Kyphosis occurs when the vertebrae in the upper back become more wedge shaped. Abnormal vertebrae can be caused by: Fractures. Broken or crushed vertebrae (compression fractures) can result in curvature of the spine.

Surgery might be recommended for severe kyphosis that is pinching the spinal cord or nerve roots. Spinal fusion is the most common procedure for reducing the degree of curvature

Treatment depends on your:

• Age.
• Medical history.
• Type of kyphosis.
• Severity of the curve.
• The goal of treatment is to stop the curve from getting worse. In severe cases, you may need surgery. But most people with kyphosis do not need surgery. Nonsurgical treatment methods can help instead.

Providers may recommend nonsurgical treatments for people with postural kyphosis. Nonsurgical options also can help Scheuermann’s kyphosis if the curve is less than 75 degrees.

Treatment options include:

• Monitoring the curve: Regular X-rays during the teenage years keep tabs on the curve’s progress.
• Physical therapy: Exercises can strengthen abdominal and back muscles to relieve pain and improve posture. Other exercises can stretch tight hamstrings and strengthen other areas of the body.
• Pain medication: An-inflammatory medicines can relieve back pain.
• Back brace: Your provider may recommend a brace in rare cases. It’s most common when children who are still growing have Scheuermann’s kyphosis. Your provider will discuss the type of brace and how many hours a day to wear it.

If kyphosis causes severe pain or other symptoms that interfere with your life, surgery can help. A surgical procedure can reduce the curvature to relieve symptoms. Healthcare providers recommend spine surgery for people with:

• Congenital kyphosis.
• Scheuermann’s kyphosis with a curve of more than 75 degrees.
• Severe back pain, even after trying nonsurgical treatment.

The most common kyphosis surgery is spinal fusion surgery. During this procedure, your surgeon:

• Lines up the vertebrae in a straighter position.
• Bonds them together by using small pieces of bone to fill the spaces between the vertebrae.

As the vertebrae heal, they fuse or join together. This procedure reduces the severity of the curve to support your body better. It prevents the curve from getting worse.

You can take steps to prevent postural kyphosis:

• Maintain good posture.
• Strengthen abdominal and back muscles.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Carry bags or schoolbooks and supplies in a sturdy backpack or roller bag.
• Exercise to strengthen your body and stay flexible.

The body has 3 natural curves. Lordosis in the lumbar region, kyphosis in the thoracic region an lordosis again in the cervical region. The most common curvature issue that I see in my office is a reversal of the cervical curve or forward head posture. The first step to correct the cervical curve is to stop what it is that is causing the shift. First, the action is to stop or reduce any texting, gaming or laptop use. These activities cause a repetitive forward flexion of the head and neck. Over time these motions cause muscles to stretch more than they can handle to the point that they get weak and allow for excess vertebral movement. The curve slowly straightens and eventually reverses becoming kyphotic. Head aches become more frequent as does muscle pain. There are specific exercises available that will strengthen those weakened muscles that will allow you to hold the head back over the shoulders. Get to a local chiropractor for an assessment, possible treatment and the exercises. Be patient as this will take time to correct. The issue took time to develop and will take time to correct.

A physical therapist would certainly be helpful. If you can’t afford one, and your kyphosis isn’t too severe, you can correct a kyphosis by strengthening the muscles in your back. As muscles get stronger, they also become more stiff and more supportive. Stronger back muscles will keep your spine from rounding as much. You didn’t state whether you had a cervical, thoracic, or lumbar kyphosis, so I’ll just give you exercises that can strengthen all three. For cervical (neck and high upper back) I’d reccomend doing shrugs to develop the traps. For thoracic (mid back) I’d recommend bent over rows, pull ups/chin ups, and maybe some reverse dumbbell flys. For lumbar (low back) reverse hypers are a good option. To do these, lay on your stomach and hang your legs off a ledge, the edge of your bed would work fine, contract your glutes, and simply raise your legs up as high as you can get them without bending your knees.

I’d also recommend checking out Athlean x. He’s a physical therapist and he puts out loads of high quality, free content on YouTube, with many of his videos covering how to fix posture and strengthen the muscles that will fix your posture. Here is an example of one:

It matters whether it is adolescent slouching or profoundly impacted by age and arthritis. The older you are the more challenging would be any attempt to improve it, even long term therapy by a competent Chiropractor.

I would strongly consider Dr. Eric Goodman's Foundation Exercises. These are four exercises that are primarily beneficial to strengthening the core muscles that support the spine. It is available for free on YouTube and the exercises are difficult to do correctly, but can be mastered with practice. Additionally, I can only assume that any program that involves progressive stretching of upper body muscles will benefit the condition.

I’ve never heard of a traumatologist.

If the upper spinal column bulges outward as in kyphosis, it depends on what caused it.

It’s difficult to fix a spine curvature of any type if it developed at a very young age and worsened. Fixing also depends on how far the spine curves outward. I don’t know if even surgery can fix kyphosis.

I would advise you to consult with a chiropractor since you don’t want surgery. A chiropractor probably has a treatment that will at least help it, if not fix it.

If the spine goes back in alignment when using inversion…giving total relaxation of the vertebra and discs, it might be helped if the muscles around it are strengthened while it is in correct alignment. This is a lot of work and would have to be done daily for quite awhile…again, depending on how bad it is…

Ask a chiropractor about kyphosis and what can be done to put the spine back in alignment…

A traumatologist is an orthopedic or general surgeon who deals with major trauma. He or she is not the right doctor to deal with kyphosis unless it was caused by spinal fractures. An orthopedic surgeon who is specially trained in spinal problems is the right doctor. They will not automatically recommend surgery. Depending on why you have the kyphosis and how severe the curve is, different non-operative treatments are used. You might be prescribed a Jewett brace to correct the curve. There are specific Schroth exercises that have been shown to improve kyphosis, The Effect of Schroth Therapy on Thoracic Kyphotic Curve and Quality of Life in Scheuermann's Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial - PubMed

See one of these doctors who understands the problem and the treatments.

