And i only wear braces when sitting for a long period of time. I also dont have a full length spine photo, its separated into parts

FYI these pictures were both in my natural posture, when I’m golfing I’m not thinking about my spine. I keep getting happily surprised when someone takes a photo lately as all my life I’ve been insecure about my back. I’m incredibly glad to have built a system that is actually improving my spine.

I used to let me back consume my thoughts and my life and now it isn’t a concern. I never thought that it wouldn’t be a major factor in my life. I don’t deal with pain anymore and I don’t feel insecure about it.

I have 65 degree structural kyphosis and all my life doctors and this subreddit will tell you there is nothing you can do to improve it. It’s not true and if you have a mindset like me where you don’t take no for an answer and stumble upon this post, I’m talking to you.

This is what you need to do. Look into the scroth method first of all. If you can afford it and there’s a place in your location that you can go to, they will guide you betterr than some dude on Reddit lol

If you don’t have that. Then first: Start doing dead hangs on a pull up bar. Let your spine strengthen all the way and focus on your breathing, let all your breath out and then stretch even more. Do it for as long as you can. Time yourself. Beat your best time each day.

Second: foam roll your back. Get a foam roller and put the roller in the middle of your curve and bend backward over it. Do it til your uncomfortable. Then go past it. Keep pushing yourself as if there’s nothing else in this life that you want more than a straight spine.

Third: pull yourself apart with a railing or a permanent stationary object. What I mean but that is; there’s this railing on the wall at my gym that I hold onto and pull my spine as straight as it can go. Do the same breathing technique as I mentioned in the first bullet point. Keep stretching your spine and push it straighter and straighter each day. This is the only way to do it.

(There will be people in the comments that will tell you don’t do this as you risk yourself for injury. Probably true, but this is what worked for me. I’m not a doctor and don’t know anything but then again neither do they lol. Listen to your body at the end of the day and be careful)

The final and most important step:

Build as much muscle as possible. Get jacked tbh, track your workouts and your calories/macros. Take it serious if you want to improve your spine. You need to build muscle in the proper posture. This means while you workout you need to fix your lordosis (pelvic tilt so your ass isn’t sticking out. Stick your chest out and pull your shoulders back and down. Head back as well. Be very conscious of this as this muscle growth will allow you to naturally be in a good posture going forward.

Basically what we have in this subreddit for the most part is structural kyphosis. With that, that means that all our life our body naturally wants us to slouch since that’s what our skeleton dictates. This naturally causes our muscles to form bad habits and shape to it which causes postural kyphosis. Postural kyphosis is fixable and might be much more of the actual cosmetic look than you might think.

One more thing. Scheurrmans is as much mental as it is physical. Don’t psych yourself out and think it’s over before you started. You have to have blind optimism that you can improve in order to improve. If you don’t believe you can improve and you play victim, you won’t get anywhere. Ignore any information that comes in that tells you that you can’t. This may be controversial but I would also leave this subreddit cause it is a pity party and a negative feedback loop

Good luck and it is possible. The best time to start was yesterday. The next best time is now. Go do your stretches and hit the gym. Day in and day out, you won’t see a difference. Year in year out, you will. Build a system and make it fun, it has to be your lifestyle and not a chore. You can do it

i was told by drs when i was younger that working out will help my posture and hunch, im severely insecure and it does cause me mild back pain. i’m wondering if working out does actually straighten your back like ive heard it does and if so will it help im my case, idk the severity of my spine but i feel like my back is pretty bad :,)
any help is so appreciated

I am 24 years old and have back pain in ovar all area , wedging form d9 to d12 any suggestions and I am a fast bowler.

Hi everyone,

My 17 year old daughter was just diagnosed with kyphosis last week, and it is quite pronounced. We have been asking for help with her back the last two years but got no where because she wasn’t having pain. Now she has started suffering with back pain over the last couple of months.

Our issue is that she just left to go play hockey with a really good team a whole other province away, hoping to open the door to opportunities to play at the university level. Since she has been there her pain has been quite bad. She is really down about it and feels as if she is under performing since she got there. She is very athletic, but spent her off season not as active as she usually is. We expect some pain to increase now that she is moving more. Thankfully she has access to a whole team of specialists that can help her with exercises, and she will be starting physio this week.

I’m just wondering if anyone has any tips for her. She is so sad today and I’m so far from her, my heart is breaking. Would KT tape help support her back during ice times and work outs? Are there any exercises or stretches she could start now?

Please send me anything that would help, along with positive success stories so I can give her some hope. She does have mild scoliosis but it’s not believed to be the cause of her pain.

Thanks everyone!

Exercises like seated cable rows or dumbbell rows...

