How is adolescent idiopathic scoliosis treated?

  The main treatments for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis are brace therapy and surgery. Brace therapy is mainly suitable for scoliosis of 20 degrees to 45 degrees. Braces need to be worn until the bones mature, and are not effective for patients whose bones have matured.  Surgical treatment: It is mainly suitable for progressive scoliosis that has failed brace treatment or cannot tolerate the brace, and if the scoliosis is more than 45 degrees, surgery is required.  The timing of surgery: First of all, for idiopathic scoliosis must be followed up and observed, generally requiring a review of the whole spine every six months in a standing ortho-lateral film, and try to wait until after the first menstruation of girls for scoliosis correction and bone graft fusion surgery.  Boys should also refer to the age of girls to determine the time of surgery, because there are two growth spurts in a person’s life, after menarche these two growth spurts are basically over, the body is basically mature, then the spinal fusion surgery will not have too much impact on height, and there will not be complications such as loss of compensation of the non-fused segment.  However, if the scoliosis worsens significantly during the review process, it may not be possible to wait until the first menstrual period to have a non-fusion minimally invasive surgery first, so as not to make the surgery more difficult and less effective when the development is mature.