The great majority of patients coming to our clinic have idiopathic scoliosis and there are two ages of onset – during infancy or adolescence. These time periods reflect increase in growth rate rendering the spinal column vulnerable to buckling.
Infantile scoliosis is not as common as adolescent scoliosis but can be a serious risk to health because, untreated, the resulting chest wall deformity can compromise the natural development of the heart and lungs. Fortunately the great majority of infantile scolioses resolve spontaneously, but the ten per cent or so that do not, require urgent corrective treatment.
The majority of idiopathic scoliosis cases occur as a result of the adolescent growth spurt and occur well after the heart and lungs are fully developed. Consequently adolescent scoliosis is a matter of appearance and deformity but there can be very significant psycho-social distress rendering the deformity of idiopathic scoliosis much more than just a cosmetic problem.