Scoliosis risk assessment in children with pelvic asymmetry - a simple screening test based on gluteal area asymmetry

Very strong recent researches offer details about pelvic asymmetry and its pattern of growth. Asymmetric growth of the ilium bone from birth to adolescence and its statistical incidence besides asymmetric growing of other bodies' parts incidence impose the necessity to design a simple test for the risk of scoliosis due to pelvic or sacroiliac asymmetric disorders. The pelvis area is the base support of the spine so that the first factor in scoliosis is represented by the sacroiliac dysfunctions and the pelvis bones geometric asymmetry. The big issue is the time/the age when the scoliosis or the deformity is detected. A force platform was used to determine the pelvic repartition of pressure and the geometry of the pelvic perimeter on children with scoliosis risk. A measurement jig was designed to identify the volume difference between the left and right gluteus muscles due to difference in shape of left and right ilium bones. Based on the changes in the biomechanics of movement of the segments below the pelvis due to pelvis asymmetry, a squat exercise was designed for incipient detection of pelvic growth disorders. The exercises were proposed as a screening test. Beside the old Adam's test which is positive in the presence of a deformation, the exercises proposed, that can be completed by the gluteal geometric asymmetry, provide earlier information about the risk of scoliosis. Modern test were involved to support the proposal test, including a new method of force platform pelvimetry.