Scoliosis Screening

Today, almost all Scoliosis clinicians agree that implementing school screening for scoliosis would be a positive step to take – for relatively little cost, significant benefits can be obtained for the majority of patients. Screening for scoliosis in schools and other groups, like classes or clubs is quick, easy and cheap.

Like many conditions, scoliosis is much easier to treat when it is spotted early.[1] It’s for this reason that scoliosis screening is considered as a beneficial stage of treatment amongst the Orthopaedic community, as it is reported in the Consensus Paper which has been published by the Society on Scoliosis Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Treatment (SOSORT)[2]. For years, clinicians have argued that school screening would be the best way to maximise the benefit of what we now know about scoliosis – Despite this, school screening has still not been implemented in UK schools, although in some countries screening is now widespread.

If you are concerned that you or a loved one may have scoliosis, there are many ways you can carry out an initial scoliosis screening yourself. If you have concerns (Even if your doctor has suggested, you have a case suitable for observation) we strongly advise you to seek out a professional consultation with a scoliosis clinician. Most reputable clinicians are willing pto perform initial screening for free. One excellent tool for self-screening is the ScoliScreen app, developed by ScoliCare. Using this simple app (available here) it’s also possible to pre-screen a friend of family member at home in less than 5 minutes.