Use of functional tests to increase the efficiency of scoliosis screening diagnosis by COMOT method.

COMOT technique was developed at Novosibirsk Research Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedics as a pilot study in 1997 was used for screening for spine deformities in schoolchildren in Novosibirsk, Omsk and Moscow. Topographic screening was performed with patient standing in his natural free and easy posture. The criteria for scoliosis detection was an angle of lateral asymmetry (LA), calculated on the basis of topographic data, which was an analogue of Cobb angle. An additional criterion for structural spine deformation was an angle of scoliotic arch apex rotation (R). The analysis of responsiveness and specificity of topographic test (TT) at detection of structural arches of 10 and more degrees (according to Cobb) showed that they depend on the level of taken thresholds.