Sharing my scoliosis journey and looking for some advice
Hey, everyone. I'm currently 25 with a 45º lumbar curve. I was diagnosed pretty early, at 9 years old, but I don't believe my course of treatment was the best at the time. I had swimming classes for about a year as advised by my ortho at the time, and when that didn't help I was redirected to GPR (Global Postural Re-education) physiotherapy for about a year, when my physiotherapist told my parents my spine was still rotating so I should try something else. I started wearing a Milwaukee brace at 11 and was on it til I was about 14; wasn't really going back to my ortho regularly and stopped wearing it on my own when I started reaching puberty, my curve had kind of stagnated and felt very uncomfortable wearing that everywhere. During that entire time I never practiced any sports or physical activities because I believed my body was too fragile and unfit for it due to my curve.
Back then I wasn't really in pain a lot, or didn't notice the pain since I had gotten used to it, and then during the pandemic (19~ish y/o) I started noticing the pains again and decided to go back to physiotherapy for pain management. It worked for a while, then I had to stop it for health insurance reasons, and then in 2023 I started to practice aerials which was the real game changer for my body awareness and really noticing and figuring out how my body felt, where it hurt, where my imbalances were and what I could do with it. Since then, I got really strong, in 2025 I started flexibility training, and decided to look into my scoliosis treatment again.
I am, still, constantly in pain or uncomfortable due to my curve; when sitting down or standing up I have to keep shifting my weight, since I started exercising I've noticed how the right side of my body (concave) always hurts or is easily unbalanced, especially my shoulder (going to an ortho for that next week) and my hip. I went to a neurosurgeon last year and he was really great, and basically told me that the decision to get a spinal fusion or not was up to me because of my curve degree, we went through the pros and cons of the surgery, but I can't help getting a little terrified after I read spinal fusion stories. I know I will lose mobility, but I'm scared that will affect my aerials/flex trainings more than I imagine, or that I will have nerve damage, or that I'll still be constantly in pain after the surgery but with less movement range.
For everyone who's gotten their spine fused in recent years, do you believe that going into it already being an active person will help me through the recovery? If you were in my position, would you get the surgery or keep looking for alternatives for pain and curve management? Does anyone have any advice on scoliosis specific alternatives for exercises you usually do during yoga or flexibility training, or anyone on the internet who talks about that? Has anyone here gotten a spinal fusion and then went to do something like aerials/flex/pole/calisthenics? Do you think your fusion gets in the way more than it helps you?
Just a lot of questions from a confused person who needs to decide very soon whether to get the surgery or not. Thank you in advance everyone, and here's some pictures of my curve and some of the things I do (that don't cause me back pain at all - the things that do, I usually avoid during classes since I have some great trainers who are aware of my limitations).