Medicine and scoliosis: an entirely human reality

As an old saying goes, "the tragedy of science is all the wonderful theories spoiled by a few bothersome facts". The personal theories developed by individuals do not constitute science, because science is all about learning from the facts: this is one of the lessons we hope the COVID-19 experience will leave behind, not only for scientists, but for society as a whole.
Because, in medicine and healthcare, failing to be led by science in our choices is the biggest mistake we can make, and this applies in the field of scoliosis, too.

A new column for our newsletter

Over the years, an aspect that surprises us every time and allows us to look beyond our daily clinical activity to broaden our knowledge is how scoliosis and generally spinal deformities are treated in countries both near and very far from ours - an interest, from which a new column for our newsletter was born. In each number, we will present the experiences of colleagues, doctors, physiotherapists, and orthopaedic technicians from all over the world to share the knowledge and learn one from the other.

The first interview is for Jumana Qaqish, Physiotherapist from Dubai

"I am a musculoskeletal physiotherapist. I work in a relatively small private physiotherapy clinic..."

World Master Course

in numbers

208 participants since 2016
54 countries
Africa: Morocco, South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan
America: Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Per�, United States of America
Asia: Armenia, Cambogia, China, Colombia, Dubai, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Macao, Malaysia, Mongolia, Philippines, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria,Taiwan (R.O.C.), Thailand, Turkey
Europe: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenija, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ukraine, United Kingdom
Oceania: Australia, New Zealand

What about the 2021 Edition?
47 participants
26 countries (with new entries of Dubai, Nigeria, Syria, Sudan)

World Master's Chinese feedback

In 2020 we had the opportunity to add the Chinese edition to the English edition of our course, thanks to the collaboration with the Hong Kong Chiropractic College Foundation and in particular thanks to Elaine Ng, CPO.
She coordinates together with her staff the course in the Chinese language.
Here is her feedback.

"The course was well accepted by the participants from Hong Kong, Macau, China and Taiwan. Most of the participants were rehabilitation physicians from China, though there were physiotherapists, Chinese medical practitioners and orthotists. The different backgrounds of the students made the discussions interesting. Some students addressed more on exercises, while others more on bracing. As most of the students did not have the bracing experience, they found bracing amazing.

This 2021 edition we have students from the above four places, but the proportion of mix changes considerably, with over 40% of participants from Taiwan.
With the improvement of the logistics involved in the Chinese interpretation, we anticipate that the course would run smoother and let more health professionals know the effectiveness of conservative treatment of idiopathic scoliosis".

SRS Symposium

Prof Stefano Negrini, scientific director of Isico, will be one of the seven specialists participating in the Research Grant Outcome Symposium organized by SRS, scheduled for March 6 from 9 to 11 ET US.

The inaugural SRS Symposium is a new platform for dissemination of research that has received SRS funding. The six selected projects, both completed and on-going, are to present preliminary outcomes and possible hurdles the team has encountered and allow SRS grant recipients to share their project with an audience of their peers, in an atmosphere that allows for ample discussion and interactivity.

Prof Stefano Negrini will hold a webinar on the preliminary results of the research "Prediction of curve progression in idiopathic scoliosis without treatment" (to learn more read the in-depth analysis in our Isico Science Corner column).

Pre-eSOSORT Webinar

Michele Romano, director of physiotherapy in Isico, and Sabrina Donzelli, Isico physiatrist, will participate in the coming Pre-eSOSORT Educational Webinar on March 20, 2021, joining other specialists namely, Tony Betts, Andrea Lebel e Sanja Schreiber.
The webinar aims to compare different approaches to scoliosis and anticipates the papers which are going to be presented at the traditional international appointment of the Sosort conference.
Please visit Sosort website to register for the webinar.

Should the siblings of scoliosis patients be screened for the condition?

Yes, we strongly recommend that they undergo screening, because scoliosis is a condition that runs in families. In other words, it occurs more frequently in individuals who have affected relatives. Furthermore, the earlier any problems are detected, the less aggressive the subsequent treatment will be.
Therefore, Isico recommends that any siblings under the age of 15 years should undergo preventive screening once a year.

Isico offers a free online screening following this link

Natural History of Scoliosis: the development of a predictive model

For the upcoming 56th SRS conference scheduled in the United States in September 2021, Isico has submitted two abstracts on the natural history of scoliosis "Predicting Future Curve Severity for Juvenile Idiopathic Scoliosis: A Natural History Study" and "Predicting Future Curve Severity Requires Different Models for Adolescent and Juvenile Idiopathic Scoliosis".
The preliminary results of this research study will be presented by Prof Stefano Negrini at the Research Grant Outcome Symposium organized by SRS and scheduled for March...

Sanders stage 7b: Using the appearance of the ulnar physis improves decision-making for brace weaning in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

Prudence Wing Hang Cheung, Jason Pui Yin Cheung

PMID: 33380190, DOI: 10.1302/0301-620X.103B1.BJJ-2020-1240.R1

My brace: my friend.. my enemy!

Aurora, 15 years old, shares with us her experience with the brace.
"I wasn't born with scoliosis. My problems began when I was ten years old, and our doctor noticed that my back wasn't quite as straight as other people's.

On his suggestion, I had an X-ray that confirmed that I had a scoliotic posture, which corrective exercises could correct.

Since I do artistic gymnastics at a competitive level, I often have checkups with a physical therapist, and on one occasion, it was noticed that I had a twisted hip...

April 9-11 Spine Society of Australia 32nd Annual Meeting| Sydney, Australia
April 23-25 - SRS 28th International Meeting on Advanced Spine Techniques (IMAST) Live Sessions | Virtual