If it’s just a postural issue you can improve it with physical therapy to strengthen back and abdominal muscles. This can help improve posture and reduce discomfort. If it’s more severe and interfering with everyday life I would recommend a good orthopedist. If you’re young, a pediatric orthopedist. I worked closely with a reknowned pediatric orthopedist for many years and I’ve seen lots of spinal disorders….especially scoliosis. You may need to be evaluated for scoliosis as well as vertebral and bony pathology. Severe spinal deformity may need surgical intervention some of which involves rods and fusion to correct. Leaving a kyphotic posture alone can be tricky as it may worsen over the years. Talk to your orthopedist.

I actually have this. The answer is yes. But it’s the cure may not be worth the cost. In order to fix this problem they first have to cut a ligament than runs in front of your spine called the anterior longitudinal ligament. That means opening you up in the front and going all the way to your spine, past heart and lungs. (I think sometimes it is possible to do a posterior approach here not positive though). They cut this ligament in order to stretch it as it is currently to short for your new height, note it’s not severed, just nicked enough for it lengthen. Then they open you up in the back and remove the disc’s between the affected vertebrae. After this they will place you on a roller and move you back and forth so your spine can be straightened. Once straightened the vertebrae are fused together and harrington rods are placed next to the spine to keep it upright while the fused vertebrae heal enough to start supporting weight. You will be in the hospital for weeks sometimes months depending on how fast you heal and are able to regain some mobility. Intensive physical therapy for at least a year. At the end of it you will not have the same weight bearing and mobility you do now. There is also a fair chance you will have lifelong pain related to the surgery. Some neurosurgeons simply won’t do it. The ones that will perform it will only do so when the curvature is causing pain (not normal in adults) or very severe as in 60% curvature in the affected vertebrae.

May I ask what kind of kyphosis you have?

There are several alternatives to back surgery for addressing conditions like vertebral compression fractures, for which kyphoplasty is often considered. These alternatives may include conservative treatments such as pain management, physical therapy, bracing, and lifestyle modifications. However, the choice of treatment depends on factors such as the severity of symptoms, overall health, and individual preferences. It's essential to discuss these options with your healthcare provider to determine the most suitable approach for your condition. For more information on back pain management and treatment alternatives, explore my Quora Profile.

Yes, it is possible if your muscle activity is not balance. Improper posture usually happens secondary to muscular imbalances caused by prolonged stay in one position in which a certain muscle or group of muscles are in shorten position and the opposite muscle or group of muscles are in elongated position. Kyphotic posture is the excessive posterior curvature of the thoracic spine more than its normal curve usually happens secondary to prolonged slouched position that leads the thoracic spine to alter its position thus will increase the kyphosis curvature.

In doing upper abdominal workout, repetitive bending movement (position that can increase kyphosis curvature of the thoracic spine) is needed to contract the muscle thus shortening of this muscle can happen, but with proper strengthening also of the back muscle can help to pull your spine to its normal position, because of the balance strength it will maintain the normal kyphosis curve of the thoracic spine. It is also important to do stretching exercises to maintain the flexibility of each muscle group. Doing a well-balanced full body strengthening regimen under the guidance of an experienced physiotherapist will lead to negative alterations in posture.

Sometimes it can - but it depends on the specific injury, and whether you get the right exercise regime, and whether you follow it diligently.

In my case, exercise was sufficient. I ruptured a disk in my lower back, and the nerve bundle was impinged enough that no nerve signals were going to or from my left calf and hamstring muscles.

The doctor suggested triyng Physical Therapy first - and if that didn’t work, to try surgery.

I did the suggested exercises twice a day, every day - and eventually I was able to resume normal activities - including heavy weight lifting, and basketball. But it took months, and I had to slowly re-introduce different activities, and occasionally back off on some of them until I was 100%. This process took over a year (I was about 40 at the time).

No. Kyphosis means a curve in the spine where the spine comes outward rather than inward (inward like the neck and low back, called a lordosis). The outward curvature in the thoracic spine is normal. So as you look at a person from the side view, the spine should have an “S” curve. That kyphosis can sometimes become exaggerated and more pronounced. This is a hyperkyphosis. Due to rotation a scoliosis can give an appearance of a hyperkyphosis but these two are different situations, so a hyperkyphosis is not a scoliosis.

Hyperkyphosis can be caused by chronic poor posture, fracture or other diseases such as asthma.

There is no answer for your question. There is no magic number and your question assumes that pull ups will reduce the kyphosis.

I think you would have better results strengthening the erector spinae musculature by doing back extension exercises, but even this assumes that the spine is otherwise healthy.

When doing pull ups, you are primarily incorporating the latissimus dorsi muscles, inferior trapezius muscles and will also contract the abdominal muscles to stabilize. Although the latissimus dorsi muscles and inferior trapezius muscles do arise frome the spinous processes of the spine, the do so from the lateral edges of the spinouses, and primarily from T6 to the sacrum. Because of area of the spinouses that they arise from, there would be little effect of driving the spine forward to reduce the kyphosis. The muscles will, however, push forward on the ribs throughout the motion of the pull up. Therefore, the anterior force on the ribs will result in a posterior force the ribs will exert on the spine. You will naturally contract the erector spinae muscles to compensate for this posterior force, but only so much as is needed to compensate for the force the lats and trapezius muscles are exerting on the ribs. In other words, the net effect will be 0 change in the kyphosis.

Best just to stick with the back extension exercises.