The relationship between scoliosis and balance in a population of adolescents with AIS

Background The etiology of Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis has been investigated for years. Now that the genetic basis for the disease has been established, the actual mechanism for production of the curve still needs to be discovered. Several have proposed a theory involving balance, with the brain and spinal cord causing spinal curvature related to neurologic signals [1,2]. An opportunity to observe spinal curvature and balance simultaneously exists when using the Formetric 4D (Diers Medical Systems) to assess spinal deformity. As surface topography measurements are being taken on the standing patient, force plate data on balance is also being generated. This study looked at the balance data in patients being measured for scoliosis, to see if there was a correlation between balance and spinal deformity measurements.