again, I would be devastated. I need it for mental health. Here’s what I’ve learned after doing more Pilates and ending up with extremely tight right hip flexor (I have traditional s curve). For scoli, we need to elevate the hips on a foam roller for Pilates movements like leg circles. We have to tell the hip flexors to turn off as they want to take over.
I have been taking Pilates classes with a studio that specializes in scoli. I think we need both for the strength, but we have to know HOW to use it. I love to use my pads on my convex curves in yoga too. For example, savasana is improved when I lay on those pads.
I have some hyper mobility and when I did only yoga, I actually became more imbalanced. I do yoga 3-4 days a week and some form of Pilates almost every day.

[annekeys]

I have always done both yoga and pilates reformer since I was about 43 years old. Then I hurt my wrist at age 67 (nothing to do with either practice) and because it was taking a long time to heal, took a break from both as I am thin and fit. I just continued my trail walks daily to keep in shape. After a while, I started to notice my ribs protruding under left breast and opposite back ribs rounding on the right? Then I remembered that I was once told when I went for an xray for back pain at 40 that I may have mild scoliosis. I never was told to do anything about it and in fact had totally forgotten about it until I saw the outward signs, which didn't appear until I was 67 and had stopped doing yoga and pilates, , so went to my doctor. She sent me for a scoliosis xray and I was at 25 degrees. Now I believe that pilates and yoga had kept my scoliosis from progressing all those years. I am so sorry I took a break, for about 6 months or so, until I went for PT and noticed a lot of the moves were like yoga. So now I am doing both again, but still not seeing much improvement. I'm hoping it's not too late to reverse some of it or at least stop the progression. I have pain daily, although it doesn't stop me from doing things, just get tired quicker and need breaks some times.

I truly love both practices. I think yoga is probably better for flexibility, but pilates is better for muscle strength. Was wondering how you felt about the mermaid exercise for scoliosis. I have an s curve and the position looks like it would help if you just did the one side. I use the pilates reformer. I really enjoy your videos and back chats.

thanks,
Anne

[lorraineazzinnari]

I've been doing pilates for scoliosis for a couple years, it helps with the pain at times other days not so much same with the yoga, I love them both equally 🙏❤️

[taniadedova]

Good day, thank you for this knowledgeable comparison. I have scoliosis and I found it tricky in both yoga and pilates classes. I try to work around it by skipping some things if the teacher allows it. Personally, I feel like I get more controlled movements during pilates, so I ended up showing up more in pilates classes. With parts of my spine being too flexible and other parts too stiff my performance at yoga classes is questionable, some things are constantly out of reach and I need a lot of attention from the teacher. Do you have pilates scoliosis-friendly workouts on YouTube?