How I Learned to Do a Full Push-Up with Scoliosis
Fanny Simpson
6 min read
I'm often asked how I'm able to do a push-up with scoliosis.
Honestly, being able to do a push-up is one of my biggest fitness achievements because it was something I struggled with for years. I always felt like I lacked upper body strength, and whenever I tried a push-up, I could barely get my chest to the floor.
It also felt like my right arm was doing most of the work, while my left side just couldn't keep up. Until I addressed that imbalance, I felt like I was never going to make progress.
So, how was I finally able to do push-ups?
Before I get into what helped, let me give you some context.
Push-ups are hard
Push-ups are challenging for most people because they require a combination of upper body strength, shoulder stability and coordination.
When you push yourself away from the floor (the ascent phase), your shoulder blades glide away from the spine. This movement is called protraction and is driven largely by a muscle called the serratus anterior (SA). The serratus anterior sits along the side of your ribs and one of its roles is to help keep your shoulder blade close to your rib cage as you push. Your pectoralis major (pecs) also contributes to generating the pushing force, as the muscle contracts you’re able to push away from the floor.
When you lower yourself back towards the floor (the descent phase), your shoulder blades move back towards your spine. This movement is called retraction and is controlled by muscles including the trapezius and rhomboids, which also help stabilise the shoulder during the lowering phase.
How I Trained for my first full Push-up
Step 1: Build Strength One Side at a Time
I started with a single-arm dumbbell chest press on a flat bench. This targets muscles including: the chest (pecs), the front of the shoulder (anterior deltoid) and the serratus anterior. Training one arm at a time helped me develop a much better mind-muscle connection and build strength particularly on my left side.
Because I felt my left side was weaker, I performed one or two additional repetitions on that side.
Step 2: Progress Through Push-Up Variations
I started with knee push-ups before progressing to box push-ups. These variations reduce the amount of body weight you have to push, making it easier to practise the movement with good form and control.
Step 3: The Ultimate Test
As my strength and control improved, I started to do dumbbell chest presses with both arms to see whether I could press the same weight evenly on each side. Then I incorporated hand release push-ups. This is where you lower yourself to the floor, lift both hands completely off the floor, put them back on the floor and push yourself up.
Eventually, I tried a full push-up and I managed to do a full push-up, lowering myself down and pushing back up.
If you're struggling with push-ups, I hope this reassures you that it is something you can work towards. It takes time, patience and consistent practice, but it is possible.
And when you finally get it, you'll feel an incredible sense of pride knowing you've achieved something that once felt impossible.
Figure 1. Movement of the shoulder blade during push-up phases.
Figure 2. Serratus anterior (SA)
Figure 3. Pectoralis Major (Pecs) shown in green.
Figure 4. Trapezius
Figure 5. Rhomboids
References
Figure 1. Brookbush Institute (2026) Joints of the shoulder girdle and scapular motion. Available at: https://brookbushinstitute.com/courses/joints-of-the-shoulder-girdle-and-scapular-joint-actions
Figure 2. Yousun Koh. Kenhub. Available at: https://www.kenhub.com/en/library/anatomy/serratus-anterior-muscle
Figure 3. Yousun Koh. Kenhub. Available at:https://www.kenhub.com/en/library/anatomy/major-pectoralis-muscle
Figure 4. Yousun Koh. Kenhub. Available at: https://www.kenhub.com/en/library/anatomy/trapezius-muscle
Figure 5. Yousun Koh. Kenhub. Available at: https://www.kenhub.com/en/library/anatomy/rhomboid-muscles
Lin, J., Brown, J.K., Ju, S.B., Wu, W.H., Green, A. and Walsh, M. (2010) 'Alteration in shoulder kinematics and associated muscle activity in people with idiopathic scoliosis', Spine, 35(11), pp. 1151–1157. https://doi.org/10.1097/BRS.0b013e3181db7dc7.
Suprak, D.N., Osternig, L.R., van Donkelaar, P. and Karduna, A.R. (2013) 'Scapular kinematics and shoulder elevation in a traditional push-up', Journal of Athletic Training, 48(5), pp. 629–638. https://doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-48.5.08.
Van Roden, E.A.R., Richardson, R.T., Russo, S.A., Rose, W.C., Chafetz, R.S., Gabos, P.G., Shah, S.A., Samdani, A.F. and Richards, J.G. (2018) 'Shoulder complex mechanics in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and their relation to patient-perceived function', Spine, 43(18), pp. E1076–E1083. https://doi.org/10.1097/BRS.0000000000002622.
Does Scoliosis make Push-ups harder?
To be honest, when I first started strength training, I didn't think scoliosis had anything to do with my struggle with push-ups. After all, I'd had a spinal fusion, so in my mind I was "fixed". I assumed the difficulty I was experiencing was simply down to some degree of strength imbalances, something we all have.
But after years of training, I started to question whether it really was just strength imbalances, or whether scoliosis influenced how the shoulders moved.
I recently had a shoulder assessment because my right upper traps were killing me and my physio pointed out a few things:
My right shoulder blade was winged, it was slightly higher and more forward than the left (something I already knew).
That my right serratus anterior was weaker than my left, and my lower trapezius wasn't engaging very well either. This was a shocker because I thought my right side was stronger.
So, I did what I usually do when something doesn't make sense, I went to look for papers that had studied the shoulder movement and muscles in scoliosis. And guess what I found…
Lin et al. (2010) and Roden et al.(2018) found that in individuals with scoliosis, the shoulder blade on the convex side of the curve rotates upwards less and tilts backwards less during reaching movements compared with people without scoliosis.
The interesting thing is that the muscles my physio identified as weaker are major contributors to the upward rotation and backward tilting of the shoulder blade. That made me wonder:
Are these movements restricted on the convex side because those muscles aren't engaging properly, or because of the position of the shoulder blade or both?
Would the changes in shoulder blade movement observed in arm reaching tasks in scoliosis be present during push-ups?
At the moment, there aren't any studies (that I know of) that have explored shoulder blade movements in scoliosis during push-ups. But I do have a theory.
During a push-up, you're not just pushing yourself away from the floor. Your shoulder blades also have to move smoothly around your rib cage so they stay well aligned with your arm bone (the humerus). I think that:
The shoulder blade on the convex side of the curve has a perceived advantage because it often sits in a protracted position. I wonder whether, during the ascent phase of the push-up, when the shoulder blades protract, the shoulder blade on the convex side already being slightly protracted makes it feel easier to push up through that side than the concave side.
If scoliosis changes how the shoulder blade moves during reaching tasks, then it may also change how the shoulder blade moves during a push-up.
Research by Suprak et al. (2013) showed that during the ascent phase of a push-up, the shoulder blade rotates upwards and tilts backwards as the elbows straighten. Therefore, If these movements are also restricted during a push-up, they could affect shoulder blade coordination and make the movement feel less efficient. Or does the body find ways to compensate for this?
The truth is, we don't know yet. But based on my own experience, my shoulder assessment, and the existing research on shoulder blade movement in scoliosis, I think that the shoulder blade positions and perhaps the altered movements may be one of the reasons push-ups feel particularly challenging for some people with scoliosis.
So, how did I actually adjust my training to finally get my first full push-up?