Assessment of pain severity and function of lumbar spine in idiopathic scoliosis.

BACKGROUND To evaluate the severity of lumbar spine pain and the extent to which it affects everyday activities in patients treated surgically for scoliosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Sixty female patients who had undergone Cotrel-Dubousset instrumentation for idiopathic scoliosis were asked to complete a questionnaire. The mean age of the patients at the time of surgery was 15.5 years, and the mean duration of post-operative follow-up was 2.5 years. The mean pre-operative Cobb angle in the thoracic spine was 55.4 degrees, SD 9.0; the post-operative Cobb angle in the thoracic spine was 18.7 degrees, SD 8.4. The mean pre-operative Cobb angle of compensatory lumbar scoliosis was 29.6 degrees, SD 8.0; the post-operative Cobb angle value in this area was 10.7 degrees, SD 7.9. The findings of the study were compared to data from 42 healthy women with no clinical diagnosis of scoliosis or any other structural or functional disorders of the spine. The Revised Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Index was used in this study. RESULTS The mean Revised Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Index score for limited function in the group of patients with idiopathic scoliosis was 12.7 %, compared to 12.3% in the control group, which means that the patients in the study group were able to cope with most activities. These results were not significantly different. CONCLUSION The study shows that lumbar pain occurred relatively rarely in patients with idiopathic scoliosis during the post-operative follow-up period defined in this study and, as in their age-matched controls, it did not affect the everyday functioning of the patient.