Hans Massage Antalgic Posture Pain Specialist

05/29/2025

Understand scoliosis is a disorder of a natural function of the walking reflex.

Treating the Whole Scoliosis Condition—Not Just the Curve

How new discoveries are helping us treat scoliosis better than ever before

For thousands of years, doctors have tried to understand and treat scoliosis. Even back in ancient Greece, Hippocrates described it as a “serpent-like disease of the spine.” Most treatments throughout history have focused on trying to force the spine to straighten. But today, a small group of doctors is looking at scoliosis in a whole new way.

Seeing scoliosis as a whole-body condition

In 1963, Dr. Paul Harrington—who created metal rod surgery for scoliosis—said that “metal does not cure scoliosis” because it affects more than just the spine. Now we know he was right. New advances in genetic, hormone, brain chemical (neurotransmitter), and metabolism testing are helping doctors understand what really causes scoliosis.

We’ve also learned more about how the brain and body work together to keep the spine balanced. This has led to new treatment options that don’t just focus on forcing the spine to be straighter but help the body learn how to do it on its own.

The ScoliSMART Activity Suit™ and reflex training

Instead of using a stiff back brace, the ScoliSMART Activity Suit™ helps the brain and body work together. It gives gentle feedback that helps the brain notice how the spine is positioned. Over time, the brain starts to activate the right muscles automatically to hold the spine in a better position—without even thinking about it!

Scoliosis-specific core training

Most people can't control their spinal position just by doing exercises. That’s why regular core workouts don’t work well for scoliosis. ScoliSMART doctors created a special kind of training that uses a tool to trigger the brain’s automatic balance and posture systems. Doing this over and over again helps the brain "remember" a better, straighter spinal position. These new brain pathways (called postural memory) can help reduce the curve over time.

Testing for genes, brain chemicals, and hormones

One of the most exciting new tools is lab testing that looks at your unique genetics, brain chemicals, hormones, and metabolism. These tests can help find out why a person has scoliosis and what kind of treatment will work best. Some tests might even help catch scoliosis early—before the curve even starts!

ScoliSMART is doing important research in this area. They are studying things like scoliosis pain, bone health, brain chemical imbalances, and even how some people may react to metal after surgery.

Why this matters for patients and families

This new, whole-body approach gives patients and parents more hope. Most patients who go through the ScoliSMART program don’t need full-time braces or fusion surgery. In fact, more than 90% are able to avoid surgery completely. Many even see their curves improve—not just stop getting worse.

Kids can still play sports, hang out with friends, and enjoy life like any other kid. They don’t have to feel like scoliosis is taking over their life. Parents also feel more confident and less worried because they’re choosing a modern, gentle, and science-based way to help their child.

02/27/2025

The Walking Sequence
In Posture Reflexes
This presentation depends on three basic laws:
Every action requires a balancing reaction
The center of gravity must remain over the center of support to remain upright.
Muscles only pull, they do not push.
It is well established that muscles do not work alone but in sequence with other muscles to accomplish point (1)
Two illustrative names for that are kinetic chain and anatomy train. The chin is a good illustration because if pushed the links just bunch together so it only works for pulling. The train is a good illustration because individual links can couple together and uncouple to connect to another unit and follow different track.

A reflex is an automatic sequence of such connections until the action is balanced by something that can push back like the ground. Podiatrists call it the ground force. Muscles pull on each other and on bones and bones can push but they cant pull on their own. Let us use a known reflex with the train illustration so that you can feel it in action. It is called the grasping reflex and you may have learned it by placing a finger in the palm of a baby and having it grasp your finger.

Place the back of the fingers in the palm of the other hand so that the hands hook together much like the units of a train couple together. You may feel the automatic reflex lock the hands together and if you push, pull, twist the grip tends to get stronger. You may have to send the message “straighten the fingers” to get them to instantly uncouple.

This is the kind of programming that is built up in our neuromuscular system to do a complicated task such as walking on two legs. There are pre actions built into the actions we are more conscious of so that the initiating action balances the action ordered. So we will start with one although there are many pre actions that have stabilized this action.

The Latissimus Dorsi pulls the humerus into extension and a rotational pull on the dorsi of the spine while the Psoas is pulling on the transverse processes of the spine to pull the femur into flexion. This helps with point (2) the anterior/posterior balance over the center of support but it also initiates another action rotation of the vertebra to that side. This turns the lateral bodies of the vertebra of T12/L1 where the Psoas Minor originates into alignment with its insertion on the ramus of the p***s above the hip socket. The Psoas Minor can then curve the spine anterior lateral and with it the center of gravity over the hip socket at the time of foot contact.

The train continues to pull from the ramus of the p***s to the distal medial femur and couples with the plantaris to the heel. Now the train meets something to pull against that will push back. The diagonal pull from the spine to the ground force creates a medial pull but also has the leverage to cause an external rotation of the foot therefore an ascending pull against the ground force is needed as a balancing reaction.

Ground contact of the big toe enables the oblique head of the Adductor Hallucis that counters the rotation force against the ground and starts an ascending force to the medial metatarsals which couples with the tibialis posterior which couples with the popliteal to the lateral distal femur as a counter force to the plantaris and stabilizes the knee.

The transverse head of the Adductor Hallucis pulls on the distal metatarsals and the train can take one of two possible tracks to ascend back to the spine. If the center of gravity is lateral it works synergistically with the brevis muscles to pull against the ground force to the posterior fibula and from the fibula to the iliotibial band to the lateral gluteal to the quadratus lumborum to the spine. If the center of gravity is medial the metatarsals are dorsiflexed pulling on the anterior fibula and iliotibial band to the tensor fascia femoris and the anterior line to allow the center of gravity to travel more lateral.

There are many more connections and variations but that is the basic design and I believe in a designer that made many adaptations possible. But we have not finished the step.

As the leg reaches maximum extension and the ankle maximum dorsiflexion the plantaris and popliteal become synergistic with the gastrocs and hamstrings to flex the knee which brings us back to the beginning. The triggering signal seems to be in the Soleus muscle which is more fibrous than muscular. To observe this: with the person supine legs straight push on the plantar surface of the forefoot to maximum dorsiflexion and observe if there is a knee flexion reflex,

Call now to connect with business.

08/22/2023

Explains why antalgic posture restricts your movement. Take a minute and think about it.

Arthrokinetic Reflex: Researchers at the University of Pittsburg coined the term arthro (joint) kinetic (motion) reflex to describe how sensory input from jo...

07/09/2023

Scoliosis Q&A

Q. What is scoliosis?
Scoliosis is the function of the spine to curve and rotate in the center to place the center of gravity over the weight bearing foot when walking. With normally functioning reflexes the psoas minor muscle pulls the side of the 12th thoracic and the first lumbar vertebra towards the hip socket of the leg that is going to carry the weight while the psoas muscle on the other side lifts the leg. This rotation and curvature reverse as the next foot reaches the ground. Failure of this reversal becomes scoliosis pathology.

Q. What is scoliosis pathology
Failure of the spine to curve to one side forces the balance reflexes to bend the upper body to that side to bring the center of gravity over the leg on that side. Each repetition of this alternate reflex puts more stress on the curve to one side gradually causing it to increase and become more fixed in that position. The fixed lumbar curve then causes the body to have to curve the thoracic spine in the opposite direction to bring the head upright and the center of gravity back to the leg on the side with the curve. Gravity keeps pressing down on these curves forcing them to an even greater angle of curvature.

Q. Why is my scoliosis called idiopathic?
The longer a fixed scoliosis continues the more difficult it becomes to determine what started the process therefore the prefix idio meaning unknown is added to the pathology that is the knowledge of the origin of disease. If you work with your healthcare providers on health history it may be possible to trace it to an injury as simple as a sprained toe or ankle, a spinal injury or a broken arm. All of these and many more can alter your reflexes in an effort to avoid pain. That is called antalgic posture, posture to avoid pain, which I have chosen as my specialty.

Q. Why is scoliosis so difficult to correct?
Because so few healthcare providers acknowledge scoliosis as a natural function of the body controlled by the nervous system they approach the treatment of the condition by trying to change the symptom that is to straighten the curve. More than 100 years ago Dr. Robert Lovett studied the condition, determined the laws by which the nervous system controlled movement of the spine and proved that forcing the spine straight did not work. As with many things in healthcare vested interests will often prevent correction of wrong ideas for 100 years.

G. Is it possible to correct a fixed scoliosis?
To varying degrees depending on the amount of loss and ability remaining for the body to change and adapt, yes. Restoring the ability of the spine to curve in both directions is not too difficult when it is started early in the process of development but becomes progressively more difficult as the bones adapt to the pressure of gravity on the curves. Even those with severe and strongly entrenched curvature have found relief with programs that improve spinal movement and nervous system control over the movement. https://treatingscoliosis.com/

06/23/2023

Holy Cow! I think I released too much fascia! What will hold me together?

(Picture taken at BodyWorlds, an amazing display of human anatomy.)

07/20/2021

The Benefits of Massage Therapy From Chronic Conditions to Quality of Life, Massage Research is Proving a Point For some, massage therapy is a short-term intervention to help with injury and rehabilitation. For others, massage is their salve to reduce the stresses of a hurried and chaotic life. Wher...

06/20/2021

Breathing is affected by your posture and good breathing can improve your posture.

06/10/2021

Send me a messenger video chat request and see what I can do to help you.

01/21/2021

Watch how I gave treatment half way around the world. I can help by Zoom or Chat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G51r-RsseNA

01/17/2021

alternative remote therapy

Skype keeps the world talking. Call, message, and share whatever you want - for free.

12/01/2020

Having success with virtual visits using Facebook video chat. Visible observation allows me to direct clients to touch and movement that relieves their pain problems.

01/15/2020

New page, My attempt to explain scoliosis https://reflexposturology.weebly.com/scoliosiswalking.html

Knowledge of the reflexes that allow a human to stand and walk upright.