Many people find having a picture of their child’s posture is helpful when trying to determine if their scoliosis or kyphosis is worsening or getting better. Here are some helpful tips on how to take pictures that accurately represent your child’s entire posture.
- 1st Step: Choose a place in your home.
A plain background is best.
Choosing a spot by a doorway helps because the door frame gives a straight line to use for comparison.
- 2nd Step: Have your child wear form-fitting clothing so that the shape of their waist and hips can be seen.
- 3rd Step: From the front: Ask your child to stand facing you.
Give the instructions: “Stand up straight, facing me. “
*Don’t try to change their posture. Let them stand as they naturally do.
*Make sure the camera is directly in front of them, and not skewed from the side.
*Move close to your child so that they fill the whole picture.
*Make sure that your child’s head and feet can be seen in the picture.
- 4th Step: Take the picture.
- 5th Step: Examine the picture to make sure:
*Your child’s head and feet can be seen.
*Your child fills the picture and isn’t too far away.
*The angle of the picture is straight-on.
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From the side: With your child standing so that you are looking at their side, ask them to
“Stand up straight, and look straight ahead.”
It may be that they think they are looking straight ahead, and you see that their chin is either up or down. Don’t try to change that.
Repeat Steps 4 and 5.
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From behind: With your child standing so that you are looking at their back, ask them to
“Face the wall, stand up straight, and look straight ahead.”
Repeat Steps 4 & 5.
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Bending over: Ask your child to stand far enough away from the wall so that when they bend over, they don’t hit their head.
With your child facing away from you, ask them to “Slowly bend forward, letting your arms and your head naturally fall toward the floor.”
Watch their ribs as they do, and have them stop at the spot where one side of the rib cage is visibly higher.
Repeat Steps 4 & 5.
Keep the pictures in a place where you can easily refer to them when you do your next posture check. If you would like help in evaluating your posture pictures, please email them to info@RhinoSC.com. I will be happy to review them, and give you tips on what to watch.
Happy snapping!
Dr. Jane
PS. You can buy a posture grid online, or make your own, if you like. Ideas include using a sharpie to darken the lines on a large sheet of graph paper, or use a sewing board that has small squares on it. However, it isn’t necessary, so don’t wait until you have one to take those pictures!
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Print your own Scoliosis Posture Check “cheat sheet”: RHINO Scoliosis Posture Check 
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Need more visuals? Use these links:
Examples of posture pics from the side and front
Video that includes all types of posture pictures