Katharina Schroth

Katharina Schroth (February 22, 1894 – February 19, 1985) was a German physiotherapist best known for developing the Schroth Method to treat scoliosis.

Kathrina Schroth was born in Dresden, Germany with scoliosis. At the age of 16, she began the use of a thoracic brace, a common treatment to prevent the further curving of the spine. She was dissatisfied with how the brace was not fully effective and restricted movement, so she sought to find other treatment options for her condition. Through a process of self-experimentation, she developed techniques involving specific breathing methods, improving postural perception, and specific postural corrective movements. These techniques eventually became the basis for the Schroth method, which was shared among physiotherapy institutions to treat other patients. The Schroth method set the precedent for how other related techniques were developed. For this work, Schroth was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit by the Federal Republic of Germany.

Scroth opened two institutions to treat patients using the Scroth Method. The first institution, the Breathing Orthopedics in Meissen, was opened in 1921. This was followed by another institution in Sobernheim. Schroth's second institute was passed down to her daughter, Christa Lehnert-Schroth, and later to her grandson, Dr. Hans-Rudolf Weiss, MD. Nowadays, Dr. Weiss now has his own practice, where he uses modified versions of his grandmother’s techniques to treat patients with scoliosis.

Early life
Katharina Schroth was born on February 22, 1894, in Dresden, Germany. Born with moderate scoliosis, she was given a steel brace to wear indefinitely. At the age of 16, her dissatisfaction with the brace treatment led her to research an alternative. She used mirrors to assess herself and find solutions. Inspired by a balloon, she looked at the asymmetrical aspect of her torso. She tried to manipulate the differences by overcorrecting them through breathing and watching her body move in the mirror. After analyzing how her body reacted to the different breathing patterns that she had tried, she began to look for ways to manipulate her body to correct her spine. She did this by developing a pulley system to manipulate her torso, while she continued to watch the effects in a mirror.

Early Careers
As a teacher at a Rackow’s School of Business and Languages in Dresden, it is said that she was able to correct those spinal deformities enough that teachers at the school noticed and told her that they saw a difference. She eventually left the school and began working in functional gymnastics. Here, she combined her functional knowledge of gymnastics with her techniques to improve her spinal deformities. She was later asked to begin lecturing on this topic. She prepared for her lectures by studying anatomy and having medical practitioners test her knowledge. In 1921, she opened her first therapy institute, Breathing Orthopedics.

Family
Katharina Schroth was married to Franz Schroth and had a daughter named Christa. Christa was a physiotherapist and took over her mother’s work. Later, Christa's son, Hans-Rudolf Weiss, became a physician and also furthered his grandmother’s work. He continues this work to this day in his own clinic.

The Schroth Method
From the age of 16, Katharina Schroth continuously developed and critiqued her scoliosis correction techniques over many years, looking to improve them. She found inspiration for improvements from many different aspects of her life, from a balloon to her work as a gymnastics coach. This technique became known as the Schroth Method. It is a non-invasive technique that can both prevent scoliosis from becoming worse and correct it. The most important aspect of this technique is that it is highly individualized and unique to each person because no two cases of scoliosis are the same.

The goals of the Schroth Method are de-rotating, elongating, and stabilizing the spine in a three-dimensional plane of sagittal, frontal, and transverse. These foundations of the Schroth method look at muscular symmetry, rotational angular breathing, and awareness of posture through stretching and exercising certain muscles. Schroth's use of a mirror to see how her body was oriented led to the concept of postural awareness, which is still used in the method today. The method involves overcompensating against the body's irregularities in posture throughout the day. Being mindful in this way throughout the day is a central part of the Schroth method. Schroth also looked at the ideas of rotational angular breathing. This idea came from the balloon or ball analogy that allowed her to see that when parts of the spine or ribs are concaved, breathing in certain ways can make them appear straight and symmetrical. This allows the body to stretch in the way that it is supposed to and to see different muscles that are lacking in strength. The final concept involved in the Schroth method is muscular symmetry. Through exercise and stretching, a person can fix the asymmetrical aspects of their spinal curvatures by locating and strengthening certain weak areas of muscle to support the spine and fix its irregularities. This allows certain overworked muscles to relax and results in better symmetry in both muscle strength and conformity. The Schroth method was a pivotal technique in scoliosis treatment and has changed how many different therapies were developed.

Opening institutions
Once Katharina created a process that helped reverse and halt the spinal deformities, she opened Breathing Orthopedics in 1921 in Meissen. This institute had a small building and a garden with different tools and structures that were used for individual and group treatments. They performed a lot of their techniques outside in the garden so that their skin could feel the sun’s heat and that they could get some fresh air. Her husband, Franz Schroth, helped individual patients at the institute with certain corrections and with specific strength exercises. This institute worked on specific postural correction through correctional breathing patterns and correctional postural perceptions. This method had a 3-month rehabilitation period. Their daughter, Christa Schroth, helped with the spinal corrections in the 1930s and 1940s.

In 1955, Katharina and her family moved to Western Germany, where she founded her second therapy institute in Sobernheim to treat both German and international patients. Katharina’s daughter, Christa, eventually became the institute’s director and worked there until she retired in 1995. The institute helps about 180 people with scoliosis or kyphosis. On average, patients are treated within a 6-week period. This institute was later named Katharina Schroth Klinik in the 1980s. The first prospective controlled trial was conducted from 1989 to 1991. This clinic has since changed and now uses braces as its first treatment, but they use a derivative of Katharina’s original techniques of specific postural correction, correction of breathing patterns, and correction of postural perception for rehabilitation.

Awards
Katharina Schroth was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit from the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany for her work of opening two institutions and creating an innovative process of treating people with scoliosis.