Scoliosis conservative treatment: A review of literature

BACKGROUND: Scoliosis is defined as lateral curvature of the spine which is also associated with a change in the curves in sagittal plane and vertebral rotation. Various types of conservative treatment approaches have been recommended for the patients with scoliosis. The aim of this review article was to introduce the various methods of conservative treatment which can be used for the patients with scoliosis. METHODS: A search was done in some databases including PubMed, ISI Web of knowledge, Google scholar, Ebsco, Embasco, and Scopus. Some keywords such as conservative treatment, orthosis, brace, exercise, and physical therapy were used in combination with scoliosis. As the aim of this paper was to introduce the conservative methods, no quality assessment was done in this review study. RESULTS: Forty papers were found on various conservative treatments approaches which have been used for the patients with scoliosis, in which most of the papers focused on different designs of braces. There were a few studies on other interventions such as wedge, functional electrical stimulation, and yoga. CONCLUSION: Various treatment approaches have been used to treat scoliosis based on conservative approach. It is suggested that the efficiency of various methods be evaluated based on available literature.