What is scoliosis deformity? When a normal person stands, the front and back positions should be viewed with the shoulders parallel and equal and the body straight. The spine, which is the longitudinal axis of the body, should be vertical like a plumb line, on the central axis, neither to the left nor to the right. However, the human spine is not vertical, sideways observation has different directions of physiological bending, cervical vertebrae forward bending, thoracic vertebrae backward bending, lumbar vertebrae forward bending, sacral vertebrae backward bending, and symmetrical to each other, the formation of the human body curve beauty. At the same time, whether in the standing position, or bending forward position, from behind should see both sides of the spine waist, back contour flat and symmetrical, no side higher and the other side of the low concave phenomenon. If there are inconsistencies with the above, such as: shoulders are not equal, waist and back are not flat, the spine deviates from the central axis, you should consider the problem of scoliosis and need to see a doctor. In a word, a normal standing person whose spine deviates from the vertical line of the central axis when observed in the anterior-posterior position is called scoliosis. What are the signs of scoliosis? Patients with scoliosis behave differently depending on the degree of curvature. In light patients, it may not be obvious with clothes on, but when standing with clothes off or bending forward, the asymmetric flatness of the lumbar back on both sides of the spine can be observed at the back, and the spinal spines are not in a straight line when touched. Patients with moderate scoliosis, often accompanied by the lateral convexity of the side of the rib cage abnormalities, the formation of “Liu Luo Pan”, commonly known as “razor back”, the loss of the normal human physique. For fear of being laughed at and stigmatized by others, they dare not wear beautiful fashions that reflect their physical beauty, and rarely or never dare to participate in bodybuilding and sports, such as swimming. Patients often have a strong inferiority complex, patients and families often need to bear great psychological pressure, serious patients, the appearance is particularly obvious, according to different types of scoliosis and parts (neck section, chest section, thoracolumbar section, waist section) can appear one shoulder high, one shoulder low, the body to one side, the pelvis is also high on one side and low on the other, unbalanced, lower limbs are not equal, especially can be clearly seen somewhere in the back of the chest protrude A large piece of the back of the chest and a large depression in another place, the front chest is also uneven, and the two sides are obviously asymmetrical. In severe cases, because of the deformation of the thoracic rib cage, which restricts the respiratory movement, pulmonary dysfunction can occur, and the lack of oxygen and cyanosis after slight exercise, which in turn affects the heart function, and heart failure occurs. When the scoliosis further develops beyond 100 degrees, the spinal nerve is compressed, and some patients may also develop neurological symptoms, including numbness, weakness, and muscle atrophy in the lower extremities in the mild cases, and paraplegia in the severe cases. This shows that scoliosis brings great harm to the physical and mental health of human beings. What are the causes of scoliosis? The cause of scoliosis is still unclear. Medical science broadly classifies scoliosis as congenital or idiopathic. Congenital scoliosis refers to abnormalities in the bony structure of the spine, i.e., abnormal structures such as triangular hemivertebrae, butterfly vertebrae, fused vertebrae, and fused ribs connected to the thoracic vertebrae, resulting in a tilted spine, leading to scoliosis or kyphosis, and congenital scoliosis is often accompanied by deformities of the spinal cord, such as dural bulge (a soft mass as large as an egg or even a fist can be palpated in the lower back, with a sense of fluctuation), spinal cord Because of the combination of spinal deformities and spinal nerve abnormalities, the risk of congenital scoliosis is often greater than that of idiopathic scoliosis. In idiopathic scoliosis, there is basically no abnormality in the bony structure of the spine, but the imbalance of neuromuscular forces causes the original physiological curvature of the spine to become a pathological curvature, i.e. the original thoracic lordosis becomes a lateral lordosis. There are also some special diseases that can cause scoliosis, such as: poliomyelitis, cerebral palsy, spinal cord cavitation, neurofibromatosis, Marfan’s syndrome, as well as trauma or certain inflammatory lesions. The incidence of scoliosis is highest in adolescents, generally at 1.0-1.5%, and is higher in women than in men. How is the degree of scoliosis classified? The degree of scoliosis is usually measured internationally by the Cobb “s degree on the spine X-ray, generally speaking, 40 degrees or less for mild scoliosis, 40 to 70 degrees for moderate scoliosis, 70 degrees or more for severe scoliosis, according to the location and extent of scoliosis, the International Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) uses the King typing method, divided into I to V: I, II type S thoracic, lumbar segment double bending, by the main bend and compensatory