This article is part of the supplement: 5th International Conference on Conservative Management of Spinal Deformities .

Oral presentation

Changing a "progressive" factor into a "corrective" factor: the effect of intervertebral disc modulation in treatment of idiopathic scoliosis

Theodoros B Grivas, Elias S Vasiliadis, Georgios Rodopoulos, Nikolaos V Bardakos and Konstandinos Gatos

Orthopaedic Department, "Thriasio" General Hospital, Attica, Greece

corresponding author email

from 5^th International Conference on Conservative Management of Spinal Deformities
Athens, Greece. 3–5 April 2008

Scoliosis 2009, 4(Suppl 1):O3doi:10.1186/1748-7161-4-S1-O3

Published:	15 January 2009

First paragraph (this article has no abstract)

The rationale for management of scoliosis during skeletal growth assumes a biomechanical mode of deformity progression, based on the Hueter-Volkmann principle, whereby extra axial compression decelerates growth and reduced axial compression accelerates it. Wedging of the intervertebral disc (IVD) is known to contribute to the progression of idiopathic scoliotic (IS) curves. This report illustrates the effect of IVD modulation and its subsequent benefits in IS treatment. The proposed model is examined on conservative treatment (full- and night-time braces and exercises) and fusionless IS surgery with staples.