In a study published September 7 in Prosthetics and Orthotics International, researchers sought to establish predictions about in-orthosis spinal curvature by comparing Cobb angles as participants with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) took different body positions. Noting that clinical prediction of in-orthosis correction at the pre-orthosis stage can help clinicians optimize the orthosis design, the researchers concluded that assessing spinal curvature while the patient is in a recumbent position, especially prone, can most accurately predict the initial in-orthosis correction.
The prospective cohort study included 22 patients with a mean Cobb angle of 28.1 degrees (± 7.3 degrees) who underwent ultrasound assessment of their spinal curvatures in five positions (standing, supine, prone, sitting bending, and prone bending). The curvatures were then re-assessed as each participant wore a spinal orthosis. The differences and correlations were analyzed between the two conditions.
The mean in-orthosis curvature was 11.2 degrees while the mean curvatures in the five studied positions were 18.7 degrees (standing), 10.7 degrees (supine), 10.7 degrees (prone), -3.5 degrees (prone bending), and -6.5 degrees (sitting bending). The correlation coefficients of the in-orthosis curvature and that in the five studied positions were r = 0.65 (standing), r = 0.76 (supine), r = 0.87 (prone), r = 0.41 (prone bending), and r = 0.36 (sitting bending).