Type III is a single lateral bend in the thoracic segment; Type IV is a single lateral bend across the thoracolumbar segment; and Type V is an S-type double bend in the thoracic segment. The significance of typing is to help the clinician decide the extent of surgical correction and fusion. How is scoliosis treated? Regardless of the type of scoliosis, it should be detected early and diagnosed early, usually requiring a hospital visit to take full-length frontal and lateral radiographs of the spine to determine the diagnosis and clarify the type of scoliosis. Early detection usually starts with conservative treatment, such as orthopedic braces, reasonable physical exercises, and correction of inappropriate sitting and sleeping postures. Depending on the type and development of scoliosis, if conservative treatment is ineffective and the scoliosis continues to worsen, surgery should be taken at the right time. The best time for surgery is during adolescence. What are the methods of surgical treatment? Human surgery for scoliosis has been performed for 50 years by surgically combining an internal fixation device with orthopedic function with the spine, correcting the curved spine through the adjusting function of the device, and then fixing and fusing bone graft within the fixed range. Since the initial adoption of Harrington surgery for the treatment of scoliosis at Houston Children’s Hospital in the United States, its development has gone through the simple instrumentation and surgical techniques of two-point support and single-plane bracing for correction of curved segments to today’s three-dimensional spatial rotation correction with multi-segment pedicle screw implantation (including the thoracic spine), and the development of complex techniques such as combined anterior-posterior surgery, multi-segment multi-rod rotation with bracing, and thoracic reconstruction for severe scoliosis The correction rate has increased from about 30% at the beginning to more than 90%, marking a great progress in orthopaedic devices and surgical techniques. China’s scoliosis treatment started late, starting in the 1980s, but after the 1990s quickly with international standards, Europe and the United States in recent years developed some correction systems, such as CCD, TSRH, ASOLA, etc., were introduced to China, in some regions and units have carried out surgery, but there are still some problems, such as orthopedic instruments too strong steel, orthopedic costs are very expensive. The orthopedic appliances designed according to the anatomical data of European and American people are not fully suitable for Asian body shapes, etc. In recent years, in the process of aligning orthopedic devices and technology with international standards, orthopedic systems developed and developed according to the anatomical characteristics of Asians have been introduced one after another to achieve international standards, so that the level of scoliosis treatment in China has greatly improved, such as the representative “Great Wall of China” titanium system, its endophytic design of easy rotation characteristics, the elastic modulus and steel for the strength of the Asian spine and with the Asian Titanium is a very stable metal and is more compatible with the human body than other metals. The application of the special pedicle screws of the Great Wall system enables the implantation of pedicle screws in the thoracic spine of adolescents, breaking through the thoracic pedicle screws that have long been considered a surgical no-go area. implantation, resulting in a reduced risk of scoliosis correction and a further increase in the correction rate. Does spinal fusion affect growth? In surgical treatment, people are also often concerned about the impact of surgical fusion on the continued growth of adolescents. Many scholars have conducted studies on this issue, and large-scale social surveys have proven that the average height of the surgical group is significantly higher than that of the non-surgical group when comparing the surgical and non-surgical groups of children with the same type of scoliosis after several years, for obvious reasons, as the non-surgical group of children with scoliosis continues to worsen and becomes rotund. This seriously affects the growth of height. On the contrary, after surgery, only one segment of the spine is fused, and after this segment is straightened, the upper and lower spine is still growing, and the long tubular bones of the limbs are still growing, so there is no need to worry about the impact on height after scoliosis surgery. In addition, the development and advancement of modern scoliosis orthopedic technology has made it possible for adult patients who did not have surgery during their adolescence for various reasons to still have the opportunity for surgical correction, although these patients need to go to a regular hospital and listen to the advice of a professional physician. Of course, the difficulty and effect of surgery is always accompanied by the corresponding risk, which is the reason why the majority of patients have searched all over the country, visiting famous doctors, looking for experts, looking for “experts”, the purpose is to hope that the effect to the highest, the risk is reduced to a minimum, their own peace of mind. To do this, there is only one way – to find a regular hospital and a high level of expert treatment.