Riding with a Scoliosis?

[trojanpony]

Okay, I have a scoliosis (S-shaped spine) which was diagnosed about 10 years ago.

I'm aware that I never manage to ride quite straight, although I try hard to compensate (changing diagonals as I know I favour one, and twisting my hips slightly, pushing one foot back).

I'm now bringing on my youngster (coming up for 6) and really want to limit as much as possible the effect on him as he muscles up (he's supposed to be an endurance horse).

What I really don't want is for what happened to my other horse (now 22) who can now only go on one diagonal from years of me riding her (although touch wood it's not yet caused any lameness issues).

So - does anyone else have a scoliosis and if so:
How bad is it?
How does it affect your riding?
How do you compensate/deal with it?
Do you/have you had any treatment (NHS or otherwise)? If so, how was it for you?

Any other thoughts/tips?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Rhandir]

Yep .... I have scoliosis, welcome to the club

In answer to your questions :-

How bad is it.
I was diagnosed about 45 years ago, funnily enough it was brought to light after a really bad fall from a horse. Initially the curves were not too bad but as the years have passed they have increased quite a bit. I don't get a great deal of pain from my back as such, but because if the imbalance I used to get a lot of pain in my hip and leg which at times was debilitating.

Does it affect my riding.
Only to the point that I'm very careful which horses I'll get on, no point in looking for trouble. Having said that, I did have quite a big problem with rising trot, after a fairly short time my back would go into spasm.

How do I compensate/deal with it.
I ride Western style, the saddle is kinder to my back and the stirrups are set more underneath my hips and my leg position is longer which helps enormously. Strangely enough I am more comfortable in a sitting trot, or in my case it's a jog, which is slower and softer than a trot. I particularly like the Western trained horses because of the softer paces and their lightness and obedience. I do like a horse that stops when I simply say "whoa" and changes direction when I drop my hip.

I try to balance myself as evenly as my back will allow without twisting or moving legs anywhere than where they are naturally. I pay particular attention to my seat bones, in so far as keeping even pressure on them when I want my horse to be straight.

Have I had any treatment.
My Consultant (bless him) keeps patching me up (his words) so that I can continue riding. I attend the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital at Stanmore, wonderful place, for treatment. I'm trying to avoid the op which involves lots of nuts and bolts and steel rods as it would end my involement with horses.

Initially I enrolled for a local Pain Management course which I found extremely useful, I made a lot of changes to my stable/yard routines which has made life so much easier.

Sometime after this I was offered cortisone injections into the facet joints, which are done under an MRI scanner. These were very good for quite a few years but eventually were less and less effective. Now I have the "Full Monty" electronic denervation which is wonderful. It's not a cure, my scoliosis will certainly not get any better, but it does give me back my life. I still have to be careful and work within my known limitations but I'm happy that I can still ride my horse and enjoy my chosen lifestyle.

Please PM me if you want any more information.

 

[Jules19]

Me too. I have one high up, in my neck. Was diagnosed 20 years ago and have tried to live in blissful ignorance since as I was told not to ride/do somersaults/parachute jump/ski. Having had a career in the racing industry, done a parachute jump, and been skiing, I have dodged the bullets so far.

If you look at me straight on you can see there is something going on in my neck, I am a bit twisted. No one has ever picked up that I ride twisted so I assume that as it is so high up it doesn't seem to have too much effect. I do get my fair share of 'bad back' but don't think it is any worse than plenty of other horse owners.

I was having monthly sports massage of the muscles around it for several years, just to try to not become too twisted as I get older, but I gave them up for financial reasons a year or so ago. I am thinking about going again but mainly becasue I am vain and want to look as straight as poss for my wedding photos in a few months!

 

[Rhandir]

Whilst wandering round the net looking for pilates exercise DVDs for horse riders I stumbled upon a couple specifically for scoliosis which were on the Amazon American site http://www.amazon.com/Pilates-Therapeutics-®-Scoliosis-Part/dp/B000NAHCEY/ref=pd_bxgy_d_img_b Anyway .. I bit the bullet and ordered them. The tutor on the DVD also has scoliosis (which was comforting) she at least was aware of the limitations and the work we needed to do on different areas in order to improve our situation.

I have been doing the exercises for a little while now and I have to say that I do feel a little more balanced and slightly more upright. It's still early days, but I do feel quite positive about it and will carry on with it.