A team of researchers conducted a systematic literature review to identify the efficacy of conservative interventions for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). They concluded that a brace plus physiotherapeutic scoliosis-specific exercises (PSSE) could provide short-term effects in improving the Cobb angle, but the evidence of brace treatment alone is not robust.
They searched nine databases from their inception to February 2024 for randomized controlled trials comparing conservative interventions for AIS. Reviewers independently selected studies, assessed bias risk and certainty of the evidence, and completed meta-analyses. The review included 54 trials with 3,984 participants.
A brace plus PSSE, manual therapy plus PSSE, and manual therapy plus mind-body exercise could be intermediately effective in improving Cobb angle of patients with AIS following interventions, the authors concluded.
Although a brace alone could be the intermediate effective intervention in preventing scoliosis progression, moderate- to high-certainty evidence showed that brace alone and PSSE alone “probably have little or no difference” in improving Cobb angle, function, mental health, self-image, angle of trunk rotation, or satisfaction of patients with AIS compared to minimal interventions.
The researchers also found no evidence on the follow-up effects of conservative interventions for AIS, and did not identify serious adverse events for any of the conservative interventions.
The open-access study, “Comparative efficacy of conservative interventions for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials,” was published in Systematic Reviews.
