Does Scoliosis-Specific Exercise Treatment in Adolescence Alter Adult Quality of Life?

Abstract

Objective. Health-related quality of life in adults, who in adolescence participated in a scoliosis-specific exercise program, was not previously studied. Design. Cross-sectional study, with retrospective data collection. Material and Methods. Homogenous groups of 68 persons (43 women) aged 30.10 (25–39) years, with mild or moderate scoliosis, and 76 (38 women) able-bodied persons, aged 30.11 (24–38) years, who 16.5 (12–26) years earlier had completed scoliosis-specific exercise or observation regimes, participated. Their respiratory characteristics did not differ from predicted values. The WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire, Oswestry Disability Questionnaire, and pain scale (VAS) were applied. Results. The transformed WHOQOL-BREF scores ranged from 54.6 ± 11.19 in the physical domain in the mild scoliotic subgroup to 77.1 ± 16.05 in the social domain in the able-bodied subgroup. The ODQ values did not generally exceed 5.3 ± 7.53. Inter- and intragroup differences were nonsignificant. Age, marital status, education, and gender were significantly associated with the ODQ scores. Significant association between the ODQ and WHOQOL-BREF social relationships domain scores with the participation in exercise treatment was found. Conclusions. Participants with the history of exercise treatment generally did not differ significantly from their peers who were only under observation. This study cannot conclude that scoliosis-specific exercise treatment in adolescence alters quality of life in adulthood.

Core stabilization exercises versus scoliosis-specific exercises in moderate idiopathic scoliosis treatment

“…13 This trend toward reduced pain with CS exercise training suggests further studies to explore the long-term effects of exercise treatments on pain in AIS. Alves de Araujo et al 10 found reduction in back pain and a trend toward improvement in quality of life with stabilization training in patients with scoliosis, whereas Plaszewski et al 33 reported that scoliosis-specific exercise treatment in adolescents did not alter adult quality of life in idiopathic scoliosis. The lack of reported details about change in body symmetry, trunk appearance, and quality of life with conservative treatment in scoliosis makes a quantitative comparison impossible with our study.…”