Author: Dr Vedat Deviren University of California San Francisco 2008-07-09
Scoliosis:
Pediatric Scoliosis/Adult ScoliosisScoliosis is defined as a lateral curvature of the spine in the frontal plane of the body, which means that the vertebral column bends from side-to-side. Normally, the spine is straight. With scoliosis, the spine curves to the side in the shape of the letter “S” or “C”. This can cause small but noticeable changes in the alignment of the entire trunk of the body, and the ribs or hips may stick out more on one side than the other side. Additionally, one shoulder may be lower than the other. Furthermore, a severely scoliotic spine may create asymmetries in the shoulder, thoracic cage and pelvis leading to trunk imbalance and significant cosmetic deformity. Scoliosis curves of greater than 10° affect 0.5-3% of the adolescent population and studies reported scoliosis observed up to 32% of adult population after the age of 60.