Trunk asymmetry in one thousand school children aged 7-10 years

摘要

Screening for idiopathic scoliosis is not very popular in Poland. Some Polish towns and cities have prevention programmes aimed at discovering spine dysfunctions and disorders in children and adolescents. An assessment of the angle of trunk rotation (ATR) is a reliable, effective and non-invasive action that allows use to determine trunk asymmetry. Since then the scoliometer has spread throughout the United States and other countries, where it is a popular device in the clinical practice of diagnosing scoliosis. 9,500 children aged 7-10 were examined as part of a disease prevention programme entitled "Poznan Chooses Health - Bad Posture Prophylaxis in Class I-IV Primary School Children in Poznan". The analysis included results obtained in 2010 during initial posture assessment in 1000 children, Trunk asymmetry was measured by means of the Bunnell scoliometer. The measurement of the angle of trunk rotation was the spontaneous standing position with use the scoliometer during bending (Adams forward test) at three levels: proximal thoracic, main thoracic and lumbar. For the proximal thoracic section the 0deg ATR value was found in 6 children, values of 1deg-3deg were recorded in 883 children, values of 4deg-6deg in 108 children, 7deg or higher in 3 of the examined children. For the main thoracic section the 0deg ATR value was found in 101 children, values of ldeg-3deg were recorded in 735 children, 4deg-6deg in 155 children, 7deg or higher in 9 of the examined children. For the lumbar section ATR values of 0deg, ldeg-3deg, 4deg-6deg, and 7deg or higher were found, respectively, in 147, 883, 108 and 11 of the examined children.