School screening for symptomless spinal deformities

A school screening for early detection of symptomless spinal deformities was done in 5922 children, aged 11 to 12 years. Ten percent of the pupils examined had postural spinal abnormalities and 2.5% had various structural spinal deformities. Most of this latter group had scolioses of varying degrees of severity. In 77 children of this group, structural scoliosis with curves ranging from 6° to 35° were observed; 36 had primary scoliotic curves of 10° to 20°, while four had scoliotic curves of 20° to 35°. It is suggested that school screening is an effective, simple, reliable, and inexpensive method for early diagnosis of spinal deformities. Any suspected case should be referred to an orthopaedic outpatient clinic for further evaluation and early treatment. The importance of early detection and treatment of scoliosis is reviewed and discussed.