flat back and scoliosis

Hi all,
Maybe you could give me an insight as to what is going on with my upper back. I have noticed a bit more cracking and clicking in my back for the last couple of months. There is no pain involved with this but I just generally feel a bit restricted through my upper thoracic spine. I get massage every now and then, when I was there today the massage therapist told me that my thoracic spine was "flat" from about T2-T10 if my memory serves me right. He also got me to bend forwards and he said that one side of my back was sitting higher and that I had a possible scoliosis, This was the first I have heard of it. I havn't had any major injuries apart from a thoracic rib sprain about a year and a half ago as diagnosed by an osteopath, who also told me I have one leg longer than the other. Should I be stretching my upper back, and if so how? If I don't get this sorted will it get worse? Can I continue working out and running? Like I said there is no pain, but I dont want this to end up that way a year from now.

Gidday mate,

Everyone has a different spine, and scoliosis and reduced curvatures are common enough. The point is are you symptomatic? Do you get pain with running and working out? Scoliosis most commonly comes on in your teenage years - it's quite possible that this is just your normal spine and it isn't going to cause you any issues. Don't refrain from doing your normal activity unless it is causing you problems. If you get a problem go see a physio with a bit of experience and they'll be able to tell you if the scoliosis is contributing to it. The leg length discrepancy is also normal - however it depends on how big the difference is - it's considered a possible cause of scoliosis if it is significant enough.
Scoliosis can also be because of different reasons - if it's muscular then it will dissapear when you lay down... if it's structural then it won't - and there isn't heaps you can do about it.
If your really worried then go see a senior physio somewhere (maybe even one who knows something about schroth therapy though they are hard to find outside of europe) and they will assess and give you appropriate exercises.

Have a good one