Effects of Specific Schroth Exercises on Cobb Angle, Flexibility, and Functional Capacity of Adolescents with Idiopathic Scoliosis

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is one of the complex and common deformities of the spine. It is a condition that can cause a lot of pain and discomfort for individuals and has consequences and complications. There are different exercises and approaches for correction of this deformity, such as Schroth exercise. In this regard, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of corrective exercises on Cobb angle, flexibility, functional capacity, and quality of life of adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis.

This controlled clinical trial with pre-test and post-test design was performed on 24 adolescents with idiopathic scoliosiswho were randomly divided into control and experimental groups. Cobb angle, flexibility, and functional capacity were measured by X-ray imaging, flexibility box, and six-minute walk test, respectively. The collected data were statistically analyzed in SPSS software (version 23) using a mixed-design analysis of variance with repeated measures. It must be noted that a p-value of 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Based on the results, after 10 weeks of Schroth exercises, there was a significant difference in the exercise group regarding the reduction of Cobb angle as well as the increase of flexibility and functional capacity. However, no significant difference was observed in the control group from pre-test to post-test (P≤0.05).

According to the results, it can be concluded that the Schroth exercise program that involves the whole motor chain can effectively decrease the lateral curvature angle of patients with idiopathicscoliosis. Therefore, this type of exercise can be useful to use to treat people with Idiopathic scoliosisdeformity.