What is “Scoliosis”? A-hua is a senior high school student, parents are white-collar workers, usually work, socialize a lot, not too much attention to the child’s usual learning life sitting posture and so on. In early March this year, an inadvertent A Hua’s mother found that, hey, how the child always like to slant one shoulder to read, do homework? Educate him to “sit like sitting”, at first also “good boy” to pay attention to it, but not a few minutes, and back. At first, I thought it was the child’s habit of studying too hard and fatigue, but I didn’t pay much attention to it. Slowly A-hua side shoulder situation more and more, but also more and more serious, the weather slowly warmed up in early June, once home from school to change clothes when my father inadvertently found: A-hua two sides of the shoulder blades how asymmetry seems to be, one side of the high and one side of the low? On Sunday, he hurriedly took a vacation and led A-hua to the hospital, and was shocked by the results of the examination, which turned out to be the real culprit – adolescent scoliosis! Scoliosis is a condition in which the originally straight spine is curved into an ‘S’ shape. It is a disease whose cause is not yet clear, but which is relatively common among adolescents. Scoliosis mostly occurs in adolescents aged 10-20 years old, especially in females, and about 20% of the patients are congenital. According to the rough statistics of relevant scholars, there are about 3 million adolescents suffering from scoliosis in China. In recent years, the number of primary and secondary school students seeking treatment for scoliosis in outpatient clinics has increased significantly, mostly because parents and children themselves find that their shoulders are high and low, and their backs or ribs are bulging on one side, and then go to the hospital for examination and diagnosis of adolescent scoliosis. Many of the children who come to the hospital with scoliosis symptoms are already quite serious, the curvature is large, and even has affected the normal function of the heart and lungs; what is more worrying is that due to the age at the time of diagnosis, the best time for treatment of this disease is missed. Why is scoliosis in adolescents always overlooked? The first and foremost reason is the lack of awareness of the disease. In Europe and the United States, after the birth of infants, there is a basic screening for scoliosis, throughout the growth and development stage will be tracked and observed, found to have scoliosis can be a specialist doctor to formulate timely diagnosis and treatment plan, in the best treatment time to give the most appropriate medical intervention. In our country, due to the lack of popularization of science, the people do not know enough about scoliosis, and due to the large population in our country, the per capita investment in health care is not enough, making it difficult to carry out a wide range of disease screening. The second reason is that the onset of scoliosis and its symptoms are relatively hidden. Most scoliosis patients do not have pain or itching, and even if they have occasional back pain during the onset of the disease, it is easy to be overlooked. In addition, children nowadays are under great pressure to study, have less time for outdoor activities, and most of them attend boarding schools, so it is not easy for parents to notice when their children start to have unequal shoulder heights. Another reason is that the symptoms are not detected or treated in a timely and appropriate manner. Most of the spinal deformities are not discovered by the children themselves. As the child ages during adolescence, there are fewer and fewer opportunities for parents to directly observe the bare shoulders and back of a child over the age of 10, and since adolescent development coincides with the fastest progression of scoliosis, by the time the deformity becomes apparent, the symptoms are often already severe. In addition, because children are in the stage of intense learning and competition, many parents choose to wait until the child’s winter and summer vacation to bring their children to see a doctor, which is very wrong. Associate Professor Zhang Shuncong emphasized, “Adolescence is a period of rapid growth and development, and scoliosis is therefore progressing very quickly. For example, when scoliosis just started, the flexibility of the spine is still good, just like a bent willow, it is still easy to correct it, but when the scoliosis progresses to a certain degree, just like the willow is getting harder and harder to become an old tree trunk, then it will become difficult to correct it, and the risk of orthopedic treatment will also increase. Therefore, scoliosis symptoms must go to the regular hospital to receive standardized diagnosis as soon as they are detected, without hesitation or delay.” Scoliosis harms children First of all, it directly affects the aesthetic appearance of the body. Children with scoliosis will have a crooked neck and shoulders, and asymmetry in the chest and back. Girls will gradually develop asymmetrical breast development, etc., seriously affecting their physical appearance. Secondly, scoliosis is not only a curved spine, the thorax will also be deformed and squeeze the lungs, causing respiratory dysfunction, and the overall quality of the body will be reduced due to the lack of oxygen. This can lead to shortness of breath after participating in mildly strenuous activities. In addition, scoliosis disrupts the regulation of internal organs by the spinal nerves, resulting in indigestion and abdominal pain. In severe cases, scoliosis can also compress the nerves, resulting in numbness of the legs, urinary and bowel disorders, and even paraplegia! Meanwhile, scoliosis not only affects a child’s physical development, but also has a huge negative impact on their mental health. The patient thinks that he/she is ashamed of his/her appearance and is ridiculed by his/her peers, which leaves a shadow in the child’s heart and makes him/her autistic and reluctant to socialize, thus affecting his/her study and growth. How can we detect scoliosis as early as possible? In fact, as long as you have the basic awareness of scoliosis prevention and pay more attention, some early abnormalities can still be caught in time, including the asymmetry of the child’s shoulders; asymmetry of the development of breasts on both sides of the girl; asymmetry of the contour of the waist and back when viewed from the back; and a tendency to stand or sit sideways, etc. As for the scientific methods of examination, there are many ways to detect scoliosis in children. As for what scientific examination methods, Associate Professor Zhang Shuncong said that the most simple and effective method is to let the child strip naked, hands together, bend over 90 °, and observe whether the two sides of the shoulders are at the same level at this time. children under the age of 10 years once every half a year, and more than 10 years of age once every three months, this method can be detected in the vast majority of early lesions of the child. In conclusion, scoliosis is a disease that requires parents to raise awareness of prevention, early attention and timely medical intervention. As long as we are vigilant, we will be able to defeat this disease, which can easily become a disaster due to early detection, and take good care of every youngster who has just begun to blossom.