Correction manoeuvres in the surgical treatment of spinal deformities

Correction manoeuvres are as important as the other issues such as hardware selection, graft options, fusion and osteotomy techniques in the surgical treatment of spinal deformities. The property of materials demonstrating both viscous and elastic characteristics when undergoing deformation is called visco-elasticity. Purely elastic materials change in shape with a stress, and go back to their initial form when the stress is removed. However, visco-elastic materials, like the spine, may protect their new formation unless a back stress is applied. Time is a very important parameter during manoeuvre application to the spine because of its visco-elastic behavior. The most common correction manoeuvres that can be used for spinal deformities are rod de-rotation, distraction-compression, in situ rod bending, segmental de-rotation, en bloc de-rotation and cantilever. Spontaneous correction of a minor curve is possible after selective fusion of a major curve due to coupling phenomenon. Cite this article: EFORT Open Rev 2017;2. DOI: 10.1302/2058-5241.2.170002. Originally published online at www.efortopenreviews.org