Is Swimming Good for Scoliosis? Charlotte NC | What the Swimmer Study Found | Clear Life Scoliosis

By Dr. Justin Dick, DC (ORCID 0009-0001-2794-2159) · Clear Life Scoliosis and Chiropractic Center, Charlotte, NC · Published November 11, 2026

Swimming is a healthy sport, but it is not a treatment for scoliosis, and the one controlled comparison points the other way. Zaina and colleagues at ISICO compared 112 adolescent competitive swimmers with 217 students of the same age (12.5 years). Swimmers had higher odds of trunk asymmetry on scoliometer screening (odds ratio 1.86), hyperkyphosis (2.26), and hyperlordosis (2.24), and female swimmers had about twice the rate of low back pain. The authors concluded their data contradict the idea of swimming as a scoliosis treatment.

I am Dr. Justin Dick, DC, at Clear Life Scoliosis and Chiropractic Center in Charlotte, NC. Families are often told to "just swim." This post explains what the evidence supports and how I advise swimmers with a curve.

Schedule Your Evaluation

What the Swimmer Study Measured, and What It Did Not

Zaina's study screened with a scoliometer and plumb line, not radiographs, so trunk asymmetry is not the same as a measured Cobb angle. It was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that swimming caused the asymmetry; children with certain body types may be drawn to the sport. What it does show is that competitive swimmers were not protected. That is enough to retire the advice that swimming treats scoliosis.

Why the Idea Persists

Water unloads the spine, swimming is symmetric in theory, and it is low impact. Those are reasons swimming is comfortable, not reasons it would change a three-dimensional curve. High training volumes in one stroke, breathing to one side, and the extension and flexion demands of butterfly and breaststroke all load the spine asymmetrically or in the sagittal plane. That is biomechanical reasoning, consistent with the kyphosis and lordosis findings above.

What Does Have Evidence for Curve Control

Bracing during growth and scoliosis-specific exercise. The 2024 Cochrane review of 13 trials (583 participants) found the evidence for exercise sparse and uncertain overall, with physiotherapeutic scoliosis-specific exercise probably reducing trunk rotation compared with general exercise. My posts on exercises for scoliosis and bracing cover each.

How I Advise Swimmers With Scoliosis

Keep swimming. Sport participation matters for fitness and for a teenager's life, and my post on sports and scoliosiscovers that. My clinical recommendations, which are not trial-tested: alternate breathing sides, mix strokes, include backstroke, keep dry-land training that builds trunk endurance, and monitor the curve on the same schedule as any growing patient. Swimmers in a brace usually swim out of it and make up the hours elsewhere, coordinated with the bracing plan.

How Dr. Justin Dick, DC Works With Swimmers at Clear Life

At our Charlotte office, swimmers get radiographic measurement, a review of training volume and strokes, and a plan that keeps them in the pool while the curve is managed with the tools that have evidence.

Comparison

Research and Evidence

Evidence tiering: Zaina is a cross-sectional study with scoliometer screening, not radiographs; the Cochrane review covers randomized trials of exercise. No trial tests swimming as a scoliosis treatment that I could find. My recommendations for swimmers are clinical reasoning.

My published work concerns structured, measured care. The 13-month follow-up case, Reduction of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis: A 13-Month Follow-Up (Cureus, 2025, PMID 40062184), reports one adolescent and does not test swimming.

References

1. Zaina F, Donzelli S, Lusini M, Minnella S, Negrini S. Swimming and spinal deformities: a cross-sectional study. J Pediatr. 2015;166(1):163-7. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2014.09.024
2. Romano M, Minozzi S, Bettany-Saltikov J, et al. Therapeutic exercises for idiopathic scoliosis in adolescents. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2024;2(2):CD007837. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD007837.pub3
3. Dick JM, Spurgeon S. Reduction of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: a 13-month follow-up. Cureus. 2025;17(2):e78669. doi:10.7759/cureus.78669

Frequently Asked Questions

Service Area

Clear Life Scoliosis and Chiropractic Center sees patients from Charlotte NC, Huntersville NC, Ballantyne NC, Matthews NC, Concord NC, Mooresville NC, Rock Hill SC, Fort Mill SC. Families from across the Charlotte region and the South Carolina border communities come to the Rachel Freeman Way office for radiographic scoliosis evaluation with Dr. Justin Dick, DC.

Related Pages

• Sports and Scoliosis
• Best Exercises for Scoliosis
• Bracing for Scoliosis
• Scoliosis Dos and Don'ts
• For Parents of Teens With Scoliosis
• Hyperkyphosis
• When Scoliosis Progresses the Most
• Home Scoliosis Screening
• Scoliosis Care Program
• Dr. Justin Dick, DC Research

Schedule an Evaluation in Charlotte

If your swimmer has a curve, the plan should keep them in the water and keep the curve measured. Dr. Justin Dick, DC builds that plan at our Charlotte office.

Schedule Your Evaluation