Scoliotic adolescents managed with exercises and brace suffered little stress from the deformity. The brace increased the level of stress over the stress induced by the deformity. The stress level correlated with clinical deformity (Bunnell angle), radiological deformity (Cobb angle) and the type of treatment (exercises, bracing, surgery). Bad Sobernheim Stress Questionnaires are simple and helpful in the management of girls treated conservatively for idiopathic scoliosis.

Background: The shape of the torso in patients with idiopathic scoliosis is considered to reflect the shape of the vertebral column, however the direct correlation between parameters describing clinical deformity and those characterizing radiological curvature was reported to be weak. It is not clear if the management proposed for scoliosis (physiotherapy, brace, surgery) affects equally the shape of the axial skeleton and the surface of the body. The aim of the study was to compare clinical deformity of (1) idiopathic scoliosis girls being under brace treatment for radiological curves of 25 to 40 degrees and (2) non treated scoliotic girls matched for age and Cobb angle.

PurposeThe aim of the study was to undertake the process of cultural adaptation of the Brace Questionnaire (BrQ) into Polish.MethodsThe BrQ is an instrument for measuring the quality of life of scoliotic adolescents who are being treated conservatively with wearing a corrective brace. The BrQ consists of 34 Likert-scale items related to eight domains. The translation from the original Greek into Polish was performed. The process of cultural adaptation of the questionnaire was in accordance with the guidelines of the International Quality of Life Assessment Project. It involved 35 adolescents, aged between 10.0 and 16.0 years, all with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis with mean Cobb angle of 35.1 ± 10.6 degrees, and all wearing the same kind of brace (Chêneau orthosis) for more than 3 months. Statistical analysis calculated the reliability (internal consistency), floor and ceiling effects of the BrQ.ResultsThe internal consistency was satisfactory; Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.94. There was no floor or ceiling effects.ConclusionsPolish version of the BrQ is reliable and can be used in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis wearing the brace to assess their quality of life.

Kinel et al.: Quality of life and stress level in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis subjected to conservative treatment. Scoliosis 2013 8(Suppl 1):O61.

ObjectivePotential benefits of sitting position for scoliosis exam include stable posture and level pelvis. The hypothesis was that surface topography as well as scoliometer evaluation can be performed in sitting forward bending position and that the parameters describing deformity in the frontal and axial plane can be provided. Study designCross sectional study of 113 girls with idiopathic scoliosis, aged 14.0 ± 2.1 years (range 10 to 18), mean height 160.0 ± 9.4 cm (range 121 to 184), mean weight 48.6 ± 9.2 kg (range 22 to 75) who underwent raster stereography exam of the back in standing position and in sitting forward bending position. The Cobb angle of the main curve was 41.2 ± 16.7 degrees (range 10 to 95), Risser sign value from 0 to 5, median = 2.