Towards a new protocol of scoliosis assessments and monitoring in clinical practice: A pilot study.

Background: Although intensively investigated, the procedures for assessment and monitoring of scoliosis are still a subject of controversies.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess validity and reliability of a number of physiotherapeutic measurements that could be used for clinical monitoring of scoliosis.

Methods: Fifteen healthy (symmetric) subjects were subjected to a set of measurements two times, by two experienced and two inexperienced physiotherapists. Intra-observer and inter-observer reliability of measurements were determined. Following measurements were performed: body height and weight, chest girth in inspirium and expirium, the length of legs, the spine translation, the lateral pelvic tilt, the equality of the shoulders, position of scapulas, the equality of stature triangles, the rib hump, the existence of m. iliopsoas contracture, Fröhner index, the size of lumbar lordosis and the angle of trunk rotation.

Results: Intraclass correlation coefficient was high (> 0.8) for majority of measurements when experienced physiotherapists performed them, while inexperienced physiotherapists performed precisely only basic, easy measurements.

Conclusions: We showed in this pilot study on healthy subjects, that majority of basic physiotherapeutic measurements are valid and reliable when performed by specialized physiotherapist, and it can be expected that this protocol will gain high value when measurements on subjects with scoliosis are performed.