Infant treatment

It is very important to find out quickly which type of curve is present. If treatment is given at the earliest possible moment, even the increasing curvatures can be helped to grow straight, permanently, thereby ensuring a normal life without deformity.

It is possible to tell which curves are likely to resolve spontaneously, and which will get worse by measuring, from an x-ray, the angles of the ribs to the vertebra at the centre of the curve. To confirm the diagnosis, the child must be re-x-rayed after two or three months.[1]

A progressive curve demands immediate treatment

Parents need to be aware of their babies' positioning since it is often parents who notice that their baby always lies curved to one side.  They may feel a bulge on one side of his back or chest.  These are early signs of scoliosis.

If the curve in these babies is treated early the outlook is good because in the first year of life babies' bones are very flexible and the spine can be corrected and grow straight.  If neglected, however, a progressive scoliosis will get worse all the time the child is growing and this could mean years of hospital visits and quite likely major spinal surgery in adolescence.  In every way a more difficult and more expensive solution.

[1] The rib vertebra angle in the early diagnosis between resolving and progressive infantile scoliosis. M H MEHTA, Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 54B, 230-243, 1972