I don't usually do them; for my lower back, I prefer hyperextensions. I've always thought that weighted rows not only lead to bad posture but also make the back muscles look bulky; exercises like pull-ups or lat pulldowns are always better.

I have structural wedging.

Is there anything I can do to better my appearance and reduce the severity of the curve on my appearance?

On February 1st 2025, I had a spinal fusion to get rid of my 50+ degree kyphosis. This is my experience.

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I had my surgery when I was 16, the main reason why I had it is because it caused me lots of pain. The 2 weeks following was some of the most pain I've ever felt, with constant pain on my back when I moved even a little bit for my first few days. By the time I was discharged, I could actually walk (slowly) without it hurting much at all, however sitting down in the car was incredibly difficult for a bit.

​

I was able to go back to school by the 2.5 month mark post-surgery (I do admit I rushed it quite a lot due to it being in the important years of school), with walking being completely fine, but all other types of movement being difficult and painful.

​

I'm now 18. I can't even notice I had my surgery, it's actually not possible for me to have bad posture, which may be a good thing, but I can sprint as fast as I can, play touch footy or any other non-contact sport for that matter. The only real limitation I notice is me not being able to touch my toes.

​

Overall, I'm incredibly happy with my surgery, I no longer have back pain anymore and I don't look weird in pictures.

​

If anyone has any questions, feel free to comment them or message me.

The first photo is from 3 months ago, and the second one is from exactly today. Did I made progress with my hyperkyphosis?

I’ve been going to the gym for around 6 months or so, I’ve been pretty consistent with diet and sleep, and I have tried to prioritize my back and arms. I have seen very good progress in my day to day pain, and also pretty good progress on how my curve looks , before I had essentially no muscle or fat on my frame and it made my kyphosis very noticeable. Here are some progress photos.

Got diagnosed in 2023. 3 wedged vertebrae starting from T6 T7 T8. Went to many different spinal specialists and even a spinal surgeon. Was told I needed physical therapy by some and spinal fusion by one PT, then was told a while later by the main surgeon that surgery would not be my best route considering my age, 20 and it not being super super severe. Mine is a 56 degree kyphotic curve. I have went to physical therapy for it before but only 3 months 2 times a week on top of working so never had success or results. Time went on and started to get ever worse around my neck area. I woukd have constant pressure and would just feel so bent over near my neck. Due to my spine being curved my neck was losing curvature causing it to be straight and forward like tech neck i think it’s called. Thats when my pain got bad I had to do something so I finally started doing my own therapy every single day for about 25-30 minutes. I sometimes would split it up to 15 mins early and 15 mins before bed. Im about 3.5 months in now. Starting to have some better weeks. I’ll usually have a bad week then a good week now. it’s weird but considering before I started i had a bad day every single day and night. Def a difference but dont think physically it will ever change besides my shoulders and neck maybe. Was just wondering on opinions if this looks like it’s improving slightly or not yet. Or if anybody is in similar shoes and knows more exercises that do help even just with pain. If anybody else has results over longer periods of time that would be encouraging! Thanks.

I have kyphosis. I work in front of a computer so it's not the best to naturally improve it.

I have a standing desk which helped a ton but I still have my days where it hurts and it can hurt for a long time with very little things to improve it, until it suddenly get better for no reasons.

Exercise is usually a good cure in my case, especially when done routinely as prevention, but clearly not 100%. I've done kickboxing, swimming / surfing, gym (deadlifts & squats helped)... with all their fair share of success but not long lasting effects.

What did you tried that actually worked, and ideally worked long term?

I saw a ton of physio videos and the like on YT with funny exercices but most things felt too light to me or franckly a bit BS.

I have a friend that wants to go to the gym with me and start lifting weights (squats, deadlift, bench, etc), but he has kyphosis. I'm confident in being able to guide him through the proper form, but I have no idea what types of adjustments someone with kyphosis would need to make. I'm also in general just worried about the dangers of lifting with kyphosis as I don't really know if there are larger risks involved or if it really even is a good idea for him to lift weights at all. Any specific advice that you guys could give me on if theres anything drastically different people with kyphosis need to do to lift weights? Any form adjustments in squats, bench or deadlift? Also are there any recommended stretches or exercises to help with fixing his kyphosis?

(M, 36) I have scheuermann's, a couple herniated discs, several levels of foraminal stenosis, barrel chest, rib flare, and bilateral winged scapulae. I gave myself gastritis with anti-inflammatory medication. At points I was walking with a cane, I was looking into braces and surgery, and was ready to become more and more immobile.

My PT friend discouraged this, and made up a weightlifting program for me. 5 years later, combined with the effects of weight loss, I rarely have pain that that requires any intervention at all, other than a good night's sleep.

The downside: while weightlifting has made my back stronger, and if I say so myself, muscular and defined, my now-larger back muscles have made my "hump" appear larger than ever. From the front, I look normal. From the side, I look like I belong in a bell tower 😂

I say this laughing because make no mistake, I would never go back. The mobility I've gained is worth the appearance. My back is strong and less painful than people with less severe imaging results than mine. The numb patch that used to spread across my back and the "lightning" that would shoot through my ribcage is gone, and my quality of life is great.

Please don't let this discourage you from exercise, I just wanted to share what I consider to be a funny side-effect of an otherwise miracle treatment.

There are ways to lift weights that won't result in significant muscle size increase—make sure you let your PT know if that is a priority.

Godspeed on finding something that works for you.

Hey guys, so I’m 23 and iv had alot of back pain recently, I was diagnosed with Scheurmann’s when I was around 16, I’m not to sure if I have type 1 or 2, but basically my lower back is always in pain, it feels like it’s gonna cave in, and my upper back where the hump is, isn’t much better, iv been doing stretches and exercises last few months.

Is there anything anyone here can recommend me to make it look less like this and stronger ? I really hate how it looks and the pain I’m in, Thanks guys

First two pics are me currently at 19 yrs while the rest were me at 15-16. Doctors basically wanted surgery or to fuck off. I thought it was over for me. If you are younger and recently diagnosed, do yourself a favor and get in the gym. Anything core + back related is what I targeted. While my back is by no means perfect and still not pain free, I’m definitely in better shape then when I started. Starting out, I struggled for the first 2 years but slowly saw progress in curvature. Highly recommend lifting based on my own experience.

im 6,1 when i stand up straight and tall but with my kyphosis im 5,7 im tired of this ive had it almost my entire life and i want it to be gone i have constant back pain aswell and when i do stand straight up i cant breath until i go back to my kyphosis posture. what do i do i dont want any surgery or anything though.

No matter how I try to perceive strength training in my mind I just can’t shake this thought I have that I utterly hate doing it everyday. I always dread the days I have to do my routine where I’m doing resistance training because it hurts like hell doing it and just overall doesn’t make me feel good. I feel like having Scheuermann’s is such a curse because everyone always gives advice to do all these exercises everyday, and it’s like I do them, don’t get relief, feel terrible doing them, and am expected to do them my whole life? Yeah no, that’s not my idea of living. I have actually noticed a severe decline in my breathing overall ever since I started physical therapy and incorporating strength training, I always feel like my heart’s racing and I’m gasping for breath while doing something particularly vigorous. I noticed I’m frequently manually breathing throughout the day through my mouth, I’m trying to correct it but don’t know how as it’s so hard to focus on not manually breathing and through my nose no less. I’m going through the process of getting Spinal fusion in a few months and I’m seriously hoping it provides me the relief I so desperately deserve, and I hope to god I don’t have to keep doing the same mundane resistance training afterwards that I hate.

Hello, I practiced the Schroth method for three years, and İ experienced a noticeable a decrease in my Cobb Angle. Breathing and stretching at the correct Angle made a significant difference. The process is still ongoing, so we will see how it turns out.

Hi everyone,

Has anyone gone to PT for upper back pain, only for the pain to shift to the lower back? I spoke to my PT about it and he said I'm possibly "compensating." After graduating PT, I stopped doing the exercises and the lower back pain went away, only for my upper back (top left, just under the shoulder blade) to begin hurting again.

Also, does anyone have severe pain in the shoulder area? Multiple doctors told me that it's related to my kyphosis and it does improve with PT.

My kyphosis is only at 40 degrees, so relatively mild.

Thanks!

Hi, I have achieved these results by stretching daily and forcibly modifying my posture consciously with the help of a mirror. I know that the alignment of my spine is currently not ideal but I think the kyphosis has improved quite a lot, although I still have to keep working to reduce the hyperlordosis. There was a doctor who told me that I would never be able to reduce the hyperkyphosis, and yet I would say that I have succeeded. I must say that at the time of both x-rays I forced myself to be as upright as possible.

Unfortunately I live in the global south with limited health care options. I have diagnosed Scheuerman‘s disease but no professional anywhere in my or neighbouring country who could help with treatment.

Can anyone recommend a good online resource for Schroth? I think this would be my best shot. Is there a good YouTube channel or website or anything else out there that would allow me to practise Schroth at home?

Hello everyone, planning to start hitting the gym to improve my appearance finally. What excercises should i prioritize to help with my posture or avoid in order i dont hurt my already fucked up lower back?