Journal of Muscle Biology

Over the years, healthcare providers have used a host of physical examinations and clinical tools to assess a patient’s physical functioning and health, but many of these assessment tools lack generalizability among physicians or the specificity and sensitivity to accurately diagnose a patient. Range of motion measures are one-way physicians assess many physical deficiencies in the upper and lower extremity.

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients with a Cobb angle >45° are generally referred for surgery, especially in Asia. Physicians do not typically prescribe braces or physiotherapeutic scoliosis-specific exercises for such cases. We described a case of right thoracic scoliosis with a Cobb angle of 51°. The parents refused surgery and opted for conservative treatments. We braced the pre-menarchal patient at the age of 10, with Risser at 0, and coached her on exercises, which include traditional Schroth, the Schroth Best Practice, the dynamic neuromuscular stabilization (DNS), and the Pilates exercises.

Studies have indicated that patients with idiopathic scoliosis (IS) commonly present with an imbalance of the paraspinal muscles regarding the orientation, length, thickness, volume, cross sectional area, and fiber type composition. However, whether paraspinal muscle imbalance is the cause or the consequence of spinal deformities in IS, remains unclear.