Abstract
Scoliosis, a body-disfiguring disease, is associated with lateral curvatures and rotations of a person’s spine. It is, generally, detectable around the age of 8 years. A two-minute-stripped-orthopedic examination of students, in the age group seven- to ten-years, may alert the health-care provider to early-warning signals, which are expressed as a mathematical index, named as ‘Cumulative-Scoliosis-Risk Weightage (CSRW)’. CSRW is based on family history, age, statuses of being tall and/or wasted, forward-bending tests, non-alignment of plumb-line, shoulder drooping, uneven scapulae, shape of midline of back, unequal body triangles, uneven spinal dimples and positive moiré. A high CSRW calls for further examination before sending the child for X rays. Effective methods are needed to eliminate need for unnecessary X rays, which damage bone marrow of children. A mathematical model is proposed and tested on seven- and eight-year old students of a local school. Four tests were conducted, visual (standing), visual (sitting), forward bending (standing) and forward bending (sitting) — postural problem suspected through positive visual examinations (standing and sitting), indicated through positive midstretching test; leg-length in-equality suspected though positive visual and forward-bending tests (both standing), indicated through uneven spinal dimples; hip weakness suspected though positive visual and forward-bending tests (both sitting), indicated through positive Tredelenburg sign; spinal rotation suspected through positive forward-bending tests (standing and sitting), indicated through positive moiré. This paper reports effectiveness of CSRW in predicting lateral curvatures and spinal rotatoions.
