Many parents will take their children for vision tests and orthodontics during the summer, but few will take them for spinal exams. “How can a child have a spine problem? Isn’t that a disease of the middle-aged and elderly?” That’s what many moms and dads think. However, according to a survey of 8,165 students between the ages of 6 and 15, 2.4 percent had more than 10 degrees of scoliosis. In Shanghai, the incidence of scoliosis in young people is about 0.9%, so it is estimated that more than 50,000 of Shanghai’s 6 million teenagers may have lost their upright posture. There are many causes of scoliosis, including congenital, idiopathic, neuromuscular, etc. The highest incidence of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis deformity. Adolescence is the second growth spurt of the human body, the spine grows fast, the original slight scoliosis during this period also aggravated faster, generally a year time bending will increase 5-10 degrees, or even more serious. Early mild scoliosis caused by the appearance of abnormalities is not obvious, 20 to 35 degrees of moderate children, the symptoms only appear, even in clothes, can be seen in the shoulders a high and a low. In many cases, parents do not notice the abnormality until the child develops moderate scoliosis and bring the child to the hospital for treatment. Is adolescent idiopathic scoliosis caused by poor sitting posture, improper exercise and poor nutrition? The deputy director of the orthopedic department of Long March Hospital, scoliosis orthopedist Professor Zhou Xuhui said that there is no strict scientific basis for this, and the cause of scoliosis is not yet clear to the medical community. If scoliosis is not detected and treated in time, the condition of most patients will worsen and eventually cause serious somatic deformities, causing the following damage to the patient’s health: 1. Affects physical appearance and psychological. If not observed, early scoliosis is often overlooked, and many children are only discovered when there is an obvious deformity, a curvature of the spine, and an asymmetrical bulge in the back (a “razorback”). At this point, the child’s body shape is significantly affected, with unequal shoulders, unequal lower extremities, and distorted body, while the child with a “curved” back does not grow taller, and many children with scoliosis are shorter than their peers. This leads to a setback in self-confidence, which is detrimental to mental health and can lead to the development of autism. 2. Severe scoliosis causes a reduction in the area of the chest, abdomen and pelvis, and the internal organs are compressed, which can affect the normal physiological functions of the patient’s respiratory system, digestive system, and blood circulation. In adulthood, more severe scoliosis female patients may affect fertility. 3, affect the function of the limbs. Scoliosis causes imbalance of forces on both sides of the spine, can cause low back pain, and can produce a concave side of the vertebral space, rib space narrowing, compression of the spinal cord or nerves, leading to spinal stenosis, disc protrusion, resulting in numbness of the limbs, and in serious cases, will cause paralysis. About 3 million people in China suffer from spinal deformities, mostly children and adolescents, and the number of specialist visits by Professor Zhou Xuhui, deputy director of spinal surgery at Long March Hospital, peaks every year during the summer and winter. Among the scoliosis patients admitted to the spine surgery ward of Long March Hospital, the gender ratio is 1:8, with the majority of women suffering from the disease. The reason why scoliosis “favors” women is that it is still related to the female estrogen receptor gene. Professor Zhou Xuhui also summarized some special growth patterns of Chinese female patients, such as early menstruation, thin and tall girls, and asymmetrical development of both breasts. If a girl has early menstruation, grows too fast and tall at puberty, has a body shape like bean sprouts, and has asymmetric breast development, these may be signs of disease. Scoliosis has a clear clinical tendency to run in families, with a family history of the disease 17 times the risk of normal people. Professor Zhou Xuhui has seen three generations of families with scoliosis; and nowadays there are more only children, and lateral inheritance can occur among cousins; twins may also have scoliosis successively. From the Long March Hospital, scoliosis is often found in adolescents between the ages of 10 and 15, and at first it is mainly manifested in the appearance of asymmetrical shoulders and a high and low back when bending over, commonly known as “razorback”. Such signs are often overlooked by parents and teachers, and some students enter boarding life too early for parents to understand their children. At school, children should be encouraged to participate in sports activities, such as swimming and gymnastics, so that teachers can detect any physical abnormalities early. For adolescents during puberty, parents should pay special attention to abnormal growth information specific to their children, especially in the summer when children have thin clothes, and observe their body shape. If parents find that their children have uneven necklines, one shoulder is higher than the other; girls have early development of thin and tall, asymmetric development of both breasts, the left breast is larger; one back bulge; one side of the waist has folds; both lower limbs are unequal in length; one hip is higher than the other, they need to be especially alert. In addition, parents can also give their children some simple palpation checks, such as touching the spinal prominence with their hands to see if it is in a straight line, or having the child stand upright and bend forward to see if the back is symmetrical. Early scoliosis can be treated without surgery. In early scoliosis, 70% of patients can be treated with standardized non-surgical interventions. Scoliosis within 30 degrees can be corrected by orthopedic braces. Currently, more than 700 patients treated with orthopedic braces in the Long March Hospital spine surgery clinic are regularly reviewed and followed up. Professor Zhou Xuhui emphasized that orthopedic braces are the only non-surgical treatment method that has proven to be effective in treating scoliosis. Some so-called traction, massage, acupuncture and other treatments for scoliosis are not only ineffective, but may also delay the best time for treatment. When the scoliosis is more than 40 degrees, you should choose surgical treatment. “Many parents are very afraid when they hear about surgery, but in fact, early surgery is very safe and effective.” Professor Zhou Xuhui said, and with the development of the disease, serious cases can have thoracic deformity and reduced lung capacity. Scoliosis to more than 60 degrees, but also affect the development of the heart and lungs, and in serious cases even lead to paralysis, if then think about surgery, the risk is very large. The best time to treat scoliosis is before the skeleton matures, and the earlier the treatment, the better the results, so regular checkups and early detection are key. It is reported that the U.S. government has passed laws requiring schools to provide special annual spinal checkups for students. Currently, there is no spinal examination as part of the annual physical examination for adolescents in Shanghai. There is a call for spinal exams to be included in the annual physical exams for